My PC stutters in almost every game, although the severity varies. The issue was extremely bad when games were installed on a 256GB ADATA Legend 710 SSD. Moving Windows and the games to a newer 1TB MSI M450 SSD and reinstalling Windows improved the problem by roughly 80%, but occasional stuttering remains in every game. Switching from one 16GB 3600MHz RAM stick to two 8GB 3200MHz modules in dual-channel mode did not eliminate it.
I have already tried common fixes, installed current drivers, and updated the motherboard BIOS from version 1825 to 1836. The MSI SSD reports 100% health, and replacing the PSU did not change anything. My monitor is connected directly to the RTX 5060 through DisplayPort.
System specifications:
- Motherboard: ASUS B760 Plus D4
- CPU: Intel Core i5-14400F
- Cooler: AG400 ARGB
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL, 16GB (2x8GB)
- GPU: ASUS RTX 5060 8GB
- SSD: MSI M450 1TB for Windows and games
- PSU: XPG Core Reactor II 750W
- Monitor: ASUS TUF Gaming VG259Q3A
The stuttering appears in games including Control, Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and others. The SSDs are installed in the second and third M.2 slots. What hardware component or software setting should I investigate next?
4 Answers
Because reinstalling Windows and moving everything to one SSD helped so much, storage or software configuration may still be involved. Check the MSI drive’s temperatures and performance while a game is stuttering, confirm that it has plenty of free space, and verify that the M.2 slots are operating at their expected PCIe speed. Also monitor CPU and GPU usage, temperatures, clock speeds, RAM usage, and frame-time graphs rather than judging only by average FPS. That can show whether the problem is caused by shader compilation, asset streaming, thermal throttling, background processes, or a driver issue.
The fact that dual-channel memory did not fix the issue suggests single-channel RAM was not the main cause. Keep the two modules in the motherboard’s recommended paired slots and verify their speed in BIOS, but focus next on frame-time monitoring and isolating software. Test one game with overlays, recording tools, browser windows, and hardware-monitoring utilities closed. If the stutter is present immediately after a clean Windows installation with only chipset, graphics, and game drivers installed, that points more strongly toward a hardware, firmware, storage-slot, or game-specific issue.
The system should generally be capable of running these games smoothly, so start by confirming the basics rather than changing more hardware. Check that the RTX 5060 is detected correctly, that the monitor cable is connected to the graphics card rather than the motherboard, and that the games are actually using the dedicated GPU. Then install the motherboard chipset drivers, graphics driver, and BIOS updates from the manufacturers’ websites. Avoid driver utilities that install unrelated or incorrect versions; manually installing only the needed drivers is safer.
A different PSU producing the same behavior makes the power supply less likely, though it does not prove every hardware component is healthy. Try a clean graphics-driver installation, disable overlays and unnecessary startup programs, and test with consistent frame limiting and an adaptive-sync setting that matches the monitor. If the spikes happen even in lightweight games, test the memory with a proper diagnostic tool and check whether the CPU or GPU is reaching abnormal temperatures or dropping clocks.
The monitor is connected to the RTX 5060 over DisplayPort, and the GPU is detected. I have installed the available official drivers and recently updated the BIOS, but the stuttering remains.