I recently installed my first dedicated graphics card, an RX 580 4GB, but games still have frequent micro-stutters and FPS drops even when the GPU should be capable of running them. I mainly notice it in Black Ops 3 and the recompiled version of Sonic Unleashed. I installed the graphics drivers and removed the integrated-graphics drivers, but that did not fix the issue. My system has a Ryzen 3 3200G, a single 8GB DDR4 stick, the RX 580, and I'm currently running games from a hard drive. What is most likely causing the stuttering, and what upgrades or settings could improve performance?
2 Answers
The RX 580 probably isn’t the main problem. The Ryzen 3 3200G is a fairly limited four-core CPU, and 8GB of single-channel RAM can cause hitching in newer or heavily modded games. Running the games from an HDD can also make stutters worse when the game streams data during play. Upgrading to 16GB in two matching sticks and moving the game to an SSD would be the best improvements. Also check CPU, GPU, RAM, and disk usage while the stutters happen so you can see which one is reaching its limit.
Start with the inexpensive fixes: close background programs, make sure the Windows power plan isn’t limiting the CPU, and lower settings that increase CPU load such as view distance, shadows, and crowds. Check temperatures and clocks to make sure the 3200G or RX 580 isn’t throttling. However, settings alone may not eliminate the problem because the combination of a four-core CPU, one 8GB memory module, and an HDD is likely causing the frame-time spikes.
I checked the performance overlay, and it looks like the stuttering is probably caused by several limitations rather than the graphics card alone.
That makes sense. I’m using an HDD because my SSD is too small for Black Ops 3 and its mods, so the storage may definitely be contributing.