My laptop experiences a severe lag spike about every 30 seconds while gaming. During each spike, the frame rate drops to roughly 10 FPS for around five seconds, then returns to normal. This only happens in games. I'm not very familiar with computer troubleshooting, so please let me know what other information would help. The laptop has an AMD Ryzen 7 5825U with Radeon Graphics running at 2.00 GHz and integrated AMD Radeon graphics with 496 MB of dedicated video memory.
2 Answers
Because this laptop uses integrated Radeon graphics, it shares system RAM with the GPU. The small dedicated VRAM amount can cause the game to move assets between memory types, especially if the game’s graphics settings are too high. Try lowering textures and overall graphics quality, closing other programs, and checking whether your laptop has enough free RAM. Updating the AMD graphics driver may also help.
Check temperatures while the problem is happening. If the CPU or integrated graphics gets too hot, the laptop may temporarily reduce its speed, which can look like a recurring FPS drop. Use a temperature-monitoring tool, make sure the vents are clear, and play on a hard surface. Also close background apps and try a clean startup or a separate user account to see whether something running in the background is causing the stutters.
I’m not very familiar with separate user accounts—what exactly would I need to test?
Is there a way to stop the system from swapping assets like that?