I'm experiencing noticeable stuttering and generally poor performance while gaming at 1080p, but I can't figure out the cause. My system has an Intel i5-13400F, an RTX 5070 Ti, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR4 memory, a 1TB ADATA XPG Gammix M.2 SSD, and a 2TB WD SN7100 SSD. CPU and GPU usage often appear relatively low, usually around 27–50%. I'm not very experienced with PC troubleshooting, so I'm unsure what I should check. Could the amount of RAM, storage setup, drivers, temperatures, or something else be causing the stuttering?
2 Answers
16GB of RAM can contribute to stuttering in newer games, especially if other programs are running in the background. Check your memory usage while the stutter happens rather than relying only on the overall percentage. If RAM is nearly full and Windows starts using the page file, frametimes can become uneven. Upgrading to 32GB with a matched kit would be a reasonable first step, but it isn’t guaranteed to be the only cause.
Low average CPU and GPU usage doesn’t necessarily mean everything is working properly. Stuttering can come from one CPU thread being maxed out, shader compilation, background tasks, thermal or power limits, driver issues, or inconsistent frame delivery. Monitor per-core CPU usage, RAM usage, temperatures, clock speeds, and frame-time graphs while the problem occurs. The exact game, graphics settings, refresh rate, and whether the stutter happens during loading or continuously would also help narrow it down.
Could that happen even if Windows still shows some memory available? I’ve noticed the problem while there was still unused RAM, so I wasn’t sure whether memory was actually responsible.