Gameplay stuttering while showing 60fps HELP!

[magnuesgallant001]

1. Tried native hardware mode as well as software as I stated before, had the same stuttering. It occurs in both dx9 and dx11, no matter what options I have checked. Also tried differend SPU settings, even no sound at all.
So again, my pc surely in not too weak to play even least demanding pcsx2 games (devil summoner, resident evil CV, Onimusha 2) on native, and even on this lowest setting I get this slight stuttering without showing fps drops at all, also IF this would be actually related to dropping fps then I would also get slight sound skip/distortion as I use "none" option for sound synchornizing in SPU.
2. Would try external drive, but my sata III 7200rpm drive (seagate barracuda) have about 1 month and every other games/emulators works flawlessly.
3. Also will try disabling first defender and second avast.
4. No point doing speed step tweaks mostly because it can have bad effect for pc games that work great so far on my system.
5. Tried newest build from git as well as some older one, both have same stuttering as now uses pcsx2 1.2.1 r5875.

Disabling speedstep takes one minute, you literally just choose "disable" in a drop-down, that's all. If it doesn't work you can re-enable it. As MartyRocks says, speedstep enabled is not a requirement for smooth running of any PC games, nor does it have any beneficial effect on game performance. In rare instances it can actually have a detrimental effect when it can't keep up with rapid transitions in load/power demand in relation to the game. By disabling it you are simply telling your CPU to run @3.2ghz (or whatever your standard load speed is), all the time. Give it a try rather than just dismissing it out of hand. If it doesn't work then at the very least you have eliminated another possible suspect for the problem and can respond accordingly when people ask you.

Also, I take it from your answer, you are just looking at a digit frame counter rather than graph logging. Setting synchronisation to "none" may not necessarily mean that the drops you are experiencing are of sufficient duration to noticeably impact upon the sound. Graph log and see what you get.

Btw are you playing on a monitor or TV? If you are playing on a TV then try disabling any pseudo-120hz backlight scanning modes (they're often called things like "Clear LCD") as well as any frame interpolation motion smoothing (called things like "Tru-motion Plus" or "Motion Flow"), I know from personal experience that can cause perceptible stutter/hitching on the odd occasion.

[belmont1990]

I know your point, but it is very unlikely that periodical choppy framerate is by fps drops because when using vsync option I get butter smooth display with either constant 60 fps (where vsync takes actually even more power from system) or typical in emulation drops which gave me sound skip, slower gameplay in certain areas etc.
I will eventually try speedstep when everything else fails thou.

I'm using 26' 60hz samsung, 1360x768 TV for my pc display,32bit color depth of course, this was mandatory when I was building it - mini ITX mobo/case so I could easily place PC in cabinet next to tv.
As I can see I doesnt have any backlight scanning modes in this model (2010 manufactured).

Tried setting scaling from standard DISPLAY in nvidia control panel to GPU, but no effect at all.

Today I'm going back home for christmas and will try additional thing with pcsx2, I'm even concerning this could be related to using wireless mouse/ keyboard that can give in some games slight stutter due to dpi settings, will try also turning off smooth scrolling in win7.

[markyrocks69]

If you're pc is in a cabinet it's possible the cpu and or gpu is overheating. Nvidia cards throttle down when they reach certain temperature.

[belmont1990]

I get 50c CPU and 58c GPU at very max when running most demanding games, quite lower on pcsx2 - about 47-48 CPU and only 42-45 GPU. Thats definitely not overheating.

Tried disabling speedstep and like I guessed not change at all, but we have another optuon that fails here, also tired disconnectiong from intetnet, turning off mouse, minimizing pcsx2 windows while running game, disabling log menu - all for nothing, this problem is quite freqent - type stuttering/choppy windowed borderless, but sadly only enabled vsync can help so far.

[magnuesgallant001]

It is good that you have finally crossed Speedstep off the list as for the entirety of this thread you have been summarily dismissing some of the usual suspects (for the problem) suggested by others because of your own preconceptions which may not necessarily be correct. This makes it difficult and somewhat exasperating to try and assist you. Remember that you have asked people to use their own time to try and help you for free. Gushing thanks is not required but a more open mind in respect to the suggestions offered would not go amiss. Mouse DPI was unlikely to have anything to do with it unless you were using insanely high DPI and polling rates with a really really old, weak processor. Besides, I gather you weren't using the mouse for those games anyway so it's doubly moot. Still, it didn't hurt to try - which is why I don't understand why you won't even entertain the notion that your problem might be tied to framerates.

In fact, your comments thus far suggest that you are somewhat confused as to how Vsync vs framerate works. You repeatedly insist that Vsync requires "more power" and that as it is giving you smooth albeit sometimes lower framerates, a lack of power could not possibly be the cause of the problem you experience when Vsync is disabled. You are similarly dismissive of the issue being anything to do with framerates whatsoever despite not confirming that you have done any kind of accurate test to confirm this (i.e. graph logging).

The fact that you are getting a relatively smooth V-SYNCED frame rate, albeit with occasional extended drops, in comparison to your supposedly "constant 60fps" with Vsync disabled actually suggests that you were NOT getting a locked 60fps in the first place.

Vsync is not just a frame cap per se and while it's purpose is to eliminate screen tear it does also have a bearing on smooth frame rates and frame timings. It syncs / locks the FPS to your screen refresh rate BUT your system HAS to be able to maintain that fps (or just under) as a minimum at ALL times. If and when it can't then the lock is broken and you get significant drops in frame rate to a factor of your refresh rate. (You can do your own research if you want to know more about Vsync factors / refresh rate multiples and the framerate degradation stages and process). These drops last until your system can regain that screen refresh equivalent minimum.

These will very likely be the drops you are experiencing with V-sync enabled. V-synced frame rate drops are nothing directly to do with V-sync as a feature "using more power". It does not place any extra demand on the GPU/CPU to any sort of relevant degree. Power is only relevant to Vsync in respect to whether or not your system can maintain that bare minimum fps equivalent to your screen refresh rate (so in your case 60fps / 60hz). You insist you can because you have been keeping an eye on your frame digit counter with Vsync off (which is as I have repeatedly stated not a guaranteed method) but if that were true then you wouldn't be getting those extended drops in V-sync. Run a graph log, it will tell you if your 60fps w/o Vsync is really constant as you believe. If it is then at least you have PROPERLY eliminated that possibility rather than dismissing it out of hand.

Re TV: Samsung TV 2010 model does not narrow it down for me, manufactures make multiple differing models sporting the same size and resolution each year. Almost all TVs these days have some form of motion interpolation feature. Often these features are set to 'ON' out of the box, sometimes even in 'Game Mode'. If you can find and post an official link to the online manual or a download for it then, I would be happy to go through it and tell you what, if anything should be turned off for the purposes of your testing.

[belmont1990]

Okay so first my exact tv model :http://www.samsung.com/pl/support/model/LE26B450C4WXXH

Well how can I get a graph to look is my fps really constant 60 without any hitching? Is it part of CPU Z?

I stated as first that is very unlikely that those are fps drops due to even native hardware mode have those choppy frames sometimes, I think the problemis related to pcsx2 running in windowed mode, no typical fullscreen sadly.

[magnuesgallant001]

I understand what you said about frame rates in native mode but something seems to be wrong if not with the frame rate then at the very least with frame timings and as I said, if you were really getting constant 60fps without vsync then you wouldn't be getting FPS drops with Vsync enabled. These drops mean you are not meeting V-sync's frame rate and/or frame timing minimum criteria.

There might be a way to graph log via PCSX2's monitoring / logging features but I've never needed to monitor or benchmark in PCSX2 so you'll have to look in to that yourself. I know for a fact that something like MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X does do it however. Just go in to settings, then to monitoring or logging and uncheck everything except frame rate / fps and perhaps frame times/timing. You would want to record for a good few minutes, say 5-10 and set any features relating to logging/polling rates to the highest frequency so as to pick up microstutter/split second drops. Start logging during actual gameplay or if not, at least be mindful that actual frame rates during loading, title and menu screens can be very low as a matter of course.


I checked your TV settings and it appears not to have any motion interpolation features at all so it's probably not tied to your display although if you haven't done already, try comparing PC mode with Game mode. These are picture modes obviously but there is also an independent feature called Film mode which can be set to off or auto and the manual reads as though this can be set during each picture mode. Probably irrelevant but try both Film mode on auto and off with both PC and Game modes (if it allows you to) just to eliminate the possibility.

When you say titles on other emulators work fine, do you mean Dolphin? Because that's the only remotely comparable emulator to PCSX2 in terms of system demands. Comparing something like Zsnes, Snes 9x or ePCSXe wouldn't make sense.

I am currently playing Suikoden III and have noticed no difference in windowed or full screen although I spend most of my time in full screen so it's not a thorough comparison. Regardless, what do you mean by "no typical full screen"? Why aren't you able to play PCSX2 games in fullscreen? Why do you have to use windowed mode?

[belmont1990]

I'm saying that pcsx2 even while going full screen is using "windowed borderless" mode instead of normal fullscreen, where windows dwm don't have to manage all windows indepentenly, thus might be leading to stuttering as far as my thinking goes right.

Also about vsync going slower than without it - yes you are absolutely sure that if I get constant 60fps and enable vsync then i shouldnt have any fps drops at all but IN PC GAMING - just look at the pcsx2 explanation about vsync (usually have big performance hit), vsync in pc game and emulator are different thing, every emulator I tried that were demanding (pcsx2, ppsspp, dolphin) and turning on vsync option actually gives lower fps but no screen tearing.

For example - in DQVIII I get 60fps all time with vsync disabled, and after turning this ON I get like 45-50 fps all the time, if I would get the same without vsync then choppy animation would be visible all the time and severe, but I get slight stuttering like I said before - its about 10-15 second nice smooth gameplay and about 3 second of choppyness, without any sound skip, any fps drops shown on counters.

Also yesterday nvidia released new whql driver, installed this and no change still.
I think I might not be only one from actually few persons having this issue, lots of people especially without many years of actual ps2 gaming would not even notice this thinking those games had natively fps drops, but I can compare this to my gameplay experience from ps2 console and sadly it is hardly the same.

[Akio]

Actually, fps drops are quite easy to notice. You might be right and you also might be wrong. If you want to prove it, you can ask somebody who claims to not have the issue send you a video. Or you can check PCSX2 videos on YouTube. I still recommend you overclock your CPU. If it doesn't work, you can revert it immediately.

[Franpa]

Your issue sounds 99% exactly the same as what I suffer from under Windows Vista and newer operating systems while using Aero and non-fullscreen exclusive display mode applications. Strangely though, PCSX2 doesn't exhibit the problem on my system (Basically everything but Media Player Classic, PCSX2 and Gambatte do, though).

Since you're under Windows 7, try playing PCSX 2 with Aero disabled (Use either a Basic desktop theme or enable a compatibility flag on the emulators EXE file to disable the compositor while the emulator is operating, either process will accomplish the desired test environment). Does the intermittent frame duplication (visual stutter) disappear?

For more details on the problem I experience and a solution the devs can implement without negatively affecting XP and newer users, look here (Seeing as I don't suffer the issue I imagine something like this has already been implemented): http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=386624#p386624