Win7 x64 stuttering during gameplay.

[Fenric]

Hello all,

I have been troubleshooting stuttering I am experiencing in the game Elite: Dangerous. I heard about DPC latency in one of my searches which led me to this site and this tutorial:
https://www.sysnative.com/forums/wi...c-latency-issues-wpa-windows-vista-7-8-a.html

I've followed that tutorial however some of the steps didn't seem to work with the version of Windows Performance Analyzer now on the Microsoft site. Still I think I've found the results I wanted.
http://i.imgur.com/lmM1YRA.png

I'm not sure I understand these results, or if I've sorted them properly. This log was done with the game running and stuttering was present.

Here is my setup:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz @ 4.2GHz
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W
Windows 7 x64
Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard and a CM Storm Xornet mouse.

While reading about DPC latency I found discussions about HPET. Opinions and results are split on it. I found it was enabled in my BIOS, so I tried with it disabled and did not notice any difference. I then forced Windows to use it and rebooted and turned it back on. This actually seemed to improve the stuttering, and DPC latency checker showed it. However I still get spikes to 813 while in the game, and some stuttering continues.

Again, I'm not sure how to interpret the performance analyzer results. Is the DirectX Kernel listing because I was logging when the game was running, or is it not working properly?

I would appreciate any suggestions as this problem makes the game hard to enjoy.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Let's rule out some basic's.....

Is the system over heating? Has the system been cleaned out from dust/lent build up....thoroughly cleaned...all fans/heatsinks, ports, vents, exhaust ports, filters, PSU? The game in question; is it an online game or one installed on your PC?

 

[Fenric]

Let's rule out some basic's.....

Is the system over heating? Has the system been cleaned out from dust/lent build up....thoroughly cleaned...all fans/heatsinks, ports, vents, exhaust ports, filters, PSU? The game in question; is it an online game or one installed on your PC?

Hello, thanks for answering.

It is not overheating. I decided to finally overclock it after having it for some time. During that process I switched to the case from my last build to reduce noise picked up by my Blue Snowball microphone. I thoroughly cleaned the case and all the parts. I also discovered my BIOS had my fans set to 100% and the fan on the heatsink had burned out. It now has 2 fans in a push/pull setup and is running stable at 4.2GHz and does not break 70C during a Prime95 small fft stress test. The fans now adjust speed as temps rise.

Regarding the game Elite: Dangerous, it has a solo mode which is where I am doing my testing. However, I believe it still communicates with their servers even in this mode.

 

[Fenric]

Here is a log from LatencyMon. I started it after the game was already loaded in and I was playing for about 4 minutes. I noticed a lot of stuttering as usual.

CONCLUSION_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates. 
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for  0:04:12  (h:mm:ss) on all processors.




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name:                                        TOBIASFROST-PC
OS version:                                           Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601 (x64)
Hardware:                                             ASRock, Z77 Extreme4
CPU:                                                  GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Logical processors:                                   4
Processor groups:                                     1
RAM:                                                  8145 MB total




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU SPEED
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   3400.0 MHz
Measured CPU speed:                                   2665.0 MHz (approx.)


Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.


Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   3468.038536
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs):   4.418026


Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       206.311137
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs):       1.525827




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED ISRs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.


Highest ISR routine execution time (µs):              29.788824
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time:       ACPI.sys - ACPI Driver for NT, Microsoft Corporation


Highest reported total ISR routine time (%):          0.018477
Driver with highest ISR total time:                   hal.dll - Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL, Microsoft Corporation


Total time spent in ISRs (%)                          0.019582


ISR count (execution time <250 µs):                   251541
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs):                0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REPORTED DPCs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.


Highest DPC routine execution time (µs):              263.119118
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time:       iusb3xhc.sys - Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver, Intel Corporation


Highest reported total DPC routine time (%):          0.173238
Driver with highest DPC total execution time:         rspLLL64.sys - Resplendence Latency Monitoring and Auxiliary Kernel Library, Resplendence Software Projects Sp.


Total time spent in DPCs (%)                          0.528332


DPC count (execution time <250 µs):                   2351272
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs):                0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs):                2
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs):              0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs):                 0




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.


NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.


Process with highest pagefault count:                 msmpeng.exe


Total number of hard pagefaults                       2426
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          2418
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs):          129009.341471
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%):              0.443293
Number of processes hit:                              3




_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 PER CPU DATA
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       8.641116
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs):                29.788824
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.197805
CPU 0 ISR count:                                      251541
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs):                263.119118
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s):                   5.145301
CPU 0 DPC count:                                      2279882
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.347554
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 1 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs):                105.441765
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.050794
CPU 1 DPC count:                                      19532
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.205889
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 2 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs):                90.292941
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.062382
CPU 2 DPC count:                                      23216
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s):                       1.166474
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs):                0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s):                   0.0
CPU 3 ISR count:                                      0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs):                94.954706
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s):                   0.078398
CPU 3 DPC count:                                      28644
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

[Fenric]

Hello again,

Here is a complete trace file instead of a screenshot of one. This trace was started with a game already running and the same stuttering was present. In this trace I also have uninstalled and unplugged my Blue Snowball usb microphone, Sentey usb headset.

Microsoft services
I believe I set the permissions for the file and created the link properly. I've not used OneDrive before, so please tell me if it's not working.