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Stuttering, lower frame rate during Cutscenes & SATA CPU Offloading

mkanet
Level 7
Asus Z97 Deluxe
Intel Core i7‑4790K @4.40GHz
EVGA 1080ti sc2
1929x1980 @60Hz + vsync + triple buffering
SSHD 4TB Hybrid drive
32GB RAM

I noticed that the only time any of my games drop below 60fps or stutter is during Cutscenes. When I first got my PC, I focused on getting the fastest possible throughout on my SSHD drive in Crystal Disk benchmarking tool (without considering CPU Offloading and how it would affect real 3D games WHILE doing heavy HDD loading during Cutscenes).

I would definitely rather load games a little slower without affecting GPU/CPU sensitive rendering, if I can have that flexibility.

I am hoping some experienced Asus gamers could recommend BIOS and Windows settings that might help Cutscenes with heavy HDD loading.
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5 REPLIES 5

Nate152
Moderator
Hi mkanet

Most of the time that's just how cutscenes are, cutscenes can be stuttery even if it's showing 60 FPS, some games run cutscenes at 30FPS.

II's nothing to worry about really, I focus mainly on actual gameplay.

Korth
Level 14
This is another unfortunate example of synthetic benchmarks being not equal to real-world (gaming) performance, lol.

I can only suggest:
- replace the SSHD with a decent SSD ... costs money but you only really need it for system/boot/cache (and can keep the SSHD installed for everything else), so even a puny 60GB or 120GB should be plenty.
- partition some memory (maybe 16GB or so) into a ROG RAMDisk ... and copy/install your game folders onto it ... ROG RAMDisk may or may not work on your older ASUS mobo, but if it doesn't then other RAM disk software is inexpensive ... alternately, you can try ROG RAMCache.
- install Intel® Optane™ ... I think it's a ripoff, to be honest, because for the same price you can just get a proper SSD, but since you currently lack a proper SSD you could benefit from Optane caching ... and I admit I'm uncertain whether it's compatible with pre-Skylake platforms, sorry.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Yes, it seems like most gamers just shrug it off; and leave this issue alone. I doubt that's how these Cutscenes were intended to be displayed by developers.

I can't help but notice WHEN there's a burst of HDD activity, framerate drops from 60fps to 30fps, at least on my setup. Also stuttering happens exactly the same time there's bursts of HDD activity. I'm almost certain if these Cutscenes were to playback again in RAM, cached, these issues would go away.

PS:. I use a vert fast Samsung 850 Pro SSD for Windows Boot/System/Apps... But it doesn't have enough room to store my games.

haihane
Level 13
yes, but at the same time, applying devil's advocate logic, won't the devs also say: if everybody put my game on ssd, these problems will go away.

(interested, and curious about your reasoning)
no siggy, saw stuff that made me sad.