ASUS Rog Strix G16 Microstuttering

[Eninxis]

I purchased a Rog Strix G16 back in September and it just now started to fail on me. In every game I open the game stutters every second or two for a fraction of a second.

I thought I've tried everything, from updating graphics drivers to reinstalling old ones. Changing every setting under the sun in the Armory Crate, My Asus App, and GeForce apps. Just yesterday I factory reset the laptop and I'm still having the same issue with just League of Legends installed.

I've checked the forums for other fixes, and it seems like most issues similar to mine resolve themselves. Is this a hardware issue?

(I recorded a 8 second clip of the stuttering occuring in game but am unable to upload that file here.)

[ElectroStingz]

Hello,

Might be good to check the temperatures when the laptop is idle and during a gaming load.

Hardware monitor can help https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.57.zip

Make sure you press on the + sign to expand all the sensor readings.

So if your CPU is constantly over 95 Degrees C during a game it will stutter. If it is around 80 but you get the odd spike up to 99 it might stutter slightly. 

Constant operating temperature is your main focus, spikes (peaks) are usually not much of a problem but it depends how hot it gets. The CPU if overheating, being a constant 95 Deg C (and the core frequency is low / downclocking too much) is a problem as that means it will try to cut back by introducing wait states during activity. Typically noticed as stutters and audio distortion.

If the GPU is also hot (need to know your exact model) the same can happen, for example if the GPU is constantly over 87 Deg C it will be choppy, if the GPU hotspot temperature is constantly at 105 its also too high, 110 its a problem. (peaks temp is always more than constant temp)

And the motherboard Intel chipset (PCH) it needs to be under 90, anything over and you are slightly prone to stutters.

CPU, GPU, PCH, RAM, SSD

Monitoring is best in realtime as if you post a screenshot of temps it might just be you showing a peak, not overall constant temperature if that makes sense. (video best, upload to youtube?) 

What's your laptop spec, CPU and GPU?

[Eninxis]

Posted reply to the OP by accident ^

[Eninxis]

Thanks for the reply, really hoping to get this figured out!

Here's a snippet of the HWMonitor while having League of Legends on medium graphics on a separate monitor.

https://youtu.be/b-sGhlNox2o

My laptop is a (2024) ASUS ROG Strix G16

NVIDIA RTX 4060

Intel i7-13650HX

16GB DDR5

1TB PCle Gen4 SSD

[ElectroStingz]

Thanks for the video, it shows your CPU package is running to high, being almost constantly over 95 and in conjunction with the P-core frequencies dipping to 399MHz and a low power draw its thermal throttling quite heavily.

That is the source of your stutters so you should get the cooling checked, will need a full clean and new liquid metal on the CPU, new thermal paste on the GPU and all the components the heatsink makes contact with (VRM). That should solve the problem.

[Eninxis]

Although I've built a couple PC's, I have never worekd on a laptop before. Is it viable to reach out to ASUS about doing these things? I bought the laptop in September and didn't register it for the year warranty (I thought it was automatically included). The year warranty is void, but will they still do the work for a decent price? Would I be better off taking it to a local well reviewed shop for these things?

[ElectroStingz]

I would imagine they offer after sales / out of warranty servicing depending where you are but you would have to check. Any good professional should be able to complete this without issues but make sure they use liquid metal on the CPU and ask for all the thermal putty on the VRM and GPU memory to be replaced with new thermal putty.

But any chance you can do this yourself? The cooler is easy to take off, just the back plastic panel, carefully disconnect the battery from the motherboard, then you have the fan screws, remove fans first, then the cooler screws. (youtube vids of similar / same laptop?)

Only challenging part is cleaning the liquid metal and taking time with the VRMs as the thermal putty will be solid.

All the blue parts = thermal putty. (obviously ESD safety will apply, anti-static strap + mat if you can obtain would be ideal)

[Eninxis]

It doesn't look too tough to get done. I'll order the parts tonight and keep you updated on progress. I appreciate the help.

[ElectroStingz]

And in the mean time so you don't cook your CPU consider disabling Turbo boost, this will help with the temperatures to some extent.

Open the registry and go here.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c

Set the attributes DWORD value to 2

Open the power plan settings and look for "Processor performance boost mode"

This will keep the frequencies lower but if the cooling performance is totally gone it will not do much. (and if you change profile in armoury crate you must adjust the power setting in that profile too.)

[ElectroStingz]

Np, just take your time and have all the materials ready, some examples.

https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/tg-putty/s-tg-p

https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/conductonaut/s-tg-c

GPU any good thermal paste, eg Arctic MX6

You will need a good thermal paste cleaner and cotton swabs.

https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/remove-cleaner/s-tg-ar-100

And note the screw placements as some on the laptop casing might be longer, you dont want to put a long screw in a place where a shorter screw went as it can punch through the casing.

Before and after pics too 🙂