Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634JZ) RTX 4080 is stuttering when using the discrete GPU

[jc0426]

Got this laptop last June 15 and I noticed that when using Ultimate in GPU mode in the Armoury Crate, games are stuttering really hard to the point that it's unplayable. They're also have lower FPS when the stuttering isn't happening. One of the things I noticed it that the GPU usage fluctuates between 50-99%.

The stuttering disappears once I use Standar in GPU mode which allows me to enable advanced optimus in the nvidia control panel, but that mode is busted too because I can't control the brightness level, the screen's brightness overly bright and it hurst my eye, and my display settings are detecting 2 monitors. So I'm avoiding that mode for now too.

Games which I've obeserved the stuttering:

• Red Dead Redemption2
• Cyberpunk 2077

I've yet to test other GPU intensive games, but so far the stuttering isn't present in games like DoTA2, Valorant or other non GPU intensive titles. I've tried using the recommended Nvidia drivers from the device's support page and clean installed my GPU drivers using DDU. I also tried fresh reinstalling windows but still nothing. I don't wanna update my BIOS though cause there seems to be an issue with ASUS laptops in updating the BIOS.

[jc0426]

 Looks like it’s very positive news. They specifically mentioned RDR2 Vukan API in advanced optimus laptops. Didn’t realize there was an update though I checked earlier before shutting down

[jc0426]

@-Airwave- @Daniel_Shaw @Scar16_4090 

Gents, I'm happy to report that the hotfix finally resolved the stuttering on Red Dead Redemption 2, Vulkan API, Ultimate Mode even with Rebar turned On.

Game also feels smoother and with slightly better performance, can't confirm the numbers but maybe rebar helps

Thanks all for your effort here. Cheers

[Daniel_Shaw]

Good news.. Also noticed this evening there is a BIOS update to version 324. Notes just say the usual optimize system performance

Came across a reddit post where a user is saying RDR2 is running better since this bios update. Might be worth an update for you

(2) New BIOS Update Version 324 for Asus Scar 16 2023: Seeking Experiences and Advice on Optional Up...

[-Airwave-]

sorry for the late response, but yes i also confirm that Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally free of any stuttering and performance issues on my configuration too, i am particularly happy because this is a game that i was surely going to return someday soon. The list of titles affected by reBAR related stuttering is shrinking, a lot of progress that this discussion helped acheiving. I start to feel the satisfaction for my purchase slowly returning but it will be fully restored only when this problem will be completely solved. Now i can uninstall RDR2 and make space for  Hitman 3 to follow it in the hope to be of help. As always thanks to everyone involved. 

[Scar16_4090]

@jc0426, well i was going to report the news about the new hotfix driver for RDR2 (an nvidia employee warned me about this and I've sent a PM on reddit to Airwave 😉), but I'm glad that you already tested it, and shared the news here, and everything is working 100% fine with RDR 2 now 💪

Now we need to pay attention to 2024 new games with rebar support and if Hitman 3 and metro are fixed

@Daniel_Shaw, why you were complaining about your laptop one week ago?

You been away for months and happy because your games are working fine... 

What changed in the last week?? 

P.S

No, the new bios doesn't FIX RDR 2,what fixed RDR2 was the hot fix nvidia driver that came out yesterday, but of course, another user with the same rebar issues that probably didn't complain about it on asus form or nvidia forum

We did all the work for him... And others

@-Airwave-, so what about metro or Hitman 3? Are they working fine? 

I need to report to nvidia employees

I have been away for some weeks

P.S

This is what changed regarding the new hotfix driver 

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/17v3i31/comment/kpgm33x/

P.S 2

@jc0426 @-Airwave- @Daniel_Shaw

Be happy that asus didn't close this thread yet

Because they closed all my threads about issues with scar 16 and asus laptops

Be it, gpu showing as an ejectable USB pen drive, the 622 nits bug on windows settings, flickering while using a browser, the color profile is only installed with armor crate (there's no driver for it), etc, etc, etc, etc

P.S 3

@MikeyMikey

You reported that metro wasnt working fine and you have been away for months

Is metro working fine now with the lastest nvidia drivers????

❓

[Samhawkes86]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know, I got my 4090 Asus scar 16 replaced today and all of the weird display issues with the brightness changing for no reason has gone away, as well as random system hangs. Screen behaves perfect on this new one and it's a much snappier system, so there was clearly something wrong with my last one.

[Samhawkes86]

Ok so I'm getting weird issues even with this new replacement I've received.

1. Ultimate GPU mode - stutters like mad on games and also brightness is really really dim, like 200 nits I'd guess dim, with the brightness bar on max. So completely unusable.

2. Advanced Optimus (to which referring to putting GPU mode on Nvidia control panel to automatic and armour crate to normal so that it suppose to detect and switch the only the dgpu when it detects it should like a game loading).

This seems to bug out constantly. Say if I've had a game crash, or laptop hang all of a sudden it won't switch to the dgpu when I game boots up. A restart doesn't seem to fix it either (with it still setup for advance optimus). I generally have to do some messing around in armoury crate and the Nvidia control panel, switch to echo mode and optimise and then optimised and a couple of restarts and then setting it back to automatic and standard to get it to start working again and switching to the dgpu when I boot up a game.

Stutters are fixed for the most part, but can still randomly start happening. For example I must have played 6 hours of skull and bones today no issues, and then advanced Optimus bugs out, alot of faff to get it to start switching to the dgpu on the fly again and then I tested F1 23 which has never exhibited stutters before, stuttered like mad.

3. Mini led bugs

I have constant issues with the screen brightness bugging out regardless of what mode I'm in. Basically being really dim all of a sudden after say waking it up from sleep, or after a restart sometimes or after a windows update. For example I've had to uninstall the last windows update. It basically breaks the display brightness completely without anyway to get it back, stuck at like 200 nits at max brightness. Uninstalling the update fixes the issue.it still bugs out, but it's not constantly stuck at 200 nits not matter what you do. Bit like being in ultimate mode.

4. Long term gaming appears to be an issue and I can't work out why. I use my laptop in a stand and monitor temps at all times with in game system monitoring. With a stable undervolt my CPU temps average between 70 and 80 with the odd spike here and there. Like today, I'm playing skull and bones, constantly monitoring tips and FPS as I do. 4 hours in, CPU temps haven't changed still averaging between 70 and 80 and GPU temps normally in the 60s, so ready happy with that, but all of a sudden areas that using give me between 70 to 80fps or so start dropping into the 50s and the game starts chugging. No settings change, no change in temps or clocks of both my CPU and GPU, everything looking good but FPS just starts dropping really low without any indication as to why.

NOTE - I've now had two of the exact same machine which is the 2023 scar 16 4090 with the mini led display, and those issues above have occured exactly the same on both machines. I know theres nothing wrong with it. It's firmware and drivers from Asus not playing well with either or both windows updates/Nvidia driver and the intel drivers.

I paid alot of money for this thing. Bugs when trying to use the dgpu (whether that be with advance optimus or using ultimate mode) and bugs with the brightness bugging out at 200 nits on the mini led display are really quite unacceptable I think. This thing wasn't cheap, and I went for this machine over other because of performance and the mini led display, so to have bugs with both is very annoying.

I'm going to keep playing around with it for a few more days but if I'm still not happy I'll be sending it back for a refund as long as I do it in the first 14 days

[Rosemary]

I’m having none of the issues you mentioned. Did you update every driver from asus’s website+bios  with nvidia drivers? I have scar 16 4080 with miniled and everything is working fine without issues like dimming etc.

[Samhawkes86]

Can you please tell me

What bios Ur using and what Nvidia graphics driver your using?

[-Airwave-]

EDIT: i have to apologize but i have to rectify my previous post. I have tested hitman 3 (now "hitman world of assasination"), at the first launch of the game the intro mission and hokkaido mission (from hitman 1) that i chose as a test stuttered like crazy. Now i have tried the missions of htiman 2 and 3 (had to buy a separate "upgrade pack", a b*****it  that would be worth a separate discussion) and they ran fine. Came back to hitman 1 missions and they are now running without problems too. Don't know what happened as i have changed nothing between the two tests. Next time i will be more cautious before posting.

If you have games that supports reBAR (i will post a list below), and have an Nvidia 4xxx class gpu, please test it and help us report issues it to nvidia, as this is a systemic problem that won't go magically away if we don't pressure intervention by Nvidia.  thanks.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/13zes73/created_a_list_with_supported_games_for_nvidia/?rdt...