Guide
High FPS but the game still stutters? Find the driver behind it
FPS is an average. A game can run at hundreds of FPS and still have frames that take several times longer than the rest. Those are the hitches you feel. A common cause is a driver that holds the CPU too long, so the game has to wait.
Look at frames, not FPS
Watch the 1% low and the number of stutters instead of average FPS. A frame that takes twice as long as usual and 25 ms or more counts as one stutter. High FPS with many stutters means something keeps interrupting the game.
Drivers that hold the CPU too long
Every driver asks the CPU for short bits of work all the time. If one takes longer than 1000 µs (or 500 µs for a driver's most urgent work), the game hitches. To find it, let Windows time every driver for about 30 seconds while you really play, then see which ones go over.
What to do for each kind
- Graphics: update the graphics driver. If it stays high, do a clean install.
- Network: update the network card driver from its maker. On Wi Fi, cut down Wi Fi's background scanning.
- Sound: update the sound driver from the board maker and turn off sound devices you don't use.
- USB: unplug USB devices you don't use and update the chipset driver.
- Storage: update the chipset or storage driver from the board maker.
- BIOS: update the BIOS from the board maker.
- CPU power saving: cores take a moment to wake from deep idle. Only look at this when games really stutter.
Timer Resolution
Timer Resolution affects how even the frames are, but no single value is best for every PC. Test it on your own PC. See the guide on Win32 Priority and Timer Resolution.
Let Savenz Optimizer find it
The Fixes page of Savenz Optimizer has DRIVER LATENCY: Windows times every driver for 30 seconds while you play. It only reads and changes nothing, and needs Run as administrator. It tells you which driver held the CPU too long and what to do about it. For Wi Fi cards the Network page has Wi Fi Quiet, and Result Card measures the 1% low and stutters before and after.