Just bumping this thread as I'm also having the same issue for several months now and would like to know if anyone else had it or was able to solve it.
Looking at some of the responses it seems the issue may be misunderstood.
The issue is in 2D graphics mode, such as web browsing or notepad++, suddenly out of nowhere it will become apparent the GPU is only rendering a very low frame rate. Vertical scrolling in a web browser feels to be around 15fps and keystrokes feel delayed.
At first I thought this was due to GPU downclocking at idle, eg. AMD 300Mhz bug, but I've forced max clocks with app ClockBlocker while the issue was presenting and that didn't solve it. I've also had both NVidia and AMD GPUs in the same system and both have the issue.
It is possible to recover out of it by grabbing a window and dragging it around for a split second. With the NVidia, it was possible to recover just by scrolling a web page for a few seconds.
I also have a second Win7 machine and that one doesn't suffer the issue at all, regardless of which GPU is installed (GTX 1070 or R9 380).
I'm speculating maybe there is some registry setting for the DWM which controls its power saving behaviour, or maybe some Windows update broke it which one of my Win7 machines has but the other doesn't.
I have also tried removing all third party GPU software like MSI Afterburner and ClockBlocker.
The biggest problem is that it's impossible to reliably reproduce -- it just strikes randomly and intermittently out of nowhere. Sometimes it'll go several hours without happening, then the next day 3 times within an hour.
edit: was searching some more and found this possible regkey solution
https://www.sevenforums.com/general-dis ... ost3400268
Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
Last edited by pneu on 15 Jun 2022, 22:54, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
Interesting find: on my Win7 machine which suffers the issue, the FrameRateMin regkey doesn't exist. On my other Win7 machine which does not suffer the issue, the key exists and is set to c8 (200fps).
I have no memory of ever setting that key, in fact I only learned about it today. I can only guess that at some point an application must have created it there. Or maybe a Windows update created it.
In any case this is highly encouraging & it would appear FrameRateMin may be the only key needed (the other key to force it to DX9 mode might not be necessary so I'm not using it for now).
I'll report back if I am unable to reproduce the issue.
I have no memory of ever setting that key, in fact I only learned about it today. I can only guess that at some point an application must have created it there. Or maybe a Windows update created it.
In any case this is highly encouraging & it would appear FrameRateMin may be the only key needed (the other key to force it to DX9 mode might not be necessary so I'm not using it for now).
I'll report back if I am unable to reproduce the issue.
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
Go nvidia cp, manage 3d settings, add dwm as a program and change to high performance
https://t.me/pump_upp
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InputLagger
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Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
For sure it will stay as long as dwm.exe is running. You can also apply high performance setting for a whole system if you want
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
The FrameRateMin regkey seems to have done the trick.
I'm not sure a GPU power profile would work as I already tried that with ClockBlocker forcing max clocks while the issue was presenting and it had no effect. Maybe it would work with Nvidia but I prefer fixing the root cause.
I'm not sure a GPU power profile would work as I already tried that with ClockBlocker forcing max clocks while the issue was presenting and it had no effect. Maybe it would work with Nvidia but I prefer fixing the root cause.
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
Just to update, the regkey fix is still working for me, but I'm pretty sure the bugged DWM behaviour is still occurring as the DWM rendering can still occasionally exhibit some very slight microstutter for brief periods under certain circumstances, and it can be remedied by grabbing a window and dragging it around, or scrolling a webpage up and down at a fast enough speed. To try and solve this I tried MinFramerate 120 instead of 200 to match my monitor (119.88hz) but this didn't show an improvement. I'm now trying 240fps to see if running it at twice the refresh rate would get it past some Nyquist limit. If that doesn't work I'll probably try 360fps.
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
If you've committed to windows 7 for performance reason, the only right answer to this is to not associate with dmw.exe at all to avoid this issue altogether. classic theme
Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. - US FDA
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
If I untick "enable desktop composition" in Performance Options I lose vsync and the frame rate appears lower and more stuttery when dragging windows around.
Re: Random lag associated with DWM.exe in Windows 7
yeah, tis the price you pay for the freedom of windowed gaming 360hz actually helps immensely with that. which makes me think it could be fixed with some registry key but who knows
Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. - US FDA