Cs2 mirco stuttering (ms-spikes) Help needed

[Lukas_]

hi,
everything i've tried so far hasn't helped, so maybe someone here has an idea.

i'm getting really bad ms spikes that lead to microstutters in cs2. i've tested almost everything i could find — in-game settings, windows tweaks, bios configs, etc.
i upgraded to win11 24h2, which did improve boost behavior, but the micro-lags are still there.

besides cs2, the only things i have running are faceit ac, teamspeak, msi afterburner (telemetry is fully off, aware of the 9800x3d issue), and logitech g hub.

my setup:

cpu: 9800x3d
mobo: asus rog strix x870-e (gaming wifi)
ram: g.skill 2x48gb ddr5-6000 cl28-36-36-96 (f5-6000j2836f48gx2-tz5nr)
gpu: evga 3080 ti ftw3
cooler: noctua nh-d15 gen2 (best fit for am5)
psu: seasonic prime 1600w
mouse: logitech superlight 2 (1k polling rate to 8k hz polling rate makes no diffrence currently at 4k)
keyboard: ducky one 60%
display: zowie XL2546K 240 hz

bios settings:

expo: on expo 1
game mode: on (better cs2 performance for me, smt is off)
pbo: advanced, all cores -15
power limit: motherboard
rebar: on

os:

windows 11 24h2 (latest updates)
game mode: on
hags: off
debloated with chris titus tech utility
power plan: performance
almost a clean install

cs2 settings:

4:3, 1280x960, 239 hz
competitive settings
player contrast: on (yeah, it eats some fps but helps in darker scenes)
launch options: -console -high -allow_third_party_software -noreflex
(tried -threads 9 — didn’t change anything, not sure it’s even relevant with smt off)
fps_max 0 — currently capped at 400 fps via RTSS using this config: "cs2 subreddit found a fix for bad 1% and 0.1% lows"
(async cap stutters a bit less ms-spikes still present also worried about input lag)
fullscreen optimization off
in game telemetry: all - allways visible
in heaven benachmark (map by angel@fpsheaven dust 2) avg: 398 (400cap) P1 lows: 290-300 seems fine to me.
nvidia driver:

544.16 (newer ones didn’t perform better for me)
settings: max performance, low latency on, max refresh rate: highest available
scaling: gpu, override scaling of programms and games: checked

all other drivers (bios, chipset, etc. — except gpu) are up to date.
temps are totally fine, i monitor everything.
system passes aida64 and cinebench without issues.
in heaven benchmark, frame times spike to maybe 20ms max, and there’s way less stuttering than in cs2.
my isp could be at higher down speeds but for gaming its very stable, no or very litter jitter

what i’m thinking:

something’s just off with the game
or my hardware combo is just unlucky
maybe something’s wrong with the gpu? don’t really think so, it’d probably behave differently if it were actually broken
ram timings might be too tight (cl28), but that’s stock for the kit — no manual oc, just expo 1
or maybe there’s some setting i missed that’s making the 9800x3d stutter — saw some posts about that too

thanks

edit: tried vsync game felt very unresponsive to me (still used to CS:GO ) mircostutters still present

[OostBlokBoys]

using RTSS has caused micro stutters in CS2 in the last couple of months.
All new threads on reddit recommend to disable nvidia reflex ingame, then put -noreflex in start options, limit frames via nvidia control panel (i have it at 400) and put low latency mode on in NVCP. i disabled HAGS, game mode, rebar, fullscreen optimizations and enabled 'optimizations for windowed games' in windowsd graphic settings. try these and let me know, i have a 9800x3d paired with 3070 and hit about 500 avg and 300 1% lows in the cs2 benchmark map

[Slender]

outdated cards

[n1ghtik]

you need to identify the side that's having the problem, whether it's network or hadware

turn off faceit ac, secure boot, firmware tpm (disable bitlocker beforehand), if the problem goes away, it's a hardware problem

Connect your network via usb-c hotspot and play a couple of games via mobile internet(4g,5g, lte).
Your isp and the way you connect the internet can change the behavior of the game on the client side, with a crappy isp your game can feel like you are having fps drops and playing with host_timescale 1.3

[Lukas_]

outdated cards

which one do u would recomend? 4080 S, 5080? i only play cs.
i dont have massive fps issues with my 3080ti, just ms spikes (2-3 to 20-30ms)
also want the least bootleneck but guess thats only possible with 5090 (+) ....

[kyube]

Let's disect this 1 by 1, I will highlight what I find problematic with red

besides cs2, the only things i have running are faceit ac, teamspeak, msi afterburner (telemetry is fully off, aware of the 9800x3d issue), and logitech g hub.

Logitech G HUB is application SW with severe CPU overhead (wastes CPU cycles & causes excessive context switching), which can contribute to macrostuttering (which is what you're describing instead, at least imo)
Use Logitech Gaming Software (LGS) instead

my setup:
cpu: 9800x3d
mobo: asus rog strix x870-e (gaming wifi)
ram: g.skill 2x48gb ddr5-6000 cl28-36-36-96 (f5-6000j2836f48gx2-tz5nr)
gpu: evga 3080 ti ftw3
cooler: noctua nh-d15 gen2 (best fit for am5)
psu: seasonic prime 1600w
mouse: logitech superlight 2 (1k polling rate to 8k hz polling rate makes no diffrence currently at 4k)
keyboard: ducky one 60%
display: zowie XL2546K 240 hz

bios settings:
expo: on expo 1
game mode: on (better cs2 performance for me, smt is off)
pbo: advanced, all cores -15
power limit: motherboard
rebar: on

all other drivers (bios, chipset, etc. — except gpu) are up to date.
temps are totally fine, i monitor everything.
system passes aida64 and cinebench without issues.
in heaven benchmark, frame times spike to maybe 20ms max, and there’s way less stuttering than in cs2.
my isp could be at higher down speeds but for gaming its very stable, no or very litter jitter

Aida64 & Cinebench are not stress testing applications to verify stability of a system.
They are benchmarking applications
I will quote @shrimps, who worded elegantly on what stability entails:

“No amount of memory stress testing is enough, stress testing is just an approximation of stability.
Learn patterns of your memory/imc and apply an overclock that not only passes tests, but also has headroom for when conditions change.”

Here are my recommendations, in terms of hardware:
- Your kit is not on the QVL of your motherboard, meaning possibility of instability is extremely possible when enabling EXPO.
- Considering that CS2 does not scale as much with lower R/W RAM latency or higher RAM bandwidth (source), I would recommend that you experiment with EXPO disabled and reinstall your OS (23H2 or 24H2) to iron out any potential corruption from a (very likely) unstable RAM profile.
- If you want to go down the RAM stress testing route, use app sw such as: RamTestPro (purple icon) for +16h (ideally with Furmark to simulate a more realistic workload, but u can try without), ycruncher, OCCT, HCI Memtest etc.
Linpack does not work on AMD, as it relies on Intel specific libraries to do the linear algebra. If you come across someone recommending it for AMD, don't take heed.
Anecdotally, Karhu & TM5 seem to miss easy errors on DDR5 as of the time of writing, so I would avoid using those.

What temps do you consider “fine”? This is very important to note.
You could also provide a ZenTimings screenshot to evaluate other settings of your motherboard.

I find Game Mode to be redundant, you can disable SMT instead of using Game Mode.

PBO should be avoided at all cost, as it increases jitter from the variable clock rate and thus can incur microstuttering behavior.

Using a wireless mouse incurs at minimum 1ms of added motion latency overhead, use wired instead.
You also induce severe RF intereference to your environment and possibly even negatively contribute to your overall health.
Higher polling rates exacerbate stuttering as well, due to increased interrupt count. Especially noticable if you're using stock (Microsoft) USB drivers, which are known for increased DPC/ISR overhead.

os: windows 11 24h2 (latest updates) / game mode: on / hags: off / debloated with chris titus tech utility / power plan: performance
cs2 settings:
4:3, 1280x960, 239 hz / competitive settings / player contrast: on (yeah, it eats some fps but helps in darker scenes) / launch options: -console -high -allow_third_party_software -noreflex
fps_max 0 — currently capped at 400 fps via RTSS using this config: "cs2 subreddit found a fix for bad 1% and 0.1% lows"
(async cap stutters a bit less ms-spikes still present also worried about input lag)
fullscreen optimization off
nvidia driver: 544.16 (newer ones didn’t perform better for me)
settings: max performance, low latency on, max refresh rate: highest available / scaling: gpu, override scaling of programs and games: checked

what i’m thinking:
something’s just off with the game or my hardware combo is just unlucky
maybe something’s wrong with the gpu? don’t really think so, it’d probably behave differently if it were actually broken
ram timings might be too tight (cl28), but that’s stock for the kit — no manual oc, just expo 1
or maybe there’s some setting i missed that’s making the 9800x3d stutter — saw some posts about that too

Why are you running -noreflex and Nvidia's Low Latency setting set to "On"?
If you are GPU limited with your 3080ti, opt for Reflex or use the in-game frame rate limiter to achieve lower GPU usage.
As for using RTSS async as a external frame limiter solution, bear in mind that it adds an additional 1 frame of latency (400fps = 2,5ms), while RTSS front-edge / back-edge sync (best for frametimes) causes an additional 2 frames of added latency (5ms)

Why are you using FSO (used to be called eFSE) disabled?
Have you verified what Presentation Mode your game is running in when you disable it, which is done by ticking the setting on CS2.exe's “Properties” window?
I would advise against doing so.

Considering that you are on a XL2546, refer to: https://boringboredom.github.io/tools/fpscapcalculator
If you are using DyAc, it will exacerbate any macrostuttering or microstuttering you have due to the lower MPRT you're targetting.
Refer to “How to use strobing competitively and beautifully”

I would also avoid using W11 drivers for your NIC, but I don't have any data on how Realtek's 5GbE NIC behaves.

I would also avoid using the CS2 Benchmark's statistics provided in the console. Use PresentMon-based solutions such as Nvidia's FrameView, CapFrameX, PresentMon CLI.

Hope this helps.

[BlurWickd]

Some questions in no particular order to help narrow it down as I personally have a 9800x3d:

1. Have you updated your bios?
2. Do you have the latest chipset drivers?
3. Have you tested with default windows settings on a fresh install? (non-debloated aka gamebar not being removed and power plan staying on balanced?)
4. 2x48gb ram cl28 6000 is almost certainly not stable, have you tested things out without expo? is your ram set to 1:1 in bios with expo enabled, if so can you test 2:1 to see if it improves?
5. Gamemode on is not better by any means, if this is the case then its likely that something isn't stable such as your soc voltage being too low. What is your soc voltage set to?
6. Have you tested with pbo disabled / set to advanced with motherboard limits but without CO enabled?
7. Did you install your chipset drivers / realtek drivers through your mobo website or from amd/realteks official website?
8. Have you tested enabling c-states in bios?
9. Do you have iGPU enabled/disabled in bios?
11. Could you share what you modified in your bios?
12. Which way did you install 24h2? was it within windows or a fresh install through usb? if it was within windows - did you have a different CPU installed previously?
13. Did you try nvidia driver version 566.36? Did you DDU in safemode with internet disabled while installing it?
14. Did you install windows with a microsoft account or local account?

For stability testing I recommend using OCCT for starters to get a quick indicator if something is wrong - just use the default test for CPU and CPU+RAM for now, before doing this I recommend loading factory defaults on bios and only enabling expo.

[RealNC]

outdated cards

which one do u would recomend? 4080 S, 5080? i only play cs.
i dont have massive fps issues with my 3080ti, just ms spikes (2-3 to 20-30ms)
also want the least bootleneck but guess thats only possible with 5090 (+) ....

3080 Ti is perfectly fine for CS. Spikes are always CPU related, not GPU.

[Slender]

outdated cards

which one do u would recomend? 4080 S, 5080? i only play cs.
i dont have massive fps issues with my 3080ti, just ms spikes (2-3 to 20-30ms)
also want the least bootleneck but guess thats only possible with 5090 (+) ....

4060ti

[kyube]

4060ti

Why are you trolling the OP, when he's just asking for help? You're recommending him a severely downgrade GPU compared to what he already has?....