Blur Busters Forums

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

Hi everyone,

I've been dealing with persistent stutter and frame time spikes for over a year now and I've exhausted almost every fix I can find. I'm hoping someone here can spot something I've missed — I'm at the point where I don't know what else to try.

--- System Specs ---
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: MSI RTX 4060 Ti
RAM: 32GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 3600MHz CL18 (2x16GB)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power 12M
OS: Windows 11
Monitor: Samsung Odyssey G4 240Hz

--- The problem ---
Stutter and frame time spikes occur in CS2 and other games. What's strange is that I can sometimes feel the system isn't fully smooth even on the desktop — not just in games. LatencyMon consistently identifies nvlddmkm.sys as the highest DPC latency source (~856µs peak). CapFrameX confirms all frame time spikes are 100% CPU-sourced.

Key pattern: Stutters are minimal at the start of a session. They get progressively worse after 1-2 matches/hours of play. The same location in a map can run perfectly smooth on one run, then stutter badly on another. This rules out pure shader compilation as the cause.

--- Diagnostics ---
- LatencyMon: nvlddmkm.sys highest DPC (~856µs)
- CapFrameX: all spikes CPU-sourced (not GPU)
- MemTest86: passed (no RAM errors)
- Tested single stick (16GB single channel): same issue

--- Everything I have already tried ---

GPU / NVIDIA:
- Clean driver install with DDU (multiple driver versions tested)
- HAGS: tested both on and off (currently on)
- MSI Mode Utility: GPU set to MSI mode + High priority
- Realtek NIC interrupt moderation reduced via MSI Mode Utility
- NVCP Low Latency Mode: currently Ultra (tested Off/On/Ultra)
- GPU undervolt via MSI Afterburner (~975mV @ 2700MHz)
- MPO disabled via registry

RAM:
- Running XMP/A-XMP (3600 CL18)
- Tested with XMP off (JEDEC 2133)
- tRFC1 manually reduced (991 → 560)
- tRCDRD/tRP corrected to 17
- Single stick test: same result
- MemTest86: passed

BIOS:
- Updated to latest stable version
- C-States disabled
- PBO disabled (tested)
- fTPM: AMD CPU fTPM (no discrete TPM slot on this board), TPM cleared via tpm.msc
- FeatureSettingsOverride = 3 / FeatureSettingsOverrideMask = 3 applied
- AMD Chipset drivers: updated and reinstalled

Windows / Software:
- 30+ clean Windows reinstalls (both Win10 and Win11) — problem persists on both
- Tested on completely fresh Windows with only CS2 installed — same result
- Process Lasso: CS2 set to High priority, tested core affinity options
- ISLC: running with 6GB threshold and 0.5ms timer resolution
- bcdedit: useplatformtick yes, disabledynamictick yes
- Xbox Game Bar disabled via registry
- Task Scheduler cleaned up

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue
- The Ryzen 7 5800X is the only component that has never been swapped

--- My concern ---
I suspect the CPU or motherboard may be faulty at a hardware level, but I'm honestly scared to upgrade. I've already replaced almost every other component and the problem didn't go away — so there's a real fear that even if I buy a new CPU or switch platforms, the stutter might still be there and I'll have spent money for nothing. Before I make that jump, I really want to make sure I haven't missed something fixable.

Has anyone with a similar system found a workaround that actually helped? Or does this symptom pattern point clearly to the CPU being the culprit? Any advice on how to confirm this before spending money would be really appreciated.

Happy to run any diagnostics and post results.

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

--- System Specs ---
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: MSI RTX 4060 Ti
RAM: 32GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 3600MHz CL18 (2x16GB)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power 12M


--- The problem ---
Stutter and frame time spikes occur in CS2 and other games. What's strange is that I can sometimes feel the system isn't fully smooth even on the desktop — not just in games. LatencyMon consistently identifies nvlddmkm.sys as the highest DPC latency source (~856µs peak). CapFrameX confirms all frame time spikes are 100% CPU-sourced.

Key pattern: Stutters are minimal at the start of a session. They get progressively worse after 1-2 matches/hours of play. The same location in a map can run perfectly smooth on one run, then stutter badly on another. This rules out pure shader compilation as the cause.

--- Diagnostics ---
- LatencyMon: nvlddmkm.sys highest DPC (~856µs)
- CapFrameX: all spikes CPU-sourced (not GPU)
- MemTest86: passed (no RAM errors)
- Tested single stick (16GB single channel): same issue

- GPU undervolt via MSI Afterburner (~975mV @ 2700MHz)
- MPO disabled via registry

- Process Lasso: CS2 set to High priority, tested core affinity options
- ISLC: running with 6GB threshold and 0.5ms timer resolution

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue
- The Ryzen 7 5800X is the only component that has never been swapped

--- My concern ---
I suspect the CPU or motherboard may be faulty at a hardware level, but I'm honestly scared to upgrade. I've already replaced almost every other component and the problem didn't go away — so there's a real fear that even if I buy a new CPU or switch platforms, the stutter might still be there and I'll have spent money for nothing. Before I make that jump, I really want to make sure I haven't missed something fixable.

Has anyone with a similar system found a workaround that actually helped? Or does this symptom pattern point clearly to the CPU being the culprit? Any advice on how to confirm this before spending money would be really appreciated.

Happy to run any diagnostics and post results.

crack wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 23:23

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

Hi everyone,

I've been dealing with persistent stutter and frame time spikes for over a year now and I've exhausted almost every fix I can find. I'm hoping someone here can spot something I've missed — I'm at the point where I don't know what else to try.

--- System Specs ---
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: MSI RTX 4060 Ti
RAM: 32GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 3600MHz CL18 (2x16GB)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power 12M
OS: Windows 11
Monitor: Samsung Odyssey G4 240Hz

--- The problem ---
Stutter and frame time spikes occur in CS2 and other games. What's strange is that I can sometimes feel the system isn't fully smooth even on the desktop — not just in games. LatencyMon consistently identifies nvlddmkm.sys as the highest DPC latency source (~856µs peak). CapFrameX confirms all frame time spikes are 100% CPU-sourced.

Key pattern: Stutters are minimal at the start of a session. They get progressively worse after 1-2 matches/hours of play. The same location in a map can run perfectly smooth on one run, then stutter badly on another. This rules out pure shader compilation as the cause.

--- Diagnostics ---
- LatencyMon: nvlddmkm.sys highest DPC (~856µs)
- CapFrameX: all spikes CPU-sourced (not GPU)
- MemTest86: passed (no RAM errors)
- Tested single stick (16GB single channel): same issue

--- Everything I have already tried ---

GPU / NVIDIA:
- Clean driver install with DDU (multiple driver versions tested)
- HAGS: tested both on and off (currently on)
- MSI Mode Utility: GPU set to MSI mode + High priority
- Realtek NIC interrupt moderation reduced via MSI Mode Utility
- NVCP Low Latency Mode: currently Ultra (tested Off/On/Ultra)
- GPU undervolt via MSI Afterburner (~975mV @ 2700MHz)
- MPO disabled via registry

RAM:
- Running XMP/A-XMP (3600 CL18)
- Tested with XMP off (JEDEC 2133)
- tRFC1 manually reduced (991 → 560)
- tRCDRD/tRP corrected to 17
- Single stick test: same result
- MemTest86: passed

BIOS:
- Updated to latest stable version
- C-States disabled
- PBO disabled (tested)
- fTPM: AMD CPU fTPM (no discrete TPM slot on this board), TPM cleared via tpm.msc
- FeatureSettingsOverride = 3 / FeatureSettingsOverrideMask = 3 applied
- AMD Chipset drivers: updated and reinstalled

Windows / Software:
- 30+ clean Windows reinstalls (both Win10 and Win11) — problem persists on both
- Tested on completely fresh Windows with only CS2 installed — same result
- Process Lasso: CS2 set to High priority, tested core affinity options
- ISLC: running with 6GB threshold and 0.5ms timer resolution
- bcdedit: useplatformtick yes, disabledynamictick yes
- Xbox Game Bar disabled via registry
- Task Scheduler cleaned up

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue
- The Ryzen 7 5800X is the only component that has never been swapped

--- My concern ---
I suspect the CPU or motherboard may be faulty at a hardware level, but I'm honestly scared to upgrade. I've already replaced almost every other component and the problem didn't go away — so there's a real fear that even if I buy a new CPU or switch platforms, the stutter might still be there and I'll have spent money for nothing. Before I make that jump, I really want to make sure I haven't missed something fixable.

Has anyone with a similar system found a workaround that actually helped? Or does this symptom pattern point clearly to the CPU being the culprit? Any advice on how to confirm this before spending money would be really appreciated.

Happy to run any diagnostics and post results.

Run some deathmatch in CS2 with High Definition Audio Controller disabled in BIOS, if problem persists

"bcdedit /set useplatformtick no" and reboot, test again, if problem persists

Disable High precision event timer in device manager, reboot, test again.

If nothing works so far, it's probably a Windows update, you haven't tried Linux so it's still a possibility, I know I had stutters because of a forced Windows update.

Or, wild card, Probalance being the problem with some background processes not playing nice with the feature, I would exclude dwm.exe and csrss.exe (do not mess with csrss.exe priority, highly volatile to stuttering).

soul4kills wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2026, 04:31

From you description, sounds like you're being thermally throttled. What's your cooling situation and how are the temps when gaming. Also is your graphics card settings set to maximum performance and your windows power plan set on high performance?

From your description those are your likely culprits.

Some suggestions.

Don't run games on a high process priority. It takes priority away from your inputs and causes stability issues. Process lasso, don't need that. MPO it's okay to keep that on. I have it on and have good latency, and i run my games in borderless windowed fine. Don't touch affinity options, you'll make things worst if you don't know what you're doing. I've tried it out and initially saw latency improvements but then it starts to get bad and unstable. Just leave it to windows, it knows how to manage affinities better than you. bcdedit stuff only works on windows 10. It actually has a negative affect on windows 11 so you should leave it at defaults. HPET disabled in device manager doesn't do anything, doesn't even disable it. It shows up in device manager so your system knows it has it. Leave it how it is.

kyube wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2026, 05:54

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

--- System Specs ---
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: MSI RTX 4060 Ti
RAM: 32GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 3600MHz CL18 (2x16GB)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power 12M


--- The problem ---
Stutter and frame time spikes occur in CS2 and other games. What's strange is that I can sometimes feel the system isn't fully smooth even on the desktop — not just in games. LatencyMon consistently identifies nvlddmkm.sys as the highest DPC latency source (~856µs peak). CapFrameX confirms all frame time spikes are 100% CPU-sourced.

Key pattern: Stutters are minimal at the start of a session. They get progressively worse after 1-2 matches/hours of play. The same location in a map can run perfectly smooth on one run, then stutter badly on another. This rules out pure shader compilation as the cause.

--- Diagnostics ---
- LatencyMon: nvlddmkm.sys highest DPC (~856µs)
- CapFrameX: all spikes CPU-sourced (not GPU)
- MemTest86: passed (no RAM errors)
- Tested single stick (16GB single channel): same issue

- GPU undervolt via MSI Afterburner (~975mV @ 2700MHz)
- MPO disabled via registry

- Process Lasso: CS2 set to High priority, tested core affinity options
- ISLC: running with 6GB threshold and 0.5ms timer resolution

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue
- The Ryzen 7 5800X is the only component that has never been swapped

--- My concern ---
I suspect the CPU or motherboard may be faulty at a hardware level, but I'm honestly scared to upgrade. I've already replaced almost every other component and the problem didn't go away — so there's a real fear that even if I buy a new CPU or switch platforms, the stutter might still be there and I'll have spent money for nothing. Before I make that jump, I really want to make sure I haven't missed something fixable.

Has anyone with a similar system found a workaround that actually helped? Or does this symptom pattern point clearly to the CPU being the culprit? Any advice on how to confirm this before spending money would be really appreciated.

Happy to run any diagnostics and post results.

There's no mention of thermals & SSD used in this system. Your PSU model name doesn't seem to be correct, how many watts does it have?
What specific W11 version did you use? (23h2, 24h2, 25h2, 26h1) Did you try 22H2?
GPU undervolting should be avoided.
What peripherals were being used in this system?
What exact DRAM, mobo, PSU, GPU did you swap to and/or from?
LatencyMon is completely irrelevant for evaluting DPC/ISR performance (see my signature)
ISLC / ProcessLasso are irrelevant as well
Provide the CapFrameX data which you've mentioned here.

A hardware issue can be very likely the case, but more data is necessary.
Do you have a system or recall a time where you didn't have such issues in CS2?

kyube wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2026, 05:54

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

--- System Specs ---
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: MSI RTX 4060 Ti
RAM: 32GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 3600MHz CL18 (2x16GB)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
PSU: Be Quiet Pure Power 12M


--- The problem ---
Stutter and frame time spikes occur in CS2 and other games. What's strange is that I can sometimes feel the system isn't fully smooth even on the desktop — not just in games. LatencyMon consistently identifies nvlddmkm.sys as the highest DPC latency source (~856µs peak). CapFrameX confirms all frame time spikes are 100% CPU-sourced.

Key pattern: Stutters are minimal at the start of a session. They get progressively worse after 1-2 matches/hours of play. The same location in a map can run perfectly smooth on one run, then stutter badly on another. This rules out pure shader compilation as the cause.

--- Diagnostics ---
- LatencyMon: nvlddmkm.sys highest DPC (~856µs)
- CapFrameX: all spikes CPU-sourced (not GPU)
- MemTest86: passed (no RAM errors)
- Tested single stick (16GB single channel): same issue

- GPU undervolt via MSI Afterburner (~975mV @ 2700MHz)
- MPO disabled via registry

- Process Lasso: CS2 set to High priority, tested core affinity options
- ISLC: running with 6GB threshold and 0.5ms timer resolution

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue
- The Ryzen 7 5800X is the only component that has never been swapped

--- My concern ---
I suspect the CPU or motherboard may be faulty at a hardware level, but I'm honestly scared to upgrade. I've already replaced almost every other component and the problem didn't go away — so there's a real fear that even if I buy a new CPU or switch platforms, the stutter might still be there and I'll have spent money for nothing. Before I make that jump, I really want to make sure I haven't missed something fixable.

Has anyone with a similar system found a workaround that actually helped? Or does this symptom pattern point clearly to the CPU being the culprit? Any advice on how to confirm this before spending money would be really appreciated.

Happy to run any diagnostics and post results.

There's no mention of thermals & SSD used in this system. Your PSU model name doesn't seem to be correct, how many watts does it have?
What specific W11 version did you use? (23h2, 24h2, 25h2, 26h1) Did you try 22H2?
GPU undervolting should be avoided.
What peripherals were being used in this system?
What exact DRAM, mobo, PSU, GPU did you swap to and/or from?
LatencyMon is completely irrelevant for evaluting DPC/ISR performance (see my signature)
ISLC / ProcessLasso are irrelevant as well
Provide the CapFrameX data which you've mentioned here.

A hardware issue can be very likely the case, but more data is necessary.
Do you have a system or recall a time where you didn't have such issues in CS2?

autopilottt wrote: ↑

01 Apr 2026, 16:08

Hardware swaps (components replaced over the past year):
- GPU replaced: same issue
- RAM replaced: same issue
- PSU replaced: same issue
- Motherboard replaced: same issue

autopilottt wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2026, 07:41

However the stutter isn't just in games — I can sometimes feel it on the desktop too