GTX 770 3GB Stuttering Issues! Help please?

[HackManSD]

Hello all, custom builder here in San Diego, CA and I have run into an issue with one of my ITX builds.
Hardware:

Intel i5-4670K
Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi
EVGA Mini-ITX Cooler
120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD Drive
EVGA GTX 770 2GB SC
Thermaltake Smart 750 Watt(I know but it fits)
Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3-1866 Memory
Fractal Node 304 Case

This is the issue my customer is having on a fresh install of Windows 7:

Starts a game, plays smooth for the first 3 minutes with high Fps recorded with fraps. Starts a very noticeable stutter for as long as the game is running. The odd thing is, during the stutter, the frames remain high.

He is only running on a single screen at 1080P.
We have monitored both CPU and GPU temps before and after the stutter but they remain very low considering the case, GPU never going over 70C.

I have tried numerous driver versions, doing a clean driver wipe in between, all with the same results.
Re-installed Windows to a second hard drive(2TB Western Digital 7200Rpm) with same results.
Tried different PCI-E Power Connectors from the supply, same result.
Installed GPU into a different PC with no stuttering at all during gameplay.
Installed my own GTX 760 into the Node with no stutter at all.
Got a replacement GPU same model and issue still persits.

I read up that the HDMI Audio driver from Nvidia may be causing the issue and I have, at separate times, disabled and totally removed the driver for it to no avail.

He is bringing it back to me today for another troubleshooting session. If anyone has any idea of what could be causing it please let me know.

I know I must be missing something so if anyone could shed some light on this issue, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
HackmanSD
EDIT: It is actually a 2GB card not 3GB...Sorry.

 

[Davva2004]

Does it do it when not using fraps?

 

[HackManSD]

Yes, the only reason I started Fraps was to see how far the fps was dipping. When I saw the issue without fraps it seemed that the frames were dipping pretty low. Diablo 3 is by far the worst but other games get the same result.
I even installed The Wolf Among Us to see what happened, the game caps at 60fps and it never dipped below that during the stutter.
It's got me pretty stumped.

 

[Wraith]

Fraps is know to cause lag and stuttering with certain GPUs, my system does something similar after around 5 minutes of recording it's to do with RAM caching with fraps it gets greedy.

 

[HackManSD]

I have seen that as well but the symptoms occurred without Fraps or any GPU tweaking software loaded. It was barebones Windows with just drivers and Diablo 3 when the stutter started happening.

 

[Wraith]

I have seen that as well but the symptoms occurred without Fraps or any GPU tweaking software loaded. It was barebones Windows with just drivers and Diablo 3 when the stutter started happening.

So are all .net frameworks & Dx files up to date?

 

[HackManSD]

Yes, everything is 100% up to date. I have it in front of me now if you have any suggestions.

 

[cooperman]

Micro-stuttering in Diablo III is a common problem there are some fixes on there forums http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6413174875

 

[Wraith]

Micro-stuttering in Diablo III is a common problem there are some fixes on there forums http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6413174875

Well blow me I never thought about that! Same issue with S.T.A.L.K.E.R and the sprint stutter although with SSDs it's a thing of the past.

 

[HackManSD]

May have found the problem. I ripped it apart and went through reseating everything one by one. During the tear down I noticed one corner of the Cpu cooler was pretty loose. I re-tightened all 4 to ensure good contact. Boot into Windows was much more quiet. The Cpu cooler was loose causing high temps and likely throttling the Cpu.

I fired up the valley and heaven benchmarks and surprise.....no stutter.

CPU never went past 55c during the test, couldn't imagine where it was before.
The cooler uses the same type of mounting mechanism as the stock Intel cooler. To anyone planning to use it in a build, it is a pain to get all 4 locked down but once they are, it is cool and quiet.
Thanks for the help guys!
I'll post screen shots of the bench results in a few.

Ran the usual benchmarks and came up with these results. How do these fare?

 

[RobCrezz]

It would be much easier to compare the Unigine Valley results if you run with the Extreme HD preset.

But it does sound like the CPU was throttling causing the stutters, although in the OP you said you were monitoring CPU temps?

 

[HackManSD]

Yeah, when I had it after the build, everything was fine. He is a couple hours from me so I guess somewhere during the drive the cooler wiggled loose.

He was having the issues and I asked about the temps during gameplay but I think he was telling me the low temp. That seems like the reason he said it was running at 50C. Once I got it back in front of me, I noticed the fan on the cooler was roaring during boot up and knew something was up.

Got things nice and locked down now and temps are actually where they need to be.

Here are the results running the Extreme Presets in both:

 

[RobCrezz]

Score for Valley looks to be in the right place, but the min fps is weirdly low.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Min FPS always changes.. i can never get a consistent result in my Heaven or valley benchmarks.

 

[QuietOne]

Last time my min fps was that low was when it froze for about half a second. Only happened once and not sure what caused it.

 

[Kaapstad]

Yeah, when I had it after the build, everything was fine. He is a couple hours from me so I guess somewhere during the drive the cooler wiggled loose.

He was having the issues and I asked about the temps during gameplay but I think he was telling me the low temp. That seems like the reason he said it was running at 50C. Once I got it back in front of me, I noticed the fan on the cooler was roaring during boot up and knew something was up.

Got things nice and locked down now and temps are actually where they need to be.

Here are the results running the Extreme Presets in both:

For testing you really need to run these benches at 1080p with extreme settings, if you use less your CPU can bottleneck making the results meaningless.

Are you using integrated graphics as well, if so it may be an idea to turn it off as this can cause problems.

 

[HackManSD]

No integrated graphics being used and this is his current screens resolution. He has plans to eventually grab a 1080P screen.
I did notice a slight freeze/stutter when starting the benchmarks(like a half second or less). Afterwards it jumped up to its normal FPS and stayed there during the remainder of the test.
It plays everything fine now, no stuttering at all, just that small one when starting the Uniengine stuff.

Thanks for all your help guys.
I do quite a few builds, nothing too outrageous, would you guys be interested in hearing about them? If so, I will start to post some of them in the builds section.