OCCT "stutter"

[Nine Iron]

Just run into a very weird issue.

Changed my CPU cooler and ran OCCT to check the temps in HWMonitor, but OCCT now "stutters" when it's running - the clock and graphs will "freeze" and then jump forward a couple of seconds and I lose the mouse cursor; basically the whole system is freezing for a second. Oddly, the OCCT graphs behave this way even when OCCT is idling (no load).

What I've done:

Undervolt CPU to 0.91 V
undervolt RAM to 1.56 V
change RAID for single HDD (for the time being)
changed CPU cooler

Any ideas? Everything seemed to be working fine before the last two steps. I ran Memtest HCI on max memory and the same "stutter" happened there, but it doesn't happen in graphics benchmarks or while Prime 95 is running CPU-only tests.

M.

EDIT - rig specs:

i5 4590 @ 0.91 V
MSI Z97M Gaming
Trident X 2400 DDR3 @ 10-12-12-31 1.55 V
Samsung 750 Evo 120 GB
W7 Pro.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

Right.. I suppose your rig is that in your signature? What speed and timings is your RAM running at?

 

[Nine Iron]

Right.. I suppose your rig is that in your signature? What speed and timings is your RAM running at?

I've got the memory on XMP for everything except the voltage. I can't for the life of me work out why this has come up now, as I had the exact same settings literally two days ago and it ran like a dream! There's no overheating going on - nothing!

Something I have noticed: when I run HCI Memtest on all four threads the stutter appears, but not under three threads (even if more RAM is being tested).

Could it possibly be my going from a RAID to a single (mechanical) HDD? That's the only significant change I've made.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

I'd try memtest86 because it doesn't use your HDDs or SSDs it just boots from a usb... Can you try setting your ram at 1600Mhz and 9-9-9-25 timings at 1.5Volts (something very very safe)

 

[Nine Iron]

I just don't see why this would have started all of a sudden; everything was absolutely fine last time I powered the bloody thing up!

I'll try looping some bootable memtest and see what's what - are we thinking memory is the culprit? Micro-stutter is quite suggestive, apparently.

 

[Nine Iron]

Free memory near zero?

I'd try memtest86 because it doesn't use your HDDs or SSDs it just boots from a usb... Can you try setting your ram at 1600Mhz and 9-9-9-25 timings at 1.5Volts (something very very safe)

Seen something strange ib Task Manager: at idle, the "Free" memory is very close to zero (like 40 MB, or something). I normally see nearly over 5GB of Free!

Could this be it? My Computer shows the correct physical memory, but why has the "Free" suddenly dropped so low? Memtest showed no errors, btw.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

Are you sure there isn't some sort of malware that is eating up all the free memory?


[Btw "memtest" like algorithms only are correct a number of times they are not 100% accurate]

 

[Nine Iron]

Are you sure there isn't some sort of malware that is eating up all the free memory?


[Btw "memtest" like algorithms only are correct a number of times they are not 100% accurate]

I've run anti-malware and anti-virus and nothing came up on either, but this sudden drop in free memory is worrying. I've had a look in resource monitor and I can't see anything new/suspicious, and the micro-stutter only seems to happen with programs where information is constantly being refreshed - it happens in HW Monitor, for example.

I can't for the life of me figure out what I've done to bring this about... the only thing left is the fact that I changed the crappy gerenic mouse I've been using for my Logitech bluetooth one!

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

It could be the memory controller in your chip failing due the low voltage.


[I'm not 100% sure haven't really worked with intel that much...]

 

[tinytomlogan]

Why dont you put it back to how it was before and then try again.

Can you please edit your original post with your rig specs too

 

[Nine Iron]

Why dont you put it back to how it was before and then try again.

Can you please edit your original post with your rig specs too

I think a BIOS blitz is my next step, tbh. Rig specs now in sig.

 

[tinytomlogan]

I think a BIOS blitz is my next step, tbh. Rig specs now in sig.

Right I can see they are in your sig, but the point is there are in the post so if in future someone else reads your thread they will know even if your sig has changed.

Its just what we like to do here dude

 

[Nine Iron]

Right I can see they are in your sig, but the point is there are in the post so if in future someone else reads your thread they will know even if your sig has changed.

Its just what we like to do here dude

Ah - good point, sir... never would have thought of that. And I'm just the kind of guy who'll blow a couple of hundred quid to replace everything just to get around this issue.

(Just played a quick game of Doom 3 and so no stutter in there... this is a very strange problem!)

 

[Nine Iron]

I've played a few more games on absolutely tear-arse settings and noticed no stutter at all. I can't understand this at all! HW Monitor and idling OCCT tripping over, but maxed-out Crysis 1 & 2 run like butter?!

Guess I'll just live with it.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

I've played a few more games on absolutely tear-arse settings and noticed no stutter at all. I can't understand this at all! HW Monitor and idling OCCT tripping over, but maxed-out Crysis 1 & 2 run like butter?!

Guess I'll just live with it.

Oh I just had an epiphany... It might be those ram chips that fail in one certain workload/test that is very unlikely you will encounter in daily use.

There was a memtest forum post that described something similar -cant find it thoguh- and the verdict was "do you want to be 100% sure, go get some ECC RAM" which is not necessary and not possible on your cpu anyway..

 

[Nine Iron]

Oh I just had an epiphany... It might be those ram chips that fail in one certain workload/test that is very unlikely you will encounter in daily use.

There was a memtest forum post that described something similar -cant find it thoguh- and the verdict was "do you want to be 100% sure, go get some ECC RAM" which is not necessary and not possible on your cpu anyway..

Do you mean the "hammer" test? I was already aware of that one, and the fact that it's so contrived that it will pretty much never happen in real life.

I've exhausted all possible avenues, I think - removed the mechanical HDD, put the CPU and RAM voltage back up, update GPU drivers, everything I can think of, and the problem persisted. Might try a BIOS reset - I can always put it back where it was!

 

[Nine Iron]

Bit of an update: I've spotted the occasional mouse pointer "freeze", only for an instant and usually moving onto things like tooltips and hyperlinks. Also spotted a bit of stutter in the more stressful parts of Crysis. And it's not the HDD's - I got rid of the head-parking in the firmware!

Already put the DRAM voltage back to Auto, but is it worth turning the frequency down a bit? Starting to me off, now, because it's either the RAM or the hard drive. Everything else has been pulled out for testing.

ETA - OK, now the mouse movement is choppy in the BIOS. When I run the pointer over the actual settings, the mouse slows down, but putting the point on a "blank" area is fine. Now I don't know what to think... GPU? CPU? Board? more serious (and expensive) than the last.

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

Try setting the ram to 1600Mhz at 1.5Volts with 9-9-9-24 timings which is considered "failsafe"

 

[Nine Iron]

Try setting the ram to 1600Mhz at 1.5Volts with 9-9-9-24 timings which is considered "failsafe"

Running the rig with onboard graphics and still getting the stutter, so it's not the GPU. And the fact that it's happening in BIOS means it's not my hard drives. Could the RAM be affecting the way the mouse behaves in the BIOS?

I'll try the bedrock settings you suggested and see what's what.

ETA - 1600 @ 9-9-9-24 @ 1.50 V and still the issue. That leaves CPU and board?

 

[AlienALX]

Are you monitoring your clock speeds and volts whilst running OCCT? if not then do so, it may be throttling.

Run memory diagnostics and so on.