Micro-Stuttering, is it Normal?

Hitman General
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Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well and excited for HITMAN III.

I wanted to open this topic because my first experience with gaming on PC has been atrocious, to say the least. I need some advice or some reassurance that I am not going insane and this is just an isolated bad experience. If this is indeed how PC gaming really is, then I probably should just return my machine and never touch PC again.

As you can tell, I have never seen anyone play on PC before since I come from a hardcore console background.

Some of you may recall that I was having difficulties with micro-stuttering in well-optimized games like Hitman 2. Well, that still hasn’t improved, despite multiple attempts with troubleshooting and repairs. I am due to return my machine to my manufacturer and either upgrade or receive a full refund.

In all honesty, I think this might be a major flaw in PC gaming as opposed to an outlier. This may be ‘normal’ and maybe I should stop demanding console-level consistency and fluidity from PC, despite PC being way more capable and powerful than consoles.

However, as I read through the PC Gamer article on micro-stuttering, I can’t help but feel that the only way to be able to play games on PC would be to spend a lot of money on a G-Sync monitor. It seems like V-Sync simply does not work on PC and will cause severe micro-stuttering, especially on higher end PCs. I am not interested in spending that much money on a G-Sync monitor, especially since it doesn’t offer a fixed frame-rate, rather a variable frame-rate, which I don’t like. I much prefer V-Sync and unlocked due to them being the gold standard of console and PC gaming.

When I bought my i7 10th Gen and RTX 2060 6GB machine, I thought for sure I was going to be able to run Hitman 2 and other well-built and well-optimized PC games at a locked 60 fps using V-Sync. However, I have experienced the worst level of performance in my life on any machine and I simply cannot wrap my head around it.

If I was a PC veteran, this would not be an issue (I would not be in this dilemma), but I have no prior experience with PC and I am borderline terrified that this what PC gaming is like.

Just to end, I am sorry if this annoyed some of you. I really need to know if this is just an outlier or if I should expect this level of awful performance on any screen until I splash out on a G-Sync monitor, if I ever decide to do that.

Best wishes,
Ali

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I’m not sure how to solve your problem but I can reassure you that you should be getting a very good experience with those specs, I can run HITMAN™ 2 at around 60 FPS and your specs are better than mine. PC’s can often give much better performance compared to consoles (I say this as someone who actually prefers consoles tbh).

Maybe posting a picture of your graphics/video settings in HITMAN™ 2 could help? Do you have any external applications like Nvidia control panel or something that is limiting your FPS?

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Don’t worry about the solution. Frankly, I just needed someone to tell me that this poor performance from my PC is not normal. I was worried that I just have to accept this as major flaw in PC gaming, but it sounds like this is a rare experience. If I could just look at another screen and another machine running similar games, the picture would be even clearer, but I have to contribute to controlling the virus (hence I cannot go to a friend’s house and see for myself).

My settings are pretty modest, to be honest. I tend to keep it at 1080p, VSync on, Medium-High settings and the simulation quality is in the middle. I have even tried to lower the settings, but it doesn’t help much. A 2060 with a i7 10th generation shouldn’t be struggling at these settings. I have even checked Hitman 2 benchmarks to confirm, and the RTX 2060 has a solid turnout.

I have tried to shut down all applications using selective startup before with WB Support, but it didn’t completely erase the problem. It was still there and it was very inconvenient having to use my machine without the necessary applications.

I just want to say thank you for responding. I was worried this post would disappear, but I am glad someone else from a similar background has seen this and contributed well to this discussion.

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Well, have you ever had V-sync off on HITMAN™ 2? Idk because just recently I was playing a game and was getting pretty bad frames that I noticed were better before, I turned V-sync off and suddenly I was at the normal framerate again. It’s probably completely different but just curious.

You’re welcome though, glad to help.

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Yeah, I did try that too.

Problem is there is a lot of screen-tearing with VSync is off. Even with it off, there is a decent amount of stuttering and slowdown.

As far as other VSync options go, I did try adaptive and fast sync, but they didn’t help much.

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Damn, well, I hope you find a solution soon.

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Me too. This being the first experience I have gaming on PC has made things very complicated and difficult. I hope the replacement unit will be much, much better.