This happens with every game that I play on this computer, including games that I play on emulators. This computer is one that I’m proud of, but something I notice about it is this strange stuttering issue. The issue can be recreated very consistently…

I’ll start playing a game, play for five minutes, or an hour, doesn’t matter, there’s no stuttering. If I keep the game running but I’m not actually playing it for more than ten? Fifteen minutes? For example browsing Lemmy, when I come back to the game there will be stuttering, and while the stuttering happens I can hear a kind of rumbling sound coming from the tower. The stuttering doesn’t seem to properly resolve even after long periods of playing and my current way of fixing this is to close the game and open the game again. This computer is old but I do remember this happening when it was new and I’m wondering if this is normal/what the issue is? I tried Googling this, but the results I got were about a computer stuttering in general, the issue I’m experiencing is limited to games.

Just in case, here’s my specs!

  • 16 GB RAM

  • Intel Core i7-9700K CPU @ 3.60 GHz

  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (11 GB)

  • Windows 10 64-bit

  • 2 HDD’s (2 TB total space)

Thanks!

  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
    8·
    2 days ago

    This is the correct answer and the function is called Virtual Memory in Windows but is commonly known as the pagefile or swap. Adding more RAM won’t save you from this, as Windows will automatically move memory files into virtual memory if they’re idle for awhile, regardless of how much RAM is currently in use. In fact adding more RAM will probably increase the size of the virtual memory which may make the problem worse for you.

    Here is a more complete explanation: Swap file in Windows 10 & Windows 11: How to use it to optimize PC performance (increase, adjust, deactivate swap)?

    The pagefile is configurable. You can change which hard drive it gets stored on, how big it can be, and even turn it off completely. Turning it off has risks though, and may lead to system crashes (see the warnings in the article).

    You could add an SSD specifically to serve as a pagefile location and nothing else, in which case you could just get a small cheap one (a 32GB SSD would be more than enough for 16GB of RAM) - assuming that you have a place to plug it in to your motherboard, and then turn off the pagefile storage on all other drives in your system. That would be an easy change as you wouldn’t have to reinstall Windows onto a new hard drive.

    Ultimately though, the easiest and cheapest fix is to just change your behavior - close the game if you’re not using it for awhile and relaunch it when you want to play again.

    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      virtual memory is related, but that’s a broader system that also gets used when no swap file was set up.

      I agree that adding more RAM won’t necessarily make the problem go away as windows might still swap the game out if it deems it more important to cache more files in RAM, but I don’t see why that would make it worse.

      • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        that also gets used when no swap file was set up.

        The swap file or pagefile is automatically set up in Windows 10/11. You have to do something manually to prevent it.

        I agree that adding more RAM won’t necessarily make the problem go away as windows might still swap the game out if it deems it more important to cache more files in RAM, but I don’t see why that would make it worse.

        By making the swap file larger, which may be an issue if the hard drive doesn’t have enough space left, and if not it will still increase the amount of time needed to recover data from the swap, because it’s larger.

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          The swap file or pagefile is automatically set up in Windows 10/11. You have to do something manually to prevent it.

          yes. but it still is different from virtual memory. that’s a broader thing.

          By making the swap file larger, which may be an issue if the hard drive doesn’t have enough space left, and if not it will still increase the amount of time needed to recover data from the swap, because it’s larger.

          then open the control panel and fix the swap setup. and then enjoy your more ram. the solution to this problem does not seem to be not upgrading to have more ram.

          • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
            1·
            10 hours ago

            but it still is different from virtual memory. that’s a broader thing.

            Of course, that’s why I said…

            the function is called Virtual Memory in Windows

            because that’s how it’s labeled in the Windows Settings menu.

            then open the control panel and fix the swap setup. and then enjoy your more ram. the solution to this problem does not seem to be not upgrading to have more ram.

            Adding more RAM is not a solution to OP’s described problem in any way. In the context of moving data from active memory to the pagefile, Windows doesn’t care how much RAM you have, only how long the data in active memory has been idle (which is not configurable). Adding more RAM to the system will do nothing to change that behavior.

            However, adding more RAM might make retrieving data from the pagefile slower. Yes you could adjust the pagefile settings to address this, as you said, but it still doesn’t do anything to address OP’s problem.

            • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              7 hours ago

              Of course, that’s why I said…

              the function is called Virtual Memory in Windows

              then I misunderstood you. I thought you meant swap = virtual memory

    • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      2 days ago

      You could add an SSD specifically to serve as a pagefile location and nothing else, in which case you could just get a small cheap one (a 32GB SSD would be more than enough for 16GB of RAM)

      Honestly, assuming OP isn’t somewhere that the market for PC parts is extremely wonky compared to the US, if you’re going to get an SSD you might as well go ahead and get one big enough to serve as a boot drive. A 256gb SATA SSD is ~$20, and should be fine for that purpose. It probably won’t have DRAM at that price point, but realistically it’s not really necessary and still going to be a night and day upgrade over an HDD.

      • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Sure but this still requires going through the reinstallation process, compared to just plugging an NVMe drive into a PCIe adapter and sticking it into an unused slot - done in 5 minutes. Plus maybe another 5 minutes to configure Windows Virtual Memory to only use that drive.

        • SolOrion@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          2 days ago

          Reinstalling windows is hardly a laborious task most of the time, but even then my main point was that buying a 32GB SSD is pointless when you can get much larger ones for extremely cheap. Even if you don’t use it as a boot drive, more fast storage is never going to be a downside.