Ryzen9 7950X3D + RTX 4090 = internittent scenery stutters!

User Support Hub Virtual Reality (VR)
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I have built a new top-of-the line PC and while the performance is there, I can’t overcome intermittent “rubberband” scenery stutters that happen in denser areas at least every 15-30 seconds, sometimes more often. They are quite noticeable when looking to the side at the passing scenery and buildings when flying low. In between those stutters, everything is butter-smooth, but this is driving me nuts! It’s not the FPS - when unlocked and MR off I have 50 to 70+ FPS in dense areas. So when I lock MR at 30FPS I have 30% to 50% CPU/GPU overhead, so plenty of power. But stutters are still there. I have a fast 1Gb Internet (wired). Liquid cooling and mild temps. I would appreciate any advice - maybe I’m missing something and there is another solution I haven’t tried yet?

I have tried every trick in the book I could find (and I’m an IT professional) and nothing seems to help. I updated everything. I test at default KJFK in “scattered clouds” - flying around Manhattan in 737.

The stutters are very similar fo my old system (5800X + 3090), but all core hardware was upgraded. I was expecting a drastic reduction in microstutters but I don’t see it. In general, with a completely new system, RAM that’s twice as fast and CPU that’s 50% faster and has 3D cache, I really was expecting a significant improvement in smoothness. I’m disappointed.

I tried with all kinds of settings, but settled on medium-high settings, clouds high, TLOD100, either DLSS Balanced / 160% OXR or TAA100 / OXR100. MR at 1/2 or 1/3, FFR preset quality/wide in OpenXR Toolkit. HAGS on (tried off too), Game mode off. Latest drivers. With “prefer quality” cores set in BIOS, all tasks go to CCD1, and I set MSFS affinity to CCD0 in Process Lasso, so it has the whole 3D cache and 8 cores for itself.

My PC

  • CPU: Ryzen 9 7950X3D (Curve Optimizer tuned per core, also tried stock). 360 AIO liquid cooling.
  • GPU: RTX 4090 (slightly overclocked but now running stock, latest BIOS)
  • PSU: 1250W
  • SSD: Kingston KC3000 (Win10 + MSFS), +2 other SSDs for work (Win 11 dual boot)
  • Motherboard: ASRock X670E Pro RS (latest BIOS)
  • Case: Thermaltake View 51, a total of 14 fans in the case (including GPU and AIO)
  • VR: Reverb G2 v2
  • Software: Latest WMR, OpenXR Tools, OpenXR Toolkit, RTSS frame limiter.

I have to use MR and can’t stand 60Hz, but running without MR at locked 45.

I tried:

  • Loading GPU with high resolutions so I get GPU-limited, but it doesn’t cure stutters, just lowers overall FPS.
  • DX11 and DX12
  • HAGS on and off
  • Disable/enable HPET
  • Killing all possible processes
  • Disabling all internet functions and all traffic
  • Switching off photogrammetry (doesn’t help!)
  • All possible MSFS settings
  • Different NVidia Control Panel settings (mostly use recommended ones)
  • Running 4K monitor and MSFS at 1080p resolution
  • Using Process Lasso vs starting MSFS with a complicated BAT file that assigns CPU affinities for everything to CCD1 and MSFS to CCD0 after launch.
  • ISLC Timer app
  • Empty Community folder

And much much more, including all kinds of registry settings etc. I don’t get it. Quite a few people with weaker hardware claim that they have a perfect and butter-smooth performance without stutters.

The only thing that’s left is a full SSD wipe and Windows reinstall + MSFS reinstall. The SSD is new, but the partition was migrated from the old one, so that’s the only component that is common between old and new PC. I’m skeptical though, because that Win10 is highly optimized: Defender and firewall off, all unnecessary apps and services disabled etc. Before doing a drastic and hugely time-consuming step like that I’d like to try all potential solutions I can on this installation.

I appreciate any advice and shared experiences.

Update: I have opened a bug report here, please use the “contribute to this bug” button, and add your reports to the bug, along with the vote, if you are experiencing this as well.

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Way over complicating it. You likely need to just clear your Windows shader cache.

You may also find that (depending on when it was last created) you need to delete and recreate the rolling cache within MSFS. Give that a go, but given everything else thats been tried, there may now be other things in play.

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Well… Jeez. About the only thing I can ask, is have you tried someone else’s Internet connection? Like physically try another ISP?

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I believe this is related to a combination of world updates and custom airports and scenery. After I rebuilt my machine I started with a plain, vanilla install of the sim (no world updates). Then I tuned my in game settings to perfection with a steam gauge aircraft. With this baseline established, you can add things from Content Manager one at a time. Remember to test at different airports and different landscapes to be certain you are stable before adding additional features.

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Did that, several times

I tried with it off, on and clean, and on a 16Gb RAM drive - no difference.

No, I didn’t. Not sure how can I do that. Maybe I can use VPN though. Slower but a very different connection. I can also use motherboards’ wifi instead of RJ45 cable, on the off chance it’s the network adapter acting up… But not many chances it’s that, as the old PC had the same stuttering on a different motherboard…

I can try that when I start from scratch. I tried renaming Community folder, but the World Updates were still installed.

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Yeah, not easy. I was literally thinking about the painful task of packing your PC and taking it to a friend’s place. I can’t think of many other variables you haven’t already tried except that.

VPN is a good thought, however. It should at least force some changes to your routing.

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Have you seen Thermaltake View 51 case? This tiny thing there is the huge 4090. The PC in the case weighs something like 30+ kilos I think, I could barely lift it to put it on the shelf, and that’s without heavy glass on 3 sides (yes, top too) that I installed after it was on the shelf. The volume is twice my previous PC at least. No way I’m disassembling it and carrying anywhere… I can try VPN though…

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So I have the same specs as you, OP, and I can confirm the same rubber banding issue, which is a good way to describe it, every 15-30 seconds. It happens in the middle of nowhere and dense urban areas. Like you I have tried all the methods to improve performance including reinstalling windows on a formatted SSD.

I will say this. I installed IL2 Great Battles last night and no such issue occurs. I am convinced the problem is in MSFS. I also used Process Monitor to see what process was occuring when the stutter occured and it was always MSFS, it didnt occur with a background process being accessed, as far as I could see.

I am at a loss as to what to do. If you fly in the same immediate area, I feel like the issue doesn’t occur, and if I fly in a faster aircraft it occurs more frequently. I don’t think it happens on the ground. Which would suggest it’s scenery being loaded in. Just a thought.

EDIT: I should add that I’m running 3440x1440 2D rather than VR, not that I think the display output is a factor here.

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Have you tried using Steam VR to see if you get a similar stutter? Not that Steam VR is really usable on a G2, but just to see if it makes any difference.

Even better if you could borrow another headset like the Pico 4 and see how that behaves using Virtual Desktop and Steam VR. It may help with ideas about tracking down the problem.

I don’t suppose anything is showing in Windows logs or whatever?

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This is exactly what I’ve been planning to do first thing tomorrow, before I decide to reinstall Windows etc.

Yes, it does look like it’s connected to the scenery loading or internet access. But not just photogrammetry, as I disabled it and still got the same stutters. I plan to try disconnecting the network cable and see if it cures the stutters. Disabling photogrammetry and all traffic doesn’t prevent them. I will also try manually caching an area and see if it helps.

It just really puzzles me that some people with similar or even weaker hardware claim that they don’t have any stuttering at all. There can only be two possibilities: either something is wrong with my setup (and yours), or some people are just not as sensitive to those stutters and are not noticing them. It’s hard to believe, but for me it’s equally hard to believe that people can stand 60Hz and not even notice the flicker, or perceive the movement with MR disabled (even on locked 45 FPS) as clear and fine. I see things blur and judder without MR. So maybe some people’s brains are just tricking them into not seeing the minor stutters, and we are just too sensitive?

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That is part of it. I have noticed over the years that I am ‘that guy’ who often starts threads about stuttering. I think another factor is the infrequency of it - it’s not every 5 seconds, so a lot of people won’t notice. I also can’t rule it out being there with my old system, as various other bottlenecks caused intermittent stuttering and variable framerate. But look I do think this is an issue that shouldn’t be present, that clearly is present, as we are both experiencing it, with more or less the same hardware.

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I absolutely agree. I just would like to know if I’m fighting a lost cause or if it is actually possible to cure stutters. I tried capturing them on video just to illustrate and see if people have the same problem, but it seems that VR video capture is in itself too jittery and not at all as smooth as it appears inside the HMD. So I can’t even tell if those stutters are making it to video or not. I tried OBS studio both as display capture (left eye on 4K monitor) and as a OpenXR mirror capture. I haven’t tried the OpenXR OBS plugin yet, maybe that one will be better.

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I agree with you. I think there is definitely an issue worth pursuing. In terms of capturing the problem, all you need to do is go 2D and use Dev mode, with the FPS counter. When it stutters you will see a clear spike in the graph. Use OBS or a comparable video recorder and capture the screen with the FPS counter present. I can try and get a video later so we can compare. The stutter is very apparent in the graph. I wish I understood more about programming, as I have no idea how something can literally pause the program entirely for a fraction of a second, with all of that available headroom in the processor and GPU.

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For me with a 5800X3D and 7900XTX flying around Los Angeles with most settings at Ultra, stuttering seems to happen specifically when loading up new scenery or models; it is not happening on a regular basis or interval, but based on getting closer to large buildings or complex airports.

I do find that it’s vital to set “terrain pre-caching” to “Ultra” whatever the other settings are, or else it loads/unloads things constantly while looking around (using TrackIR in 2d, not VR, so there’s only one eye render but camera is constantly panning and translating).

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If this is reproducible behaviour I’d send in a bug report. This might help the devs with input for further optimizations. Your totb system shouldn’t stutter is my opinion. But the fact is that MSFS just stutters every now and then, also on my (today) high end system. Not every 30 secs though, just once or twice on approach. Intel here.
Maybe stupid advice, but does dropping the overlock do anything? And did you try lowering tlod a bit just to see if this changes anything?
Good luck.

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I wonder if DX12 DirectStorage API could bring a cure here…don’t know if it even was discussed in the latest Q&A.

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It’s very reproducible and happens with online connectivity turned off and all settings set to low, both dx11 and dx12. It isn’t an issue of hardware being at capacity, unless a process is temporarily flooding. I really don’t know what could be causing the issue.

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Would it be be too much to ask someone from Asobo Studios to step up and comment on what it might be? I’m serious here, honestly, would it be too much to ask at a dev Q&A or here on the forums? Especially if devoted VR users have tried everything and failed to find a solution?

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Yep, thest stutters are so annoying, its the sim, not your PC!

I have them too and i just completely built a new pc with clean windows install, started from scratch with new hardware. Still the same. Stop wasting time searching, its just the sim.

I tested so many things, nothing worked.
7800X3D / 4070Ti OC

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Does anyone know if the problem also occurs with the Intel 13900k?