Slight to severe stuttering in games on a good PC

[p3r02d3r0]

Hi all,

First, happy holidays to everyone.

Anyway, I bought MSI GeForce GTX 970 4G Gaming 4 GB about a year ago, and almost all 3D games stutter when I play. Some more, some less. But that started to happen after a while. At first games did run well.

Here's my PC:

• Core i7-4770 3,4 GHz
• MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING
• Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x8 GB
• MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming 4GB
• Intel SSD 180GB
• Seagate HDD 500 GB
• Hitachi HDD 1 TB
• XFX Pro 650W
• Windows 10 Pro

Only my OS and several programs are installed on SSD, while the games are installed on both HDDs (which are old-ish).

I remember exactly when that started to happen. I downloaded Deus Ex: Mankind Divided DX12 beta patch, and there was a sudden stutter in a game.

I actually thought it was game-related, but then it started to happen in almost all 3D games.

I don't have Deus Ex: Mankind Divided installed anymore, but I play FIFA 17, The Division and other games quite frequently.

I recorded a video (RivaTuner stats included) where the stutter/performance dip occurs. FIFA 17 and The Division (DX11).

In FIFA 17 you'll see a slight stutter (sometimes it can be more severe), while in The Division, there's a full stop.

Also, I play FIFA 17 at 2160p, while The Division at 1440p, but I scaled the video to 1080p in Vegas.

Here's the link:

What I did to troubleshoot the issue so far:

• CPU and GPU temperatures are normal while under a full load (~70-75°C CPU/~65°C GPU)
• changed SATA cables on my SSD and both of my HDDs
• turned off Xbox DVR
• killed some suspicious processes
• scanned with Malwarebytes
• checked if my CPU is somehow underclocked, isn't
• my HDDs are regularly defragmented

I'm slowly running out of ideas, so any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks