SSD causing extreme stuttering?

[Rammses]

So my old Raptor HDD crashed on me and I decided to replace it with an Intel X25-M. At the same time, I upgraded my CPU to Phenom II x4 965. But now whenever I play FFXIV, I get a retarded amount of stuttering/micro-freezing when the GPU activity is >95%. It's not noticable in areas where the CPU caps framerate, such as around crystals. It's less noticable when disabling Windows Aero, but it's very much still there. Running full screen rather than windowed seems to alleviate it a little as well from what I've tested, but that's not an option for FFXIV anyway.

From what I've tested, it doesn't seem to happen with other games when running in fullscreen (but this could be because they don't push GPU activity as high as FFXIV), but does seem to happen when running them in windowed mode. I've naturally tried the latest graphics drivers, rolled back to the ones that worked before the crash, tried a bunch others and have thouroughly cleaned everything with Driver Sweeper between installs. I've done a 2nd clean install of Windows 7 to see if that helped, but it's the same deal. I have all the appropriate drivers for other devices. I've tried disabling sound devices, and I've tried and googled all kinds of different settings and shit. I've tried reconnecting everything to my motherboard. And I've replaced the GPU. Default clocks all around.

What I've not tried is to install Intel's SSD drivers as the installer tells me my computer does not meet the minimum requirements and exits, both before and after my 2nd clean OS install. I've googled this problem but couldn't find anything. The Windows drivers should be fine anyway. The SSD passes all tests and does fine in benchmarks etc. It came with the latest firmware installed, so that's not the problem either. I've tried both IDE and AHCI SATA mode.

Is my only option to buy a normal HDD and do a 3rd OS install to see if that works, or does anyone have any idea? It seems unlikely that the CPU is the culprit (and it passes torture tests). It's either the SSD, or I've somehow broken my mainboard or RAM during the install.

MSI 770-C45
Phenom II x4 965 3.4 Ghz
4 GB Corsair RAM
500W Corsair PSU
Radeon HD 5750/Radeon HD 6850
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Edit: FFXIV benchmark stutters like mad in Windows Aero, but not at all in Basic. FFXIV still stutters in basic though. I'm also getting lots of screen tearing in FFXIV, which I didn't before the crash.

The stuttering isn't constant; it's more like half-second freezes at close intervals. Fraps doesn't show any drops in fps.

Is there a way to cap FFXIV at 30 fps?

[Cooleko]

if the game stutter's it is usually your GPU. Can you get a high powered NVIDIA GPU to test? you already admit stuttering only occurs when you are maxing it out which sounds like you need to turn your settings down (something you havent listed yet) in order to prevent maxing the GPU out.

Is your CPU OCed? As it stands you will burn about 400watts at max load, this might be causing power problems but you should still have 100w overhead.

Also, you did not mention specifically that you updated directx through microsoft vs game disc. You should try that if you havent.

Lastly, benchmark the SSD in any of the various programs, you should see the performance of your ssd be comparable to here.

I have not seen any way to cap the FPS so I do not think it exists

[Rammses]

if the game stutter's it is usually your GPU. Can you get a high powered NVIDIA GPU to test? you already admit stuttering only occurs when you are maxing it out which sounds like you need to turn your settings down (something you havent listed yet) in order to prevent maxing the GPU out.

Is your CPU OCed? As it stands you will burn about 400watts at max load, this might be causing power problems but you should still have 100w overhead.

Also, you did not mention specifically that you updated directx through microsoft vs game disc. You should try that if you havent.

Lastly, benchmark the SSD in any of the various programs, you should see the performance of your ssd be comparable to here.

I have not seen any way to cap the FPS so I do not think it exists

It sure does sound like a GPU issue, but the same GPU worked (and handled 99% activity) perfectly fine before the HDD died, and I reinstalled using the same catalyst driver (and tried 5 other drivers after that). Now that I've also tried a completely different GPU, it seems very unlikely to be the cause. Don't have anyone that can lend me an Nvidia GPU to test unfortunately.

I've tried some different game settings, but I will try drastically lowering so that I'm constantly capped at 60 fps. I'm pretty sure the stuttering would go away then as it seems strictly GPU activity related. It's not really a solution however as the 5750 is mine and the 6850 is borrowed, and the former won't handle 60 fps in FFXIV with any graphical dignity.

The CPU isn't overclocked, and it's the 125W TDP version of the 965. The 5750 draws so little power that I should have a huge amount of headroom. I had an Athlon II x3 @ 3.3 Ghz before the crash, so the difference is small anyway.

I've tried everything directx related already and the SSD performs fine in benchmarks.

Thanks for trying to help.

[Cooleko]

guess you need to borrow/buy hdd and test :/

[bruiser]

guess you need to borrow/buy hdd and test :/

How large is the Windows swap file? Is the swap file stored on the SSD or on a separate drive? How much free space is on the disk?

[Rammses]

Update in case someone else runs into this problem:

Turns it was something stupid in the end, like it always is. SpeedFan 4.42 being the main culprit, and Catalyst Control Center its accomplice.

SpeedFan 4.42 makes my graphics stutter like mad during certain conditions. When I did the 2nd clean install, I obviously didn't install any such software before I could test if the stuttering remained. The problem that time turned out to be that CCC also makes my graphics stutter if the GUI is opened or minimized, even in the background. I had opened and then just minimized it for the clean install testing, setting fan speed to max, to make sure it wasn't an overheating issue. The CCC stuttering is a bit different in that it shows up on fps monitoring software, and that's how I figured this out in the end, after the 3rd clean install. SpeedFan 4.40 is fine, which is what I used before the HD crash. Didn't even notice there had been a version update...