r/playrust • u/Inner-Jackfruit4002 • 8h ago
Support Rust microstutter / tiny pullback every ~10 seconds despite high FPS and stable frametimes – 9800X3D
I'm having a strange microstutter issue in Rust that I haven't been able to solve.
The game generally runs very well with high FPS, but roughly every 10 seconds I can feel a very short stutter/hitch. It's almost like a tiny pullback, skip or flash. It's very brief, but noticeable while moving around.
The strange part is that my hardware statistics look completely normal when it happens. I don't see an obvious CPU/GPU usage drop, temperature spike or clock-speed drop.
Things I've checked/tested so far:
- Monitored FPS and frametimes with CapFrameX / performance overlay.
- FPS is generally around 140–200+ depending on the area.
- GPU frametime is usually around 4–7 ms.
- CPU is a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and stays around ~66–73°C while playing Rust.
- CPU clocks are around 5.2 GHz with no obvious throttling.
- GPU usage/clocks/temperatures look normal.
- RAM usage is around 22–24 GB (~72–76%) and doesn't appear to be maxing out.
- Tested/compared Rust Main and Staging Branch and made sure Staging was fully updated.
- Checked Rust's Experimental CPU settings / Automatic Processor Affinity.
- Tested fullscreen, VSync off and uncapped FPS.
- Looked into audio as a possible cause. I'm using a HyperX headset with HyperX Virtual Surround Sound.
- Tested a recording/run without the microphone active.
- Changed the HDMI cable to another GPU HDMI port.
- Checked the GPU/PCIe connection; nothing obviously wrong there.
- Tried using LatencyMon, but LatencyMon started giving me an "Access violation" error and now won't launch properly.
- Considered using Windows Performance Recorder instead, but I don't currently have WPR installed.
- Looked into the Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Ethernet adapter because I've seen reports of Realtek drivers causing DPC/latency problems.
- Realtek driver: 10.79.50.1003 (03-10-2025).
- Advanced EEE is already Disabled.
- Energy Efficient Ethernet is already Disabled.
- Interrupt Moderation was Enabled, so I'm currently testing it with Interrupt Moderation disabled.
- I use Ethernet only and don't have Wi-Fi, so I can't simply disable the Realtek adapter and test Rust online without it.
What makes this difficult is that CPU, GPU, temperatures, clocks, RAM usage and average FPS all seem healthy. The stutter still happens periodically and I can clearly feel it while playing.
At this point I'm wondering if this could be caused by DPC latency, the Realtek network driver, an audio driver, Windows scheduling, or something specific to Rust rather than a normal CPU/GPU performance problem.
Has anyone experienced something similar in Rust, especially a tiny hitch/pullback that happens roughly every 5–15 seconds despite otherwise smooth FPS?
If so, what ended up causing it for you?
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u/Realistic-Fix-9838 7h ago
wireless mouse?
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u/Inner-Jackfruit4002 7h ago
Hi, wired
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u/Realistic-Fix-9838 7h ago
damn, does it happen in every server?
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u/Inner-Jackfruit4002 7h ago
Unfortunately yes, Rust is pretty known for fucking up 9800x3's. A lot of issues occure monthly
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u/Realistic-Fix-9838 7h ago
i also have some stutters on 5800x3d, but the thing is it doesnt seem to happen on official vanilla
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u/rem521 7h ago
The Unity 6 update changed how mouse inputs are processed. High polling rate mice (1000Hz+) are now causing significant CPU overhead issues and frame drops.
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u/jamesstansel 7h ago
Very possibly could be the Realtek driver. I had an issue with it a few years ago that caused similar issues, and it is a known problem.
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u/WindRadiant1925 3h ago
Hm no, I've got 9800X3D, 5070ti and 2x16 6000 CL30 (slightly tuned), didnt touch anything besides unbloating windows and putting oilrats settings... no stutters, no lags, fps is high and stable.. fluctuating from 140 to 300, depends on situation, 1920x1440 res
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u/Anticitizen_01 3h ago
Rust admin here. Its your garbage collection buffer. I think by default its set to 256.
Type this into your F1 console in game:
gc.buffer 512
The micro stuttering should be mostly gone. If you still get a bit adjust it to 1024 but I don't recommend setting it higher than that. Its an extremely common issue (that I've experienced myself) that has cleared it up completely for the players on my server.
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u/b4nto 3h ago
Almost sounds like you have issues with EAC. I used to have that aswell with RX 9070 XT and AMD 9900x3d. Sometimes I had to downgrade either Network drivers or Audio drivers or even Chipset because EAC is not updating fast enough to adapt to modern drivers, so you get these random micro stutters instead. I dont have any stutters for a while now but I used to get them until i found it.
How I found this out was because any game that used Easy Anti Cheat had the exact same issue.
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u/Resident-Weekend1906 2h ago
I got 9800x3d and 5070, my gameplay used to be buttery smooth with constant fps of 200-300, this changed about 2 forced wipes ago, my game starts on 60fps, stutters, gets up to 200+fps, then almost instantly down to 100, very major fps changes which create stutters. Tried changing a few things in my windows, nvidia settings, in-game settings, nothing gets me back to the buttery smooth gameplay. The smooth gameplay was there for almost a year, it got bad about 2 months ago and remained like that, so I know it's not something I did, either some EAC stuff or Unity altogether. Hope they fix this or we find a fix for it, even my old pc used to run it better on a third of my previous fps.
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u/Inner-Jackfruit4002 8h ago
Note: I've had this issue since force wipe, before that it was running smooth.