If you’re playing Starfield and experiencing stuttering problems, your configuration may not be to blame. In fact, the problem may well lie with the SSD… Well, from the game’s optimization on the SSD side, which is completely out of kilter. Finally, for a Bethesda game, who’s surprised?
Even with big SSDs, Starfield plays rough!
Although Bethesda recommends using an SSD to play Starfield in good conditions, it’s not enough. The game’s optimization for this type of storage is also catastrophic, randomly generating stuttering. This was revealed in a Compusemble benchmark session on YouTube.
Despite a more than adequate configuration based on RX 6950 XT, Ryzen 7 7700X and 32 GB RAM. Ditto, the storage part doesn’t seem to be at fault, since it’s a Crucial T700, one of the fastest SSDs on the market, and yet there’s some stuttering…
The fault would be linked to the way the game uses the SSD, since it requires small blocks of data over short periods of time… Everything this kind of storage likes. As it happens, SSD utilization regularly rises to 100%, creating bottlenecks and totally crippling read speeds: less than 1 GB/s. Meanwhile, graphics card utilization falls to 0% or close to it, generating stuttering. So, even with a high-powered configuration, you’ll still have that unpleasant sensation of lag in the game.
A more appropriate use would be when the game requires larger blocks of data over a longer period of time. This would give the SSD time to breathe and express itself fully. The video shows the case of Ratchet & Clank, which manages to achieve higher read speeds without saturating the storage medium!
Unfortunately, in this kind of scenario, there’s not much to be done, since it’s up to Bethesda to correct the problem directly. In this case, we’ll have to wait for an update to solve the problem.
