Windows 10 Windows 10 Animations Suffer from Stutters and Low Framerate

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vergvija

The Problem


The animations in Windows 10 almost always stutter, or jump from one part of the animation to the end. This includes both system UI and in-app animations (eg. making a video full-screen on YouTube on any browser)


This is incredibly frustrating as it's happened on every laptop I've tried, and I currently have a laptop worth over $2000, UI and simple animations should not be a problem. The basic functions of Windows should be smooth, but I have yet to see a laptop of any price range, resolution or configuration that didn't have issues with the animations. I love the fluent design, acrylic accents and animations, but they're pretty simple animations and on Mac OS, they don't have problems, even with high resolutions and lower power overall. The fluidity of the experience on mac OS I believe, is the major draw subconsciously for a lot of people who swear by it.


To Recreate


The stutters happen quite often no matter what I'm doing, (a lot of the time animations are incredibly low framerate if they are being used for the first time in a while) but to consistently recreate it:

  1. Switch between opening the notification center, opening the search bar, opening the start menu and entering into the timeline/multitasking view, one or more of the animations will stutter or completely skip the animation.
  2. Switch to the timeline/multitasking view and back multiple times. I realize this is not a typical use case, but this is an example, plus, by now we should have a smooth experience for basic OS features, no matter what we're doing.


What I've Already Done/Researched

  • Driver Updates: I have updated the drivers for every single component manually, going to the manufacturer's to make sure that I had the most up to date versions.
  • Computer Resets: I have reset and fresh start my computer so many times, deleting all files, and currently have very few programs installed and very few files in general.
  • Other Devices: I have tried each of my 4 family members' laptops (all lower-end configurations than mine, but lower resolutions as well) and I've tested laptops in store, including in the Microsoft store, and found that the issue has existed in every single device.
  • Different Resolutions: I've tested my own laptop at 1080p, rather than it's native 2160p. It improves very slightly, but definitely not enough to be worth staying at the resolution.
  • Optimus Fixes: I have an Intel integrated GPU as well as an Nvidia dedicated GPU, so I thought it might be the problem that a lot of people have had with Optimus technology, in which the dedicated GPU would turn on for a fraction of a second, resulting in a split second of lag. Unfortunately, my symptoms are not the same as the ones demonstrated in these threads, the older fix of downloading a tool that kept only one GPU on didn't work, and the newer fix is just to update the computer, which apparently fixed a lot of their issues. (I've always been fully updated and even just switched back to a Windows insider preview after some time of being on the retail version of Windows, where the issue is still present).
  • Performance Settings: I've changed performance/power settings through my BIOS, the Nvidia control panel, the Intel control panel and Windows power options (including setting the CPU minimum state to 100%) to always be at the highest possible performance.
  • Forum Research: I've researched this topic to the ends of the earth, but every single forum I've come across has ended with the representative of the company either completely misunderstanding what the problem was, or in an open-ended statement like "performance will improve with updates." (Some of these are from years ago).


My System

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 7577 (UHD version)

CPU: Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700HQ

Integrated GPU: Intel HD630

Dedicated GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 Max-Q

Chipset: Intel 100 Series - HM175


I would really appreciate any ideas, help, solutions etc. I'm hoping this will become a good source of information for this topic, as the other forum posts I've seen about this went around in circles and/or were closed quickly. Thank you!


PS: Just turning off animations is not a solution :{|.... The whole reason this is so frustrating in the first place is because I love fluent design and its animations. Plus I shouldn't have to...

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