Tough to diagnose game buffering/stuttering problem

[LonePirate]

I have a very difficult to diagnose problem that I welcome any input or advice on how to solve.

I have a gaming Alienware PC (not a laptop but a PC) that is about five years old but it had the best possible CPU could equip it with at the time. I need to double check what exactly it is. I installed a new GeForce 2080 video card around Christmas 2019. It is a Win 10 with 64 GB RAM and I have a 100 Mb/s internet connection that typically averages closer to 75 Mb/s.

Anyway, early last December, I started suffering from game stuttering or buffering and my frame rates would plummet while my latency would skyrocket. I would also sometimes suffer from artifact or game world rendering problems. However, these problems were isolated to online games I played (such as Red Dead Redemption Online). I never encountered the problem with video streaming from Hulu (typically performed within a browser) or with Twitch streaming. The problem was limited to games I played with the exception of browsing the web in Chrome. For some reason Chrome would also stutter or freeze when scrolling through pages with lots of links. I did not have the problem in Edge or Firefox.

I first though maybe there was something wrong with my network as I typically connect this PC to my home router via WiFi. However, I have a newer laptop I use for gaming when I travel and it connects wirelessly; but it runs the same games perfectly over the same wireless connection. So I connected a my gaming PC using a cable plugged directly into my router. No change in behavior. I then replaced the video card just before Christmas (the 2080 mentioned above) but still no change. I ran some ISP connection tests and nothing out of ordinary was uncovered.

I re-ran a virus scan (I have McAfee Live Safe which is always on) and it found nothing. I read where McAfee software can sometimes interfere with online gaming so I uninstalled it. Again no change so I re-installed it. I contacted the support line at Dell and after paying their support fee and working with them over the phone for several hours, they had uncovered nothing. I then contacted Microsoft support, paid their fee, spent several hours on the phone with them and they found nothing. I then dropped the PC at the Microsoft store at the local mall where it spent the holidays. They found nothing wrong with it. I left the machine with unused for a couple weeks before firing it up again in mid-January. Magically, everything worked perfectly. No stuttering or buffering when gaming or when using Chrome. It was as if a switch had been turned and the problem disappeared.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago and the problem has resurfaced. The same game buffering and a broke web browsing problems are back. My network is still running fine. My laptop is still running the games and Chrome with no problems. Nothing has changed since January except for the automatic updates from Microsoft and Alienware (Dell) that are pushed down to it. I don’t know if I have some weird hardware problem due to the occasional graphics rendering problems I have, even things were perfect just two weeks ago. Maybe I have some deep rooted malware or something even though McAfee has found nothing in its recent scans.

Do any of DU’s experts have any ideas what might be causing this? Any suggestions on what to look for or try? Or even any worthwhile forums I could consult? It’s maddening since the PC seems to be i. Perfect condition otherwise. I am willing to provide any additional information or answer any questions or perform some troubleshooting if anyone has any ideas what might be causing this problem. Thank you.