A bit late but the solution to this problem, for me at least, was to turn off v-sync.
There is a fair bit of screentearing but it beats playing with the stutters.
I had a similar problem with F.E.A.R. which also doesn't seem to like v-sync.
HWMonitor says my temps stay normal, when playing the cpu/gpu heat up a bit (70ºC) but that is to be expected.
I don't have NFS Rivals, I do have NFS Shift and Hot Pursuit (2010), these play very smooth, 60fps with everything maxed.
It could be the game-engine though, I have some older NFS games on my system, Underground 2, Most Wanted (2005) and Carbon.
NFS Underground 2 with the widescreenpatch plays smooth as silk while in Most Wanted I notice some stutter here and there and in Carbon even more, mostly during police chases.
I could be wrong but I think from NFS Underground until Undercover they all used some variation of the Renderware engine.
70°C is quite much - comparing it with my GPU (GTX 750TI) and playing NFS Shift with everything maxed out. I'm around 50°C, if even.
Now, comparing this to my laptop, 70°C is the point it begins to drastically cool down, and get the exact same framedrops.
But on the other hand it really could be the older game engines, though I really question this... I mean, the game has lower specs than e.g. NFS Shift, and thus should run even smoother...
@CreativeRiggert wrote:70°C is quite much - comparing it with my GPU (GTX 750TI) and playing NFS Shift with everything maxed out. I'm around 50°C, if even.
Now, comparing this to my laptop, 70°C is the point it begins to drastically cool down, and get the exact same framedrops.
But on the other hand it really could be the older game engines, though I really question this... I mean, the game has lower specs than e.g. NFS Shift, and thus should run even smoother...
Really depends on the hardware, I remember I had a Geforce 9600 GT that operated at 90°C without ever crashing, this was before I knew the value of v-sync though.
The temps never seem to exceed 70°C so I guess that is where the fans kick in to keep things cool, I'm using the largest aftermarket cooler for my cpu that fits in my case, if I want to have it cooler I probably going to need watercooling.
NFS Shift uses multiple cores and also hands over the physics to a dedicated processor so it might explain why it runs better.
In ProStreet when in practice mode the stutters are almost bearable but with opponents it becomes a lot worse, the biggest problem is that it seems to interfere with controlinputs, I'm starting to overshoot braking- and steer in points and results taking corners too wide, crashing into opponents or flying of the track altogether.
A bit late but the solution to this problem, for me at least, was to turn off v-sync.
There is a fair bit of screentearing but it beats playing with the stutters.
I had a similar problem with F.E.A.R. which also doesn't seem to like v-sync.
