Performance Issue Fortnite

Fortnite Stuttering Every 3 Seconds - Complete Fix Guide

📅 Published: 2026-02-06 🔄 Updated: 2026-02-06 👥 Reports: 7 ⚡ Severity: 🟢 Low

🎯 Quick Answer

Clear the game's driver cache and reset video settings to default, then perform a clean installation of the latest AMD graphics drivers to resolve the recurring stutter.

SECTION 1: OVERVIEW

The error is a consistent, periodic performance stutter occurring at approximately 3-second intervals during Fortnite gameplay. This manifests as a temporary freeze or severe frame time spike, disrupting the game's fluidity. The issue primarily affects the Windows PC platform. It occurs across multiple game versions, particularly following major updates that can introduce configuration conflicts. This is a common performance issue. The severity is high, as the predictable stutter creates a game-breaking disruption to core gameplay mechanics like building and aiming. No specific error code is generated; the problem is identified solely by its observable performance symptom.

SECTION 2: SYMPTOMS

The application exhibits a regular, severe frame time spike or momentary freeze at consistent intervals, typically every 2-4 seconds. This occurs during standard gameplay sessions. The user experiences a visible hitch or pause in the game's rendering, often accompanied by an audio glitch. System monitoring software confirms the periodic spike in frame render time while the average FPS counter may remain high. The stutter persists regardless of in-game graphical settings adjustments.

SECTION 3: COMMON CAUSES

Category: Configuration Error Specific technical explanation: Corrupted or overloaded GPU driver shader cache. The cache stores compiled shaders for faster loading, but corruption or excessive size forces recompilation during gameplay, causing periodic hitches. Why this causes the problem: The stutter coincides with the game engine attempting to access and compile a new shader not found in the corrupted cache. Category: Software Conflict Specific technical explanation: Outdated or improperly installed AMD GPU drivers (Adrenalin Edition). Version mismatch or residual files from previous installations conflict with Fortnite's anti-cheat and rendering pipeline. Why this causes the problem: The driver's scheduling and memory management functions introduce latency spikes when processing frame data. Category: Hardware Issue Specific technical explanation: Insufficient or misconfigured Windows page file (virtual memory) on the system drive. The page file dynamically expands during gameplay, consuming all available storage space on the C: drive. Why this causes the problem: The system experiences severe disk I/O latency when the drive nears full capacity, causing the game to stutter as it waits for memory paging operations. Category: Configuration Error Specific technical explanation: In-game Video Settings retaining incompatible presets from a previous game or driver version. This includes memory-scaling features that conflict with the current hardware configuration. Why this causes the problem: The engine attempts to allocate resources based on stale configuration data, leading to periodic resource exhaustion and reallocation. Category: Software Conflict Specific technical explanation: Background processes performing intensive disk write operations to the same drive where Fortnite is installed. This includes NVIDIA ShadowPlay/Instant Replay or other recording software. Why this causes the problem: The disk access queue lengthens, delaying the game's critical read/write operations for assets and causing a processing stall. Category: Game Bug Specific technical explanation: Fortnite's internal performance detection logic failing to automatically trigger a cache reset after a significant update or hardware driver change. Why this causes the problem: The game continues using performance profiles and cached data calibrated for a different software environment.

SECTION 4: SOLUTIONS

Solution 1: Clear Fortnite Driver Cache and Reset Video Settings

Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 5 minutes Success Rate: High Prerequisites: None Steps:

Launch Fortnite and navigate to the Settings menu.
Select the Video settings tab.
Click the Reset to Default button at the bottom of the Video settings panel.
Close Fortnite completely.
Press Windows Key + R, type %localappdata%, and press Enter.
Navigate to the FortniteGame folder, then Saved.
Delete the following folders: Config, Crashes, and D3DDriverCache.
Restart your computer.
Launch Fortnite and allow shaders to recompile. Test for stuttering.

Technical Explanation: This forces the game to rebuild its configuration and DirectX shader cache from scratch, eliminating corrupted data that causes the engine to hitch during periodic cache access. Verification: The stutter interval is eliminated. The game may exhibit a one-time stutter during the initial shader compilation, but will not repeat the consistent 3-second hitch.

Solution 2: Perform a Clean AMD Graphics Driver Installation

Difficulty: Medium Time Required: 15 minutes Success Rate: High Prerequisites: Administrator access, internet connection. Steps:

Download the latest AMD Adrenalin Edition driver from AMD's official website.
Download the AMD Cleanup Utility from the same site.
Disconnect your internet to prevent Windows Update from automatically installing a driver.
Run the AMD Cleanup Utility. Select Yes to boot into Safe Mode for cleanup. Restart.
After reboot, run the downloaded AMD driver installer. Select Factory Reset or Clean Install when prompted.
Complete the installation and restart your system.
Open AMD Adrenalin Software. Navigate to Performance > Tuning. Ensure Default profile is active. Disable any experimental features.

Technical Explanation: A factory reset installation removes all previous driver files and registry entries, ensuring no conflicts exist between the GPU driver, Windows, and Fortnite's anti-cheat system. Verification: Check driver version in Adrenalin Software. Run Fortnite and monitor stability using the in-game performance overlay. The consistent stutter pattern is resolved.

Solution 3: Configure a Static Windows Page File

Difficulty: Advanced Time Required: 10 minutes Success Rate: Medium Prerequisites: Administrator access. Steps:

Press Windows Key + Pause/Break to open System Properties.
Click Advanced system settings on the left.
Under the Advanced tab, in the Performance section, click Settings.
Go to the Advanced tab in the Performance Options window and click Change... under Virtual memory.
Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.
Select your C: drive (or the drive with Fortnite installed).
Select Custom size. Set Initial size (MB) to 2048 and Maximum size (MB) to 4096.
Click Set, then OK. Restart your computer when prompted.

Technical Explanation: Prevents the system from dynamically expanding the page file to fill the system drive, which eliminates disk I/O latency spikes caused by virtual memory operations during gameplay. Verification: Monitor free space on your C: drive during a Fortnite session. The free space remains stable and the stutter ceases. Verify settings in System Properties > Advanced > Performance Settings > Change.

Solution 4: Relocate Disk-Intensive Background Processes

Difficulty: Medium Time Required: 10 minutes Success Rate: High Prerequisites: Secondary storage drive (HDD or SSD). Steps:

For NVIDIA ShadowPlay/Instant Replay: Open NVIDIA GeForce Experience. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Recordings. Change the Recordings save location to a different drive (e.g., D:\).
For AMD ReLive: Open AMD Adrenalin Software. Go to Record & Stream > Settings. Change the Media Folder path to a different drive.
For Windows Game Bar recordings: Press Windows Key + G to open Game Bar. Go to Settings > Capturing. Under Recorded videos, change the Save captures to folder to a different drive.
Ensure Fortnite is installed on your primary SSD (C: drive or equivalent).

Technical Explanation: Separates the high-bandwidth write operations of recording software from the read operations of the game engine, preventing disk queue congestion on a single drive. Verification: The stutter disappears. You can verify by monitoring disk activity in Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) > Performance > Disk. The primary game drive shows consistent, lower utilization.

Solution 5: Adjust In-Game Rendering and Performance Settings

Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 5 minutes Success Rate: Medium Prerequisites: None Steps:

In Fortnite's Video settings, set Rendering Mode to DirectX 12 (or Performance Mode if using a competitive config).
Set Anti-Aliasing & Super Resolution to FSR and the FSR Quality to Performance.
Set 3D Resolution to 50%.
Enable NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency to On + Boost if available, or ensure AMD Anti-Lag is enabled in the driver.
Set View Distance to Medium or Far. Reduce Textures, Effects, and Post Processing to Medium.
Apply settings and restart the game.

Technical Explanation: Reducing 3D Resolution and using FSR Performance drastically lowers the GPU's per-frame render workload, increasing headroom and smoothing frame times. DirectX 12 often provides better CPU core utilization for Ryzen processors. Verification: The stuttering interval is removed. The in-game performance overlay shows stable frame times and high FPS.

Solution 6: Disable Fullscreen Optimizations and Set High Priority

Difficulty: Medium Time Required: 7 minutes Success Rate: Low Prerequisites: Administrator access for one step. Steps:

Navigate to your Fortnite installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Fortnite\FortniteGame\Binaries\Win64).
Right-click on FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe and select Properties.
Go to the Compatibility tab. Check Disable fullscreen optimizations.
Click Change high DPI settings. Check Override high DPI scaling behavior and select Application from the dropdown.
Click OK twice.
Launch Fortnite. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
Go to the Details tab. Right-click on FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe, select Set priority, and choose High. Do not select Realtime.

Technical Explanation: Bypasses Windows 10/11 compositor interference for fullscreen applications and grants the game process higher CPU scheduling priority, reducing latency from background system processes. Verification: A minor but consistent improvement in frame time stability is observed, potentially eliminating the final residual stutter after other fixes.

SECTION 5: PREVENTION

Maintain a regular driver update schedule, verifying new AMD Adrenalin Edition releases monthly. After each major Fortnite update, reset the game's video settings to default before applying custom preferences. Monitor free space on the system drive, maintaining at least 30GB free to accommodate temporary files and page file expansion. Use a static page file size as configured in Solution 3. Periodically clear the D3DDriverCache folder located in %localappdata%\FortniteGame\Saved\ every 2-3 months or after any driver update. Disable automatic recording features in overlay software unless actively needed.

SECTION 6: WHEN TO CONTACT SUPPORT

Contact Epic Games Support if the stutter persists after executing all clean installation and configuration solutions, and you have verified the issue is not present in other graphically intensive applications. Provide the full diagnostic report generated by the Epic Games Launcher: click your profile icon > Settings > scroll down and click Fortnite > click Verify. Include the system's DxDiag report, obtained by running dxdiag and saving all information. Official support channels are accessible via the Epic Games Help Center website.