Every time I've ran 3dmark I've ran it with msi afterburner closed. I simply put my overclock settings in and hit apply then close afterburner by pressing the x button in the gui.

Sajin
Every time I've ran 3dmark I've ran it with msi afterburner closed. I simply put my overclock settings in and hit apply then close afterburner by pressing the x button in the gui.

I admit, after turning off all my monitoring software, the stutters were greatly reduced. But they are still there and noticeable - just not as frequent.

When you removed your antivirus did you also disable windows defender & windows smartscreen?

Sajin
When you removed your antivirus did you also disable windows defender & windows smartscreen?

Neither to both. Should I disable them?

Yeah.

Sajin
When you removed your antivirus did you also disable windows defender & windows smartscreen?

So I've permanently disabled Windows Defender (since it seems to only disable temporarily unless you edit the registry) and Smartscreen and stuttering in Witcher 3 is basically non-existant (there still seems to be some frame drops but I'm genuinely not sure if it's my system or just me). There's still some stuttering in PUBG, but I'm just going to pin it on the game being horribly optimized. Crysis 3 and BF4 run much more smoother now too.
 
Do you think there are any other things I can try? Thanks for all the help so far!
 
Also, since I am now without an antivirus, do you think there's anything I could do about that?

No problem. Sounds good. Just disable/enable your virus protection as needed.

Sajin
No problem. Sounds good. Just disable/enable your virus protection as needed.

Just out of curiosity, is there anything else you'd recommend doing beyond what you've already shared?

Soulutionzzz

Sajin
No problem. Sounds good. Just disable/enable your virus protection as needed.

Just out of curiosity, is there anything else you'd recommend doing beyond what you've already shared?

I believe Sajin has recommended about everything you can try. What you could also do is try a free antivirus solution to see if that results in less stuttering than Windows Defender.

I read everything in this thread, my few tips:

- update motherboard BIOS
- test with another power supply
- test with another GTX 1080 Ti

- turn off all monitoring software and test with the minimum and start adding things back once it's not stuttering

- shouldn't have any effect unless the software is conflicting: disabling the AV software