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Here's the story (TrackIR 4 on latest TrackIR 5 software on Win 7 64-bit):

Everything ran fine until past weekend i played around a bit too much with Windows 7's internals and things went a bit belly up. Not much but enough to make me think of a fresh install.
Prior to that, DCS: A-10C (1.1.0.9) ran smooth with the occational hickup when the TGP was turned on or so but these hickups don't have anything to do with TrackIR.

So i decided to go ahead and buy an SSD drive to put Windows 7 and DCS: A-10C on in an entirely fresh install.
Installed Win 7, installed drivers and other stuff, basically everything in the same version and setup as before.
Installed DCS: A-10C (1.1.0.9) and there it was... supersmooth flying and then all of sudden...stutter....about every 4 to 12 secs. It was not the occational stutter which can happen in DCS: A-10C nor was it TrackIR lag. It didn't happen specially when viewing around or so. Even with a large dead zone and looking straight ahead, the game just stuttert, they last around +/- 1 second. This didn't happen on the previous install.

So i started to look for a solution, pulled my own tricks with no luck at all, went through (quickly) the entire stutterrelated topics without finding any cure. Ran DCS latency (all fine), resource monitor, killed every not-needed process etc... but the stutter stayed... very anoying.
Then i decided to kill some background stuff (Avast, GameBooster and his options etc...) which ran together with DCS: A-10C and upon killing TrackIR (version 5.1 and later on 5.1.3) the stutter vanished. Once TrackIR was shut no more stutter. I also tested all combinations of the background proggy's and everytime i killed the TrackIR process, the stutters where gone. TrackIR back on, stutters where back.

I then installed Falcon BMS and IL-2 CLOD and both show the same problem... stutter with TrackIR active, no stutter with TrackIR paused or shut down.

I also tried moving it to another USB port, installing it on or off the SSD (which contains Win 7 and DCS: A-10C, nothing else, all other software runs from a normal HD). No joy.

It is not panning that causes the stutter, looking around is not lagging, it's the entire game that suffers from a stutter when TrackIR is running.

So far i didn't find a solution to this and flying without TrackIR is a no go. Question still stands: Why did it not produce stutter on the previous install and why does it stutter now?

Any thoughts would be welcome...

When running TrackIR, do you notice any spikes in memory usage or processor usage that correlate to these stutters?

On the 3th core i notice spikes but i'm not certain that these are caused by the TrackIR software. But they do come at a regular interval.

Do the spikes occur without TrackIR running? How about with TrackIR but no game running?

Process Monitor from the sysinternals blog is good for watching individual process and core usage.

The spikes don't occur when only TrackIR is running.
The spikes don't occur when only a game is running.

The spikes do occur when both are running together.

I did not had this prior to the SSD installation.
I also made a complete fresh install today. Win 7 on SSD, TrackIR and DCS: A-10C on HD, nothing else installed, nothing else active. Same problem.

If needed i can provide you with a few screenshots of the spikes, game only, TrackIR only and both active.

I've also seen quite a few posts on ForceFeedBack and TrackIR causing stutter. I don't have FFB and it's disabled in all the games i run (if that option is available).


Extra info:
i7 950 @ stockspeed, ASUS PT6 Deloxe V2 Motherboard, GTX480, 12 GB DDR3 16000 RAM, Cougar HOTAS, 2 HD's and one Kingston 128GB HD with the Win 7 64-bit OS and DCS: A-10C installed on it, all other games and software installed on the HD's. Doesn't make a difference when i install TrackIR on the SSD too, the moment TrackIR runs together with a game (SSD or HD), the stutter starts.
No powered USB HUB, TrackIR USB sits on a single port.
No issues previous to change to SSD.

95% solved!!

Tweaked the SSD confirm this page: SSD TWeak

Still having some very small microstutter when looking over the shoulder (more right then left ? ) when terrain is moving quite fast underneed. Didn't had this before but i can live with that for now.

I was 100% that it was the SSD but i find it still weird that without TIR there was no stutter and with TIR the stutter was there...