Switching from Microsoft Store to Steam has Caused Framerate Drops

  • Tl;Dr — Used Game Pass to play Sea of Thieves for a month. Butter smooth. Purchased on Steam after and is now causing 20+ FPS frame-rate drop issues.

    I've played for a month using the Xbox Game Pass on PC with no issues. I've gotten consistently great frame-rates on maximum settings, minus the particles and animation quality ones. But switching to Steam, I've seen constant frame-rate drops.

    It'll play with all maxed settings with up-to 140+ FPS, but upon seeing islands or fighting skeletons, it'll drop quickly to 75-90 FPS and then jump back to 140+. I've tried changing settings, checking drivers, managing NVIDIA 3D settings for maximum performance. Nothing seems to work.

    Sometimes, I won't even have to be doing anything in particular. Jumping around the ship or just idling, the frame-rate will drop significantly and then climb right back up to normal. Attempting to lock the frame-rate does nothing either.

    Does anyone have any idea why I'd be getting these drops on Steam? Is this common that one version of the game on PC is just inferior to the other, or is it something with my actual PC? I'm considering refunding and just using the Game Pass now, which sucks.

    Specs:

    • Windows 10 Home 64-bit
    • GeForce GTX 1080
    • AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor
    • ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming Motherboard
    • 16GB RAM

    Currently, the game is located on an SSD. I'm not sure if that has any bearing on this, but thought it was worth the mention.

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