Question All my games freeze between 1-3 seconds every 5-10 minutes

[PiercingHog]

I've been playing Halo Infinite and it seems like every match, I have at least one game freeze which can last between 1-3 seconds, and sometimes it's multiple freezes per match. I started playing another game, Stardew Valley, which is extremely easy-going for computers since it's basically a relaxed 2d pixel-art game, but I still noticed very small freezes. These were more minor than the ones I saw playing Halo, not even lasting a full second, but enough to be slightly annoying and concerning. GPU temps are around 60-70 for Halo and 40 for Stardew Valley.
GPU - AMD Radeon RX 6700-XT
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
RAM - 4x8GB 3000MHz DDR4
OS - Windows 10
Power Supply - ASUS ROG Strix 750W
All of my drivers are up-to-date.
I thought this problem may have been due to heat, but I manually upped the fan speed using MSI Afterburner and made the airflow of my case better by removing some parts that partially blocked fans, and now I get temps described above which shouldn't be causing any problems. I also thought it could just be due to Halo Infinite being somewhat hard on computers, but I'm getting similar problems on one of the easiest games to run. I just got my GPU after upgrading from a GTX 1070 which had no problems with stuttering or freezing. Does anyone know what this could be due to?

 

[Bilbobagg1]

My son was experiencing similar "hang" issues... or sometimes, outright crashes on various games. This was after upgrading to a Ryzen 5600 cpu, Asus B550 mb, 32 gb ram, etc., and a fresh install of Windows 10. After an incredible amount of research, we created a new user (local) on his PC. - after logging into that user account, then starting the games with the problems, we found they had disappeared. Apparently, the issue is actual corruption with his Microsoft account - log into that account, play the games, and you get random, recurring hangs or outright crashes. Log into the new user account, and no issues at all. This was discovered after having wiped and reinstalled windows several times, reinstalling the video drivers (clean install) several times, etc. So, now we are in search of a way to reset or purge his actual Microsoft account so he does not lost his years of game purchase and other histories.

Anyway, try the new user account approach - it is easy to test, you create that user, then for example, if it is a steam game, install and log into steam and see if your problems go away. Please let us know if that helps. Good Luck!

 

[geofelt]

What happens on a 5-10 minute schedule?
Perhaps a email send/receive?
Perhaps the graphics driver checking for new info?
Malware?
Look at task manager after the event and see what was running at the time.

 

[PiercingHog]

My son was experiencing similar "hang" issues... or sometimes, outright crashes on various games. This was after upgrading to a Ryzen 5600 cpu, Asus B550 mb, 32 gb ram, etc., and a fresh install of Windows 10. After an incredible amount of research, we created a new user (local) on his PC. - after logging into that user account, then starting the games with the problems, we found they had disappeared. Apparently, the issue is actual corruption with his Microsoft account - log into that account, play the games, and you get random, recurring hangs or outright crashes. Log into the new user account, and no issues at all. This was discovered after having wiped and reinstalled windows several times, reinstalling the video drivers (clean install) several times, etc. So, now we are in search of a way to reset or purge his actual Microsoft account so he does not lost his years of game purchase and other histories.

Anyway, try the new user account approach - it is easy to test, you create that user, then for example, if it is a steam game, install and log into steam and see if your problems go away. Please let us know if that helps. Good Luck!

Thank you for the advice! I figured out that the freezing and stuttering was actually due to Steam's in game overlay causing problems. However, I would have never thought to make a new user account to combat this kind of issue, so I will definitely keep that in mind if I have problems in the future!

 

[PiercingHog]

What happens on a 5-10 minute schedule?
Perhaps a email send/receive?
Perhaps the graphics driver checking for new info?
Malware?
Look at task manager after the event and see what was running at the time.

Turns out, Steam's in game overlay was causing problems and once I disabled it, the problems went away. I still have to thank you for reminding me to scan for malware because I ran a deep scan on my antivirus for the first time in a few weeks and it actually found something! Although removing it didn't fix the problem, I'm glad to have gotten rid of it. Thanks!

 

[PiercingHog]

HI!

Could you try Clean Installing your Graphics Drivers??

Here is a freeware to do so

(this will mostly solve your problem, but if that doesnt work try running benchmarks and posting the results here,. ill compare and inform you if it is under performing compared to other GPUs the same model )

Benchmark software <<< This is aida64 (if you want you could use something else too )

Thanks for your advice! I did a clean install for my drivers, but unfortunately that didn't fix it. It turned out to be Steam's in game overlay that caused the problems and I've disabled it. Thank you anyway for your help!