[SOLVED] Freezing when playing games (Some more than others)

[Gyoung123]

Hello,

I've noticed in the last day or two I tend to get the occasional, brief freeze/ stutter while playing games (Black Myth, Jedi Survivor). Typically while changing areas. I figured this was just a quirk of loading, although I do play my games on an NVME drive so that did seem odd?

However, last night it got markedly worse. Even after a restart. Playing Jedi Survivor my game would regularly freeze for a good 10 seconds, and then stutter its way out of it.

Had RTSS on, smooth 100+ frames until the freezes. RAM usage was at 15GB but I don't know how accurate that is, task manager said like 8. VRAM usage around 10-11/12GB. Temps max 70s for both CPU and GPU. GPU usage also dropped dramatically during.

What could be causing this? As a side note, the 3rd ram slot on my motherboard is broken. Idk if this can be a sign of other issues. I have also noticed an odd whining/beeping noise the last couple of weeks? Haven't been able to pin point the source though. Unsure if it's hard drive noise, fan bearing noise, or possible coil whine.

On a side note, I did get a minor freeze while trying to upload an image to share but I haven't noticed it much outside of gaming otherwise.

EDIT: I did encounter a lot of freezing while trying to run Malwarebyted and Windows Defender. However maybe that was just dumb of me for trying to run two scans at once

I've tried:

• disabling D.O.C.P
• playing a game on another SSD (World of Warcraft). This seemed to run smoothly, but then again its a much less CPU /GPU intensive task. My next plan was to try free up space to move Star wars from my M.2 to my SSD and see if that changes anything.
• Played Black Myth Wukong on the same M.2 Drive. I noticed much less severe issues, but I did get one big freeze mid game. No other freezes except small stuttering when entering new areas / transitioning in general. (On this note, BMW Uses much more of my GPU. Jedi Survivor tends to look like its CPU Bound? GPU Usage rarely reaches +90%. Could this be related? I didn't think being CPU Bound would cause freezing though.)
• Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Scan
• I had run Memtest not long before I had this issue, could try that again but it took hours last time so would likely try while working tomorrow.
• Haven't tried a fresh Windows install yet but could be on the cards

Specs:
Zotac 3080ti OC
5800x3D
Asrock b450f Motherboard
WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD
Viper Patriot Steel 2x8GB 3600MHz DDR4
Seasonic Focus Plus platinum 750W
Plus some old HDD and SDD storage I've brought from old builds.

Thanks for any advice!

Star wars screenshot (Couldn't get it to Embed)

 

[helpstar]

check frequency of GPU and CPU while freezing/stuttering
check temperatures as well

 

[Gyoung123]

For reference, CPU was around 4400 MHZ and GPY around 1900 MHZ. Temps still at 65-70 degrees, sometimes lower, on both.

However, I think I found the issue - I have two very old HDDs from when I first built a PC Ten years ago. Although I only use them for storage on games Im not currently playing, I imagine one of them must be failing because after unplugging them. Booted back up Star Wars, no freezes (Some stuttering when loading new areas but that wasn't new). Rebooted, plugged them back in, 5 seconds into the game I get a long freeze. Unplu them again, no freeze for 10-15 minutes.

Its odd that unplugging them helped since no data I was using was stored on them (as far as I was aware). But they are very, very old HDDs.

However, thank you for being the only person to take the time to respond