Hello, I have some interesting pc problem issue I’ve never encountered before.
About a week ago, my PC started acting strangely in games.
**Symptoms:**
* Drop to exactly 15 fps (Valheim, Dead Cells (fps limit to 180, low gpu load), CS2)/in another case, the fps on indicator was stable, but for some reason the PC also slowed down (CS 2);
* CPU and GPU load drops to minimum, like system idle;
* Mouse movement is laggy and not smooth;
* File Explorer freezes when opened;
* Task Manager freezes when opened;
* Taskbar, icons, and the like do not work.
**What I tried and diagnosed:**
* CPU stress test in Prime95, all cores except one, otherwise the load on all cores caused system lag;
* Furmark on the GPU for an hour, stable performance;
* Reinstalling GPU drivers from 25.8.1 to 25.9.2 and back with DDU;
* Reinstalling Windows 11 25H2 with full formatting of the system disk;
* Cinebench R16 in Multi-Core for CPU gave about 12000-13000 (I don’t remember exactly, unfortunately);
* Checking with HitmanPro and Malwarebytes;
* Checking the speed and health of the system SSD (CrystalDiskInfo, CrystalDiskMark)
* OCCT Power and GPU Load Test;
* System check using Windows Defender;
* Checking suspicious tasks in the task scheduler;
* Lowering GPU clock speed, and increasing voltage in AMD Adrenaline to stabilise GPU.
I also tried restarting the video driver using CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + B, but that didn’t solve the problem, and based on the tests described above, I suspect that the problem is not with the GPU.
During the diagnostics described above, **no problems/BSOD/bugs/crashes or deviations were observed**.
As I noticed, the error occurred in the games listed above. So far, I haven’t been able to test it in others, as it’s quite difficult to catch. The PC slows down for about a minute or two?
Before reinstalling Windows, the slowdowns were longer and only restarting the PC helped, but restarting also took quite a long time (1-2 minutes).
**List of software running in the background at this moment:**
SignalRGB, FanControl, DeepCool, Fluent Flyouts, Hiddify, Spotify, Steam, Playnite, Wallpaper Engine, Samsung Magician;
When the freeze occurs, I tried disabling SignalRGB, DeepCool, Fluent Flyouts, Playnite, Hiddify, and Wallpaper Engine one by one to see if that was the problem, but the freeze remained.
**My PC configuration:**
* CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X3D:
* PBO -30 on all cores;
* CPU cooling: DeepCool LE720;
* GPU: Gigabyte Gaming OC RX 6650XT:
* Min Freq, MHz, 2775;
* Max Freq, MHz, 2875;
* Voltage, mV, 1075;
* VRAM Max Freq, MHz, 2206;
* Power Limit, %, 10;
* RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 2x16GB:
* XMP 3600MHz, 1.35V, 18-22-22-39;
* PSU: Corsair RM 650X;
* Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming B550 PRO, BIOS: 3634 (09.24.2025)
* HDD:
* 2 WD BLUE 1TB 7200 RPM;
* SSD:
* Kingston A400 480GB **(System);**
* Crucial BX 500 120GB;
* M.2:
* Samsung 980 500GB;
* Case: DeepCool CH560 (that’s why I need DeepCool software);
* Total fans in case: 4x DeepCool case fans & 3x AIO fans.
It seems that during normal operation, the PC works without freezing.
I recently removed my processor before reinstalling Windows because I needed to test another one. As far as I remember, all the processor pins are intact and straight. Thermal paste in place.
I also cleaned the dust off the video card, without going overboard, but it seems that I shouldn’t have damaged anything.
Please advise what the problem might be and how else it can be diagnosed.
Let me know if you need any additional information.
I would appreciate your support.