I bought a custom-built PC with new components in December last year, and it has had this problem since the beginning. The system runs perfectly while I am using it, but after being left untouched for roughly 10–15 minutes, it sometimes becomes almost unresponsive. Everything slows down dramatically, as if it is about to crash, although it does not completely freeze every time.
The system has a Ryzen 5 7500F, RTX 4060, ASUS A620M-PLUS motherboard, 32GB of Crucial DDR5-5600 memory, a 2TB Kingston SNV3S SSD and a 256GB Lexar NM620 SSD running Windows 11 Pro 25H2. Nothing is overclocked.
During the slowdown, Task Manager is difficult to open. CPU usage fluctuates between about 30% and 70%, while memory usage is generally between 40% and 60%; neither appears to be maxed out. Waiting several minutes sometimes allows the PC to recover, but restarting is unreliable and a full power-off usually works better. It can occasionally happen shortly after a cold boot too, but it never occurs while I am actively using the computer.
I have already disabled the sleep settings, and the issue existed before I started using a screensaver with a live wallpaper. NVIDIA drivers are kept updated, and malware scans have found nothing. What could cause this kind of idle-related slowdown, and what should I test first?
4 Answers
The CPU itself could still be involved, since some Ryzen systems can become unstable at idle or during voltage and frequency changes. Rather than assuming it is defective immediately, update the motherboard BIOS, load safe BIOS defaults, and test with memory overclocking profiles disabled. Also check Windows Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor for hardware errors around the time of the slowdown.
Check the Windows power plan and advanced processor settings. As a diagnostic test, try a high-performance plan and temporarily raise the minimum processor state. If the problem disappears, the system may be unstable when the CPU enters its lowest power state. This does not prove the setting is the permanent fix, but it can help narrow down whether power management is involved.
Do not rule out the power supply or another hardware stability issue just because the PC works during gaming or normal use. A marginal PSU or unstable low-power behavior can show up only when the system changes power states. Testing with a known-good PSU, checking motherboard firmware, and running separate memory and storage diagnostics would be worthwhile.
The system was custom-built with mostly new parts, but I have not specifically tested the PSU or low-power states yet.
It may be related to sleep or another low-power transition even if the normal sleep timer is disabled. Graphics drivers can sometimes become unresponsive when the display or system changes power states. Make sure display power-saving options are also tested separately, and try running without the live wallpaper or screensaver while troubleshooting.
I disabled the sleep settings quite a while ago, and the problem still happens. It also started before I switched to the live wallpaper, so that probably is not the original cause.
I am not using manual overclocking, but I will check whether a memory profile or BIOS power setting is enabled and look for errors after the next occurrence.