My PC has recently developed performance problems, including short freezes, slow loading, and applications briefly hanging when I click something or open new content. I ran sfc /scannow, which repaired some system files. While testing Roblox, I noticed the GPU usage repeatedly jumping between about 34% and 100%.
Windows Defender is also behaving strangely: it reports that protection is turned off even though its individual protections appear enabled. It has also blocked AMDRSServ.exe from accessing a system folder.
The freezes affect nearly every application, including Settings, but they happen most often in games. Even relatively undemanding games can cause problems, while more demanding games make the system run unusually hot. I previously experienced more severe freezes while watching videos or GIFs, but those improved after updating the graphics drivers.
My hardware is an AMD Ryzen 7 7700, Radeon RX 7800 XT, MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 power supply, ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi motherboard, 64 GB of Kingston Fury DDR5 memory, and a 2 TB SSD. I have not seen any AMD driver timeout warnings.
1 Answer
The symptoms sound more like a graphics-driver problem than normal GPU usage variation. Since the issue changed after updating the drivers, try performing a clean driver installation or rolling back to an earlier stable version, such as 26.6.2, and check whether the freezes and excessive heat improve.
The freezes are usually limited to whichever application is active rather than locking up the entire computer. They happen when loading something or clicking around, and games are affected even when they are not very demanding. I have not received any driver timeout warnings.