I'm troubleshooting a brand-new Windows 11 PC with a Ryzen 5 5600X, GeForce RTX 5060 8GB, ASUS Prime B550M-A WiFi II motherboard, 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and a 750W power supply. Windows works normally on the desktop, but launching games such as Counter-Strike 2 or Minecraft quickly causes severe system-wide stuttering. The game freezes, the mouse becomes extremely slow, Windows lags heavily, headset audio crackles or becomes badly distorted, and the microphone sometimes disappears. In some cases the whole system is nearly frozen. Reinstalling Windows and drivers did not help, and the motherboard has already been replaced twice. What should be tested first to isolate whether this is caused by overheating, unstable RAM, the GPU, USB devices, power delivery, storage, BIOS settings, or another driver or hardware problem? I'd especially appreciate recommendations for useful monitoring tools, stress tests, Windows logs, or other diagnostics.
4 Answers
Try disconnecting every nonessential USB device, including hubs, external drives, controllers, and unusual audio hardware. A malfunctioning USB device or driver can cause system-wide lag, audio corruption, and devices disappearing. Leave only a basic keyboard, mouse, and headset connected, then add devices back one at a time. Also try different rear motherboard USB ports rather than front-panel ports.
Check the physical setup as well: the monitor should be connected to the graphics card, not the motherboard, and the GPU should be fully seated with its power cable firmly attached. Reseat the RAM, GPU, and power connectors, and inspect for a loose cable or poorly connected front-panel USB lead. If possible, test with another graphics card or power supply, or have the seller run a warranty diagnostic, because system-wide audio and input failures under load can indicate a hardware or power problem.
Start by watching CPU and GPU temperatures, clocks, power usage, and throttling with HWiNFO while launching a game. An overheating CPU or GPU can make the entire system crawl, not just reduce in-game FPS. Also verify that the cooler is mounted correctly, has good contact, and that all fans are actually spinning. If temperatures look abnormal, test with a known-good cooler before chasing software issues.
Since Windows was reinstalled and the motherboard was replaced, I'd test the remaining hardware methodically. Run MemTest86 or Windows Memory Diagnostic, then test with one RAM stick at a time and disable any memory overclocking or DOCP/XMP profile in BIOS. Check Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor for WHEA hardware errors, display-driver resets, USB errors, or unexpected shutdowns. A clean GPU driver installation and current AMD chipset drivers are also worth confirming.
The Ryzen 5 5600X has no integrated graphics, so the display must use the dedicated GPU. Even so, checking the GPU seating, power connector, and the cable connections is still worthwhile.