I've been experiencing some frustrating game freezes lately that last anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds. During these episodes, I can't open the task manager or any other applications. I decided to keep an eye on my system's stats with some monitoring tools, and I noticed that my GPU usage drops to 0% when these freezes happen.
I ran HP's PC Hardware Diagnostics, and it didn't show any issues (though the screen does turn white during the GPU stress test, which I think is normal). I've made sure my drivers and BIOS are updated. The last changes I made to my PC were back in January when I swapped out my SSD and RAM. Strange enough, these problems only started a couple of days ago.
Here are some of my specs for reference:
* **Model**: Victus by HP 15L Gaming Desktop TG02-1xxx
* **System ID**: 8B3B
* **CPU**: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700F
* **GPU**: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
* **RAM**: 32GB DDR4
I'm at a loss for what might be causing this issue and would appreciate any insights!
3 Answers
What’s the CPU temperature during these freezes? Often, a drop in GPU usage isn't due to the GPU itself, but because it's waiting for other components to catch up. In laptops, thermal throttling of the CPU is a common issue that can cause this kind of behavior.
This sounds like it could be a driver issue. Have you thought about reinstalling your GPU drivers? I've heard that the latest Windows update has been causing trouble with GPU functionality too, so maybe try rolling back to an earlier version of the Nvidia driver.
Do I just click rollback in the device manager? Or is there another method I should use?
You should check for VRM overheating using HWinfo64 in 'select sensors only' mode. Also, run a memory scan with OCCT, and use CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark to test your new drive. Make sure your storage isn't over 90% full. I agree with the previous comment about rolling back drivers and uninstalling any recent Windows updates first.
I couldn't find any VRM stats on HWinfo, but my storage is around 50% full. I’ll update you after I do the memory scan and roll back Windows & the driver.
I'll let you know what happens next time it freezes. It's been a while since the last freeze.