In-game is constantly freezing for ~3-5 seconds then it resumes, repeat

[dreydin]

This /only/ happens while playing in-game. Currently I am playing Assassin's Creed Origins. Basically load it up and between every 30 seconds to 1 minute the game will freeze for ~3-5 seconds. I ran memtest86 and found a stick of ram to be bad. Removed this and the freezing persists. I then took apart a lot of my PC to clean it out (CPU heatsink, fan filters, etc) and added another filtered intake fan (3 intake, 2 exhaust) pointing at the GPU. The filters were pretty dirty and a few dust bunnies, but of course the freezing persists. I have downloaded a number of programs (Memtest86, FurMark, OpenHardwareMonitor, HWiNFO64) to help identify what could be the issue, but I am in need of some guidance here because I am a bit out of my league in trying to diagnose this now.

CPU - i5 2500k w/no OC
GPU - EVGA GTX 970 FTW
RAM - DDR3 1600 24gb
HD - Samsung 850 EVO
PSU - XFX Core PRO550W
Mobo - ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3

I haven't gamed in some time (mainly use this PC for browsing, youtube, etc) and when I went to load this game up, I hilariously set the game settings pretty high- monitor is a Dell S2417DG so 1440p / 165 hz / G-SYNC and after finishing all of the above tweaking, dropped all the settings to medium graphics / 1080p / 60 hz and the freakin' freezing continues! Yes, I have updated my Nvidia drivers. I have even loaded up a few janky YT videos and followed a lot of basic tips there to no avail. I would greatly appreciate some guidance here from those who know better. I just want to casually game a little without realistically considering *gasp* a console. I've been a PC user since the 386/486 days but just don't spend a lot of time on them anymore aside from browsing. I can provide more details and any data requested. Many many thanks!

 

[fralexandr]

Have you tried checking SMART info on your Caviar Black?
HWinfo64 should be able to do that. As that drive is pretty old, there could be some problems with it.
I'm guessing the Caviar Black 750 is the wd 7501aals HDD, which has ~375 GB platters.
You might be running into issues with the relatively low read/write speed (by modern standards) on that drive. If your x-25m has enough space for it, you might want to try moving the game over to the SSD to see if that is the issue, though that would only really work if you have the higher capacity versions (160GB or maybe the 120GB if there's nothing else on it), as the game is quite large.


assassin's creed origins appears to be a pretty demanding game to run. It is unlikely that your CPU/GPU can handle 1080p medium at a constant 60 FPS, and there will probably be dips in highly populated areas. Overclocking the CPU & RAM and upgrading your GPU might help with that, however that shouldn't be causing it to freeze for 3-5 seconds.

Reviews Archive - OC3D

www.overclock3d.net

overclock3d ran a Broadwell 6850k at 4GHz and when running 4 core 4 thread got ~40FPS min frame rates at 1080P high.

 

[dreydin]

Have you tried checking SMART info on your Caviar Black?
HWinfo64 should be able to do that. As that drive is pretty old, there could be some problems with it.
I'm guessing the Caviar Black 750 is the wd 7501aals HDD, which has ~375 GB platters.
You might be running into issues with the relatively low read/write speed (by modern standards) on that drive. If your x-25m has enough space for it, you might want to try moving the game over to the SSD to see if that is the issue, though that would only really work if you have the higher capacity versions (160GB or maybe the 120GB if there's nothing else on it), as the game is quite large.


assassin's creed origins appears to be a pretty demanding game to run. It is unlikely that your CPU/GPU can handle 1080p medium at a constant 60 FPS, and there will probably be dips in highly populated areas. Overclocking the CPU & RAM and upgrading your GPU might help with that, however that shouldn't be causing it to freeze for 3-5 seconds.

Reviews Archive - OC3D

www.overclock3d.net

overclock3d ran a Broadwell 6850k at 4GHz and when running 4 core 4 thread got ~40FPS min frame rates at 1080P high.

Ahh, that is great feedback. I have updated the OP to reflect my actual OS HD to be the Samsung 850 EVO SSD. This drive has plenty of space for the game, so I will try swapping it over and will report back. Also, do you think upgrading my GPU would be worthwhile considering the old i5 2500k? I am not against a new GPU by any means. A new CPU / mobo / RAM on the other hand I am not so sure of right now.

 

[dreydin]

I'm always so hopeful when I make a change, but the HD switch didn't fix the freezing problem. Tbh, the game runs pretty good for me except for the freezing.

 

[fralexandr]

Hmmm...
Maybe verify that your gpu driver is up to date or at least newer than the game (Oct 2017)?
I've had windows update (win 10 pro w/ amd rx480) decide to replace my gpu driver with a really old version causing some game issues... the game would randomly black screen every few minutes for a few seconds, since I'm guessing the graphics driver crashed and reset itself.

You cleaned out your case, but how are your temps looking? hwinfo should be able to graph your cpu/gpu temps and keep track of temperature highs.

Have you tried running other modern graphically intense games to see if you get similar freezes?

 

[shortylickens]

Assuming your drivers are up to date:
I have noticed this problem sometimes with overheating.
Or drive read/write issues.