Game freezing (fps drops to 0) when I hit mobs

Hi everyone, looking for some help.

To start with my latency is consistent to Cali server and I've been on it for the last few weeks (~60ms). Yesterday after either the 3.10.1f patch or possibly a windows update, my game started freezing as soon as I hit a mob. The freeze lasts for anywhere from 1-5 seconds and then I appear where I was intending to go and the mobs are dead (or I am).

I tested this in regular act maps and the framerate drops low but only for a small bit depending on how big the pack is. Delirium makes it much worse. Maps make it worse and delirium + maps is the 1-5 seconds constant frame drops.

I normally run ~60-100 fps depending on the circumstances (I almost always play solo or duo).

To attempt to fix the issue I uninstalled a windows update from yesterday. Updated drivers. Tried windowed/fullscreen/windowed fullscreen. Changed nvidia settings. Uninstalled poe and reinstalled. Checked for drive errors. Reset internet connection. Disabled sound. Looked into g-sync issues since I had major problems prior to having my second monitor match my primary monitors 144hz. Changed network between lockstep/predictive. Took off a cluster jewel that spreads freeze. Thought maybe it was asset loading, but it will just continue each map I enter and theoretically it should go away quickly.

I tested and had no fps/latency issues in Wow Classic.

After mobs are clear I can run around, use skills, etc. Hideout is steady fps... In town, frame rate drops to 0 whenever someone comes into town. While typing this I notice that while in the background with my character in town, fps never changes from my set background cap of 30fps, regardless of players coming in and out.

I have a gtx 1060, i5 6600k, 32g ram, ssd.

Thanks for your time.

An update:
Done a bunch of other things to test including trying to repair my windows 10.
Clean install of nvidia drivers using DDU to clean first.
Various in game settings for graphics/sound.
Put the entire game on a ramdisk...I have 32gig of ram.
Command line commands noasync, no preload, waitforpreload.
Checked ssd for errors.

I currently believe that any time an asset has to be loaded is when my framerate drops to 1 and the freeze can be as fast as a stutter or as long as 5 seconds. As far as I can tell there is no real issue with ssd but it appears that cpu goes to 100%.

DxDiag here since it was too big to fit in one post:
https://easyupload.io/khzd0l

i got the same problems :(

It is as if you are living my life. Same issue with same steps attempting to fix. No positive results. My PC is very high end. I have a friend that I always play with that as almost identical rig as me and he does not have this issue. I seriously give up. If you find a fix please PM me I am not the best with super technical PC stuff so I am at mercy of googling fixes and following guides/walkthroughs.


**Edit** I am Cali as well. I tried Texas realm and still get the FPS drops to 1 with freezing.

I feel your pain guys...

Couple more notes here:
When framerate drops to 1, mobs and things are still moving, I am still spinning (cyclone coc build), and my character still moves towards where I last targeted.
This started happening this past week, either the day before the patch or patch day (I didn't play for a couple days and after patch is when it started).

My windows 10 pro build was 1903 when I started trying to fix the issue, it is now 1909 and still no improvement.

I'm not sure if there is anything I can check for connection, it seems stable and fine for everything else. I did reset router and modem but the issue seems like it can't be related to connection.

Thanks again for your time.

I seriously give up. I have no joke tried so many things. I spent most of last night and today googling. I found many many different suggestions that people say have fixed similar issues from past and present. I am getting no change, nothing works. I can run this game on any setting high/med/low, steam/no steam, as admin/not as admin, every nvidia control panel walk-through and option changes you can find on the net. Zero change. My PC is really good, I was able to get the FPS to stay around 180-200 smooth then right before a pack of monsters enter the frame 1 FPS game freezes for 1-5 seconds. Then comes back to 180 fps and stays stable for a few pack of monsters then repeats the process. I have also tested all my builds its not related to a specific character. I have tried other high demand games on my PC and they have zero issue. Honestly I would take acknowledgement of this issue from GGG for now. I am afraid this isn't a concern to them and I will never be able to play again.

I tested on my laptop and PoE is smooth, same connection except laptop is on wifi.

Just have no ideas for my desktop...Maybe need an old nvidia driver or an older windows version, in case it isn't server side.

I was able to resolve the issue. I PM'd you what I did.

Could you please share it here? What is the reason to send the helping help via private message? Appreciate it.

It was because Jingle3 and myself have 100% identical problems. We are both from CA and no one cared to offer assistance to us in this tread. The problem was super obscure and did honestly make much sense as to what was causing it. However you are right. I will post my fix below:

I went here:

https://www.techspot.com/drivers/manufacturer/nvidia_geforce/

I downloaded an old driver. I picked 436.30 (For windows 10). I picked one that far back because I tried to remember the last time POE ran really well. I did custom/clean installation. I had to enable VSync even tho I have never enabled it before and I play on predictive networking mode under "UI". Lockstep is ass always has been in my opinion.

I tested a few story areas and kicked off delirium. I ran a delve and tier 1 white map w/ delirium. I stayed between 40-150 FPS, ZERO locking up or freezing. After the clean installation I purposely did not touch any settings in the NVIDIA control panel I let them be at their reverted default state. Things got messed up again when I went into those settings and tried recommended changes.