PC Specs:

Windows 11 Home
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-12700KF Processor (8X 3.60GHz + 4X 2.70GHz /25MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 - WiFi 6, ARGB Header (3), USB 3.2 Ports (2 Type-C, 6 Type-A), M.2 Slot (4)
RAM: 32 GB [8 GB X4] DDR4-3600 Memory Module - TEAMGROUP T-FORCE DELTA RGB (RGB LED)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti - 8GB GDDR6X (VR-Ready)

As title says, been getting random freezes (stuttering?) while playing, where it stops for about a second, then speeds up 2x-3x speed to catch up. This can happen up to 5 times before it seems to stop and return to normal. I haven't noticed a pattern to it at all, just happens at random as far as I can tell.

Fixes I've tried so far:

Everything shown in the Youtube videos "How to FIX STUTTERING in DirectX 12 Games"; "ELDEN RING Guide: How to BOOST FPS and OPTIMISE Performance (Fix LAG & Stutters)"; and "Delete NVIDIA Cache To Fix Game Stutter & Performance Issues"

Gone into BIOS to turn off e-cores (no effect, turned them back on)

Turned EAC to "low priority" when running

Ended EAC process while playing (seems to drastically reduce the amount of times the stuttering/freezing/whatever you want to call it occurs, but game won't close properly and requires a system restart to end the process)

The only thing I want to try is disabling CPU cores in "Set affinity" on the game itself, but apparently EAC prevents that from happening (I assume I'd turn off CPUs 16-19?), but other than this, does anyone out there have any permanent solution to this? I just want to be able to play the game and not have to wait 6-8 seconds every couple minutes or so for the game to stop throwing a fit.

Sent your thread to DB an IT wizard

Have you tried disabling Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator (MDARE) in Windows Device Manager?

a friend found this

https://youtu.be/pF8BQW0eA9Q

try if it helps you too if you use a controller.

Originally posted by nfinite.recursion:

Have you tried disabling Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator (MDARE) in Windows Device Manager?

Trying this now, about 5m in, so far no stuttering/freezing (running around in places it was real bad earlier today)

Maybe, hopefully, fixed? lol

So, after about an hour, I did notice a couple stutters, but they were much more minor compared to what I was having previously (think I noticed about 4 total and they were maybe 0.3 seconds in length)

I did look at the YT video attached above and turned off the Device Association Service Properties on the off chance using a PS5 controller is causing the stutters (would use an Xbox controller, but I've experienced a lot of "ghost inputs", which is apparently a major thing for Win11 users :/ ).

Do you have any streaming devices on your home network like a Roku or Amazon Fire? Wireless printer? NAS or file server?