Random Mini & Full Freezes (No Crash / No Logs) — Early Findings & Workaround

I wanted to share some early findings around random freezes in PoE2 on NVIDIA, especially during boss fights, temples, and high-effect content. This is not a full, in-depth test, but it has been consistently working for me so far.

Symptoms
Game randomly freezes or goes “Not Responding”
No crash dialog
No useful Event Viewer logs

Reliability Monitor shows:
PathOfExileSteam.exe stopped interacting with Windows

Happens mostly:
during bosses
during heavy particle effects
sometimes mid-map, sometimes in temples / trials

System:
NVIDIA GPU
Occurs across multiple driver versions
Initially using DX12

Likely Cause
Based on behavior and testing, this appears related to async shader compilation causing a GPU deadlock under load. When new shaders compile mid-combat (boss abilities, heavy effects), the render thread can stall indefinitely, resulting in a freeze with no clean crash log.

This also explains:

Why freezes feel random
Why they often occur during bosses
Why no crash dump is generated
"Confirmed" Stable Workaround (So Far)

Switching to DX11 and disabling async shader compilation has fully eliminated freezes for me so far.

Steam Launch Options (DX11 – most stable in my testing):
--renderer DirectX11 --noasync --waitforpreload


Results:

Longer load screens (expected)
No freezes
No “Not Responding”
Bosses, Vaal Temple, and high-effect content completed without issues

DX12 Status (Limited Testing, So Far Positive)
DX12 has also been working so far when async is disabled, though testing is still limited.

Steam Launch Options (DX12 – early testing):
--renderer DirectX12 --noasync


With:

FPS capped (60–90)
NVIDIA Low Latency Mode OFF
Overlays disabled

I’ve run a few maps and multiple bosses without issues using this setup, but I wouldn’t consider it fully validated yet. DX11 remains the safer option for longer or heavier sessions.

Important Notes

This is not a full stress test
Results may vary by system
Reinstalling the game did not help in my case
Driver changes alone did not resolve the issue
This does not appear to be a hardware stability problem

Crashes may not appear in Event Viewer — check Reliability Monitor (perfmon /rel)

Summary / Recommendation
If you’re experiencing silent freezes or “Not Responding” hangs:
Try DX11 + --noasync first
DX12 may work with async disabled, but results are still early
Keep FPS capped and overlays disabled

Posting this in case it helps others — happy to update if further testing changes the outcome.



Edit:

Other items to consider.

NVIDIA Control Panel (per-game profile for PoE2)

1) Power Management Mode — REQUIRED
Set to: Prefer maximum performance

Why it complements --noasync:

Prevents GPU downclocking during shader compile bursts

Avoids clock ramp + shader compile happening together

Reduces micro-stalls becoming noticeable spikes

2) Max Frame Rate — STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
Set to:

60 for absolute smoothness

90 if you want more headroom but still stable

Why:

Leaves GPU queue slack for shader compilation

Prevents 100% utilization during new shader loads

Works extremely well with DX11 or DX12 + --noasync

3) Low Latency Mode — OFF
Why:

Low Latency aggressively shortens the render queue

Shader compilation needs queue breathing room

ON increases risk of stalls during shader work

This one matters more than people realize.

4) Vertical Sync — OFF (driver)
Use in-game VSync instead if needed.

Why:

Driver VSync can interact badly with frame pacing during compile spikes

In-game VSync is more predictable

5) Shader Cache Size — Driver Default
Unlimited is fine but unnecessary

Default already scales dynamically

Do not expect performance miracles from changing this.

NVIDIA settings that do NOT help (skip these)
Threaded Optimization

Texture Filtering Quality

Anisotropic Sample Optimization

Triple Buffering

VR pre-rendered frames

They don’t affect shader timing or stalls.

BIOS / System-level settings (safe & useful)
1) Disable CPU C-States (optional but helpful)
If you’re comfortable in BIOS:

Why:

Prevents CPU sleep transitions during shader spikes

Reduces frametime variance

Especially helpful on AMD CPUs

Not mandatory — optional polish.

2) Ensure XMP / EXPO is enabled
Why:

Shader compilation is CPU + memory heavy

Slow RAM increases compile time and spikes

This is real impact, not placebo

Very important if RAM is running at JEDEC speeds.

3) No aggressive CPU undervolts
If you undervolt:

Ensure it’s fully stable

Shader compilation stresses parts of the CPU that gaming usually doesn’t

Instability here can look like random stutters.

Windows settings that complement stability
1) Game Mode — ON
Why:

Prevents background scheduling interference

Helps during shader compile bursts

2) Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling
Try both — keep whichever feels smoother

ON can help DX12

OFF is sometimes smoother on DX11

This one is system-dependent.

3) Disable overlays
Steam overlay

Discord overlay

NVIDIA overlay

Overlays hook into the render pipeline — bad timing during shader work.

Bump.

I just wanna say thanks very much for this post. The subreddit is next to useless, and a lot of stuff here tends to be "Please reward me for logging in and existing, rain loot from the sky" stupid bullshit.

This is actually well thought out and helpful.

When you say "overlays disabled", what do you mean?

I'm having identical issues, still having them with DX12 and the launch args you posted. Going to try the DX11 but it's really a last resort. It feels terrible to have to try and use these deprecated systems when I'm using a 9800x3d and an SSD. The load times :'(

If you have Nvidia or Discord overlays enabled.