[SOLVED] Regular pattern of frame time spikes

Dear forum,

I'm encouring a peculiar pattern of frame time since a couple of weeks.
The game runs quite smoothly (>100 fps) except for every few seconds where the frame time spikes and the game stutters quite heavily for, say, half a second.

Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/YX5efrh

I'm playing with two friends of mine that have essentially the same system as I do and do not encouter the frame time spikes.

System
- Win 10
- i7-9750H
- 32 GB RAM
- GeForce RTX 2060
- PoE installed on SSD


Observations so far:
- does not seem to depend if on map or hideout
- does not seem to depend on the actual "load", e.g. no difference whether I stand still, move, fight
- Game is freshly installed
- Latest driver for graphics card is installed


Anyone faced (aond solved? :-) ) the same issue or has any suggestion on how to tackle the issue?

I'd appreciate any help :-)

Solved: GPU overheated regularly, was throttled down, temperature sank, GPU was unthrottled and so on....

I you face similar issues, maybe consider having a look at GPU Z to monitor.

The "solution" posted here helped me figure out my own solution, so figured I'd post in case it helps anyone else. My GPU is an AMD Radeon RX 6700XT, and this will be particularly relevant to other AMD users.

I was noticing frame time spikes/dropped frames while my FPS was otherwise extremely high (170-220). I believe it was exactly as OP found - my GPU was constantly at 80-100% utilization, and as a result it was overheating.

The weird thing was that I had Vsync enabled, and my monitor's refresh rate is 120Hz, so my framerate should have been capped at 120. I had to turn off Vsync and cap my framerate manually, or my GPU would just churn out as many frames as it could manage until it overheated.

Then, looking through my AMD graphics settings, I found Radeon Enhanced Sync. When this setting is enabled, you get "an alternative vsync mode that minimizes visual tearing and lag but doesn't limit framerate."

I turned this setting off, turned vsync back on in-game, and now I have rock solid 120 FPS with no dropped frames. Hooray!