Extreme FPS Drop on Movement – i9 12900KS + ASUS ROG STRIX 4070 Super + 32Gb DDR5

Dear GGG!

Bug Report – Severe FPS Drop When Moving (Not a Hardware Issue)

Platform: PC
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (Hungarian)
CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super 12GB
RAM: 32 GB DDR5
Drive: NVMe SSD
Monitor: 2560x1440 144Hz
Internet: One 1000 Mbps Fiber (Hungary)
Game build: Path of Exile 2 – latest version (April 4, 2025)

Issue description:

- Game starts with a stable 220 FPS in the menu and when the character is idle
- As soon as I move the character, FPS instantly drops to 15–20
- At the same time, CPU ms and GPU ms spike drastically (based on Afterburner graph)
- The drop repeats consistently when moving
- Other games (e.g., Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) have zero FPS issues, even at 2K with max settings, stable 100+ FPS
- Full reinstall, driver reinstall, and cache clearing have been done → no improvement

What I've tested:

- Performed a clean reinstall of the game
- Deleted the entire cache and config folders:
C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2
- Removed NVIDIA drivers using DDU and reinstalled clean
- Optimized via NVIDIA Control Panel: Max performance, shader cache, etc.
- Disabled G-Sync, VSync, Dynamic Resolution
- Launched in admin mode, disabled fullscreen optimization

Important note:

- A friend of mine playing from Serbia on a similar setup and same game version → no FPS drop for him
- This suggests a potential regional issue with CDN, routing, or asset caching

Request to the development team:

This is most likely not a client-side hardware issue, but rather:
- Shader compilation bug
- Region-specific CDN asset bug
- Unoptimized render thread or memory leak
- Regional-level routing or edge server errors

Please investigate the routing path and cache state for players from Hungary and test whether the FPS drop on movement can be reproduced using this configuration.

Thanks
X4rut0by



HUN:

Kedves GGG!


Bug Report – Brutális FPS drop mozgás közben (nem hardverhiba)

Platform: PC
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (Magyar)
CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super 12GB
RAM: 32 GB DDR5
Drive: NVMe SSD
Monitor: 2560x1440 144Hz
Internet: One 1000 Mbps optika (Magyarország)
Game build: Path of Exile 2 – aktuális verzió (2025. április 4.)

A hiba:

- Játék elindul, menüben és álló karakterrel stabilan 220 FPS
- Amint megmozdulok a karakterrel, az FPS azonnal beesik 15–20 FPS-re
- Egyidejűleg CPU ms és GPU ms felugrik drasztikusan (Afterburner graph alapján)
- A drop folyamatosan ismétlődik mozgás közben
- Más játékokban (pl. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) nincs semmilyen FPS probléma, 2K-ban is max beállításokkal stabil 100+ FPS
- Teljes újratelepítés, driver reinstall, cache törlés megtörtént → nincs változás

Amit teszteltem:

- Újratelepítettem a játékot (clean install)
- Töröltem a teljes cache és config mappát:
C:\Users\<név>\Documents\My Games\Path of Exile 2
- NVIDIA driver DDU-val leszedve, újratelepítve (clean)
- NVIDIA Control Panelben optimalizálva: Max performance, shader cache, stb.
- G-Sync, VSync, Dynamic resolution kikapcsolva
- Admin módban futtatás, fullscreen optimization kikapcsolva

Fontos megjegyzés:

- Egyik ismerősöm Szerbiából játszik, ugyanazzal a game versionnel, hasonló hardveren → nála nincs FPS drop
- Felmerült a gyanú, hogy regionális CDN, routing vagy cache probléma lehet


Kérem a fejlesztői csapat figyelmét

Ez valószínűleg nem kliensoldali hardverprobléma, hanem:
- Shader compilációs bug
- Region-specifikus CDN asset bug
- Nem optimalizált render thread vagy memory leak
- Routing vagy edge server hibák régiós szinten

Kérlek vizsgáljátok ki a magyarországi játékosok útvonalát, cache állapotát, és teszteljétek le, hogy reprodukálható-e mozgás közbeni FPS drop nálatok ezzel a konfigurációval.

PoE 2 Bug Reports:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/2214

Try the suggestions listed in PoE 2 Live Updates:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3741050

UPDATE 04.04. 23:00

After testing with ExitLag, the FPS drop issue was significantly reduced — the game ran at around 120 FPS with stable frame times. However, I encountered the following error twice:

"Unknown object type serialized by server"

This exception happened once while ExitLag was active, and once without it, so it seems unrelated to ExitLag itself.

This suggests a deeper issue in client-server synchronization or asset deserialization, potentially triggered during teleportation or area transitions.

use Vulkan until its sorted - it sorted it for me - seems like a rendering issue.
i have the same problem

**Additional observation:** 23.20

It seems that the FPS drop becomes **less severe in areas I have already explored**. The more of the map I uncover, the smoother the performance becomes. This suggests that the FPS drop may be related to **real-time shader or asset streaming**, and that previously visited areas are cached, reducing the CPU/GPU load when moving through them again.

This further supports the theory of missing or insufficient shader/asset preloading.

**Further Update: Vulkan vs. DirectX 12** 23:23

I had been using DirectX 12 until now. After switching to Vulkan, performance improved drastically.

With Vulkan:
- FPS is much more stable
- Movement stutter is mostly gone
- CPU/GPU frame time spikes are significantly reduced

This clearly suggests that the DirectX 12 implementation in PoE2 is either incomplete or not optimized, especially in terms of shader preloading and asset streaming. Vulkan currently handles these much better.