CPU ms spikes freezes computer and unable play from then

This is for the latest build of Path Of Exile 2, launched from Steam

PC specs: pny 4070ti, i5-13600k, asus prime z790-a, 32gb ram, ssd, 250mbps ethernet

No Resize BAR enabled. Swap partition is on SSD. Shader cache was cleared and set to 100GB

Temperature without load 35 for both CPU / GPU, when issues happens temp don't spike and stay around 40-50 which is consistent with temp under load for my system (Celsius).

I am able to play many AAA titles at max settings, heavy CPU usage benchmark run fine still and give me a good score.


Issue:

I played the Early Access extensively and never had this issue - I came back to the game last week or so and unable to play consistently as every now and then, when zoning anywhere (can be town, map, hideout, doesn't seem to be a specific type of zone), the shader bar goes full green and the CPU ms spikes to the thousands.

This completely locks my PC, after some times, the game either crash to log in screen or the loading screen complete - but the spikes persist at around 500-1000ms until I close the game

Before, I was able to relaunch the game, and it would be some time before the freeze happen. Today, the loading screen from the character selection after log in also spikes my CPU so essentially unable to log into the game and play properly.

I tried recording with OBS to show but it crashes OBS as soon as it happens. The game is literally unplayable when that happens, there's about 3s lag on every action and I have literally 1 to 3 FPS.

I am a huge fan of PoE and I really want to play the game

Any pointers/help appreciated