So, after going back to an old NVIDIA driver and seeing my major slow down still happening, I realized that it was not only slowing down...but I kept moving in a specific direction, even though I wasn't pressing anything. This lead me to believe it was something with the source of that signal--my wireless XBox controller. So, I changed the batteries in the controller....and so far, the stutter is not happening. My own dumb fault for not thinking of that first.
I will see if this keeps happening but I think that was the issue, at least in my case. I still get little hiccups, but not the game-ending freezes I was experiencing. I just took the batteries out of the controller and plugged it in via usb and it’s all working much better.
Maybe this will help? You all probably tried that already—still new to all this PC stuff, to be honest!
good luck out there!
Here's a pretty easy way to monitor your system while you're playing: I have 2 monitors, and on the 2nd, I installed "8GadgetPack" - It's basically Windows 7 gadgets for Windows 10. They also require "CoreTemp" to be installed for CPU temp monitoring. There are some really good hardware monitoring gadgets that can give you a really good idea of what's going on. I found that anytime I have a drastic drop in FPS, it's' always because of a spike in disk activity, because GPU utilization drops right along with it. This happens any time I am running around on the map. I'm also finding that no matter i do what JFO is not using more than 60% of my CPU. For me, it doesn't happen enough to complain about, just offering an example.
I also found that lowering frame rates DOESN'T help, that raising them to max (144) works the best, because no matter what, the frame rates still drop when this disk spike occurs. So if I lowered them to 60, they'll drop to like 30. But if I set them at 144, and they max out at 135, they will drop to about 60-70... and that's only on the most demanding planets like Bogano...so the higher frame rate is actually preferable.
Just posting this suggestion to anyone who is having these problems, to help you get to the root of the issue.
