Share via

How to fix stuttering and high dpc latency (apparently) caused by dxgkrnl.sys

Kevin de Carvalho Campos 0 Reputation points
2026-03-26T00:06:03.21+00:00

Hello, my pc is stuttering and I have no idea why. After some research I stumbled upon the latency mon program and it showed me this:

CONCLUSION

Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.

LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:02:24 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

CONCLUSION

Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.

LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:18:56 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

SYSTEM INFORMATION

Computer name: KEVIN

OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19045 (x64)

Hardware: MS-7C96, Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.

BIOS: 1.L1

CPU: AuthenticAMD AMD Ryzen 5 5500

Logical processors: 12

Processor groups: 1

Processor group size: 12

RAM: 16277 MB total

CPU SPEED

Reported CPU speed (WMI): 360 MHz

Reported CPU speed (registry): 3593 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES

The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 399,80

Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 8,723761

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 395,60

Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 4,519487

REPORTED ISRs

Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 96,427498

Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0,001201

Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0,001276

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 81547

ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0

ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

REPORTED DPCs

DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 100896,888394

Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0,098881

Driver with highest DPC total execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0,127443

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 2464224

DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0

DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 1679

DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0

DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0

DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 2

REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS

Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: disco.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 6508

Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 2512

Number of processes hit: 50

PER CPU DATA

CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 42,826389

CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 96,427498

CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0,171411

CPU 0 ISR count: 80296

CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 100896,888394

CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 16,464563

CPU 0 DPC count: 2315071

CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2,379169

CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 8,135820

CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0,002497

CPU 1 ISR count: 1233

CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 623,402171

CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0,236946

CPU 1 DPC count: 29660

CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2,541302

CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 6,302254

CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0,000045

CPU 2 ISR count: 16

CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 516,223768

CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0,324846

CPU 2 DPC count: 54608

CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2,049045

CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 1,522961

CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0,000003

CPU 3 ISR count: 2

CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 474,382410

CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0,082747

CPU 3 DPC count: 10946

CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1,468196

CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 4 ISR count: 0

CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 177,134428

CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0,042136

CPU 4 DPC count: 18184

CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0,751449

CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 5 ISR count: 0

CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 83,853048

CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0,003533

CPU 5 DPC count: 550

CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1,915185

CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 6 ISR count: 0

CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 300,854996

CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0,092181

CPU 6 DPC count: 17672

CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0,905731

CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 7 ISR count: 0

CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 164,620095

CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0,008190

CPU 7 DPC count: 1084

CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1,510882

CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 8 ISR count: 0

CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 134,421375

CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0,028555

CPU 8 DPC count: 4554

CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1,472356

CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 9 ISR count: 0

CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 376,261620

CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0,030484

CPU 9 DPC count: 4927

CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1,465989

CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 10 ISR count: 0

CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 134,952407

CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0,055479

CPU 10 DPC count: 8014

CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0,873833

CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0,0

CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0,0

CPU 11 ISR count: 0

CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 161,013081

CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0,006765

CPU 11 DPC count: 635

I already updated my bios, put my pc on balanced mode to disable the CPU throttling, disabled my audio device and enabled it later and my SSD is already on AHCI. Those were the common solutions that I found for this problem, but none of them worked for me.

Windows for home | Other | Performance and system failures
0 comments

3 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Lucus-V 6,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-06T20:47:45.1533333+00:00

    Hi Kevin de Carvalho Campos,

    As Q&A Assist mentioned, dxgkrnl.sys is the DirectX graphics kernel. Long-running DPCs in this component usually indicate a graphics-driver or GPU-related issue, not a problem with dxgkrnl.sys itself.

    In some rare cases, high DPCs might be caused by the confliction between hardware or between drivers. To trace this, you need to unplug external devices one by one.

    Some other cases, the problem is caused by the OS and can only be fixed with a clean install.

    Disclaimer: At this point, we have exhausted all troubleshooting and I recommend that we try to perform a clean install to get your computer back into a working condition. Please ensure that you backup any important data, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, and more. Windows 11 Clean Installation Process

    If you have any updates, please feel free to let me know.

  2. Lester Bernard Reyes 77,085 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-03-26T00:40:24.15+00:00

    Hi, I'm Bernard, a fellow Windows user. I'm happy to help!

    Based on the error you have, the dxgkrnl.sys means there is a display driver-related issue on the PC. In this case, may I know the make and model of your Graphics card? so that I can provide you with the steps wherein we will do a clean installation of the graphics card driver.

    0 comments
  3. Q&A Assist
    2026-03-26T00:06:39.5+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    dxgkrnl.sys is the DirectX graphics kernel. Long-running DPCs in this component usually indicate a graphics-driver or GPU-related issue, not a problem with dxgkrnl.sys itself.

    From the data provided, the key points are:

    • Highest DPC routine execution time: ~100,896 µs (about 100 ms) in dxgkrnl.sys.
    • DPCs at this duration are far above recommended limits for real-time workloads.
    • Most DPC activity is on CPU 0, which is typical for interrupt handling.

    According to the documentation, DPCs and ISRs should be very short:

    • Typical DPC routines should run for no more than ~100 microseconds.
    • Long-running DPCs and ISRs can cause audio glitches, video stutter, and general responsiveness issues.
    • DPC/ISR storms or frequent long-running DPCs are often associated with graphics, network, or storage drivers.

    Given that LatencyMon points to dxgkrnl.sys and the context explains that long-running DPCs are almost always driver-related, the practical remediation is to focus on the GPU/graphics stack and other drivers that can trigger graphics-related DPCs:

    1. Update or roll back the graphics driver
    • Install the latest WHQL graphics driver for the GPU from the GPU vendor.
    • If the issue started after a recent driver update, test with an earlier stable driver version.
    1. Minimize long-running DPCs from drivers The guidance for DPC routines is:
    • DPC routines should perform only the work that must run at DISPATCH_LEVEL and defer the rest to worker threads at PASSIVE_LEVEL.
    • Long-running DPCs (and ISRs) can cause media glitches and stuttering. Because dxgkrnl.sys is a Microsoft component, the usual cause is a third-party driver (GPU, display, capture, overlay, or similar) that is interacting with the graphics stack and causing heavy DPC load.

    Actions:

    • Remove or update any third-party overlay/recording/monitoring tools that hook into DirectX (game overlays, screen recorders, GPU monitoring overlays).
    • Update chipset, storage, and network drivers from the motherboard vendor, as these can also contribute to DPC pressure that surfaces in dxgkrnl.sys.
    1. Check for DPC/ISR storms and driver-specific issues The documentation notes:
    • Long-running or frequent DPCs/ISRs (storms) are often found in network, storage, and graphics drivers.
    • Use performance analysis tools (such as Windows Performance Toolkit / WPA) to identify which driver’s DPCs are actually consuming time. In a deeper analysis, the steps are:
    • Capture an ETW trace and analyze DPC/ISR activity.
    • Identify which driver’s DPCs are mapped to the high-duration events (even if LatencyMon reports dxgkrnl.sys, the underlying device driver may be visible in a full trace).
    1. Avoid excessive CPU throttling and contention The context explains that when excessive processor time is consumed by DPCs and ISRs, there might not be enough CPU time left to run threads, causing delays similar to thread interference and visible stutter. Actions:
    • Keep a balanced or high-performance power plan but ensure that any vendor-specific aggressive power-saving or overclocking tools are disabled or uninstalled.
    • If any OEM tuning utilities (overclocking, fan/boost control, etc.) are installed, test with them removed, as they can affect CPU/GPU behavior and DPC timing.
    1. General driver and system health Because long-running DPCs are typically driver bugs or misbehavior:
    • Ensure Windows is fully updated.
    • Remove or disable non-essential device drivers and software one by one (USB audio, virtual audio, virtual network adapters, etc.) and test LatencyMon after each change.

    If the issue persists after updating/removing third-party drivers and tools, the next step is a detailed DPC/ISR analysis using Windows Performance Analyzer to pinpoint the exact driver causing dxgkrnl-related DPC spikes and then updating or replacing that driver.

    References:

    0 comments

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.