Massive FPS drops (1–10 FPS) in endgame, 9950x3d / RTX 5080

Hey Exiles,
I’m running into a weird issue where Path of Exile drops from 240+ FPS down to 1–10 FPS whenever there’s a lot of monsters on screen. Elsewhere, everything is buttery smooth.

So far:
*Reinstalled CPU + GPU drivers
*Set CPU/GPU power profiles to maximum performance
*Set Shader Cache to unlimited
*Enabled NVIDIA Smooth Motion
*Unassigned CPU #0 from PoE process
*Set PoE process priority to High
*Linked shader roaming directory → actual game directory (mklink /J)
*Switched RAM from EXPO1 (6000MHz) to EXPO2 (5600MHz) for stability
*Made sure virtual cores 16–31 are parked
*Ran Steam file verification multiple times
*Tried all renderers (DX11, DX12, Vulkan)
*Tried different upscalers (DLSS, XeSS, FSR) and toggled various graphics options
Tried playing on the lowest possible settings


Issue:
*FPS stays around 240 normally
*Drops to 1–10 FPS when huge monster packs appear
*Happens on any renderer or settings combo
*Feels like a CPU/shader stall rather than a GPU bottleneck

System specs:
*GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 5080 Ventus 3X OC Plus — 16 GB GDDR7 (DLSS 4)
*Motherboard: MSI MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI
*CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D — 16 cores / 32 threads, AM5 socket, 170 W TDP
*Memory: Patriot Viper Venom DDR5 — 64 GB (2×32 GB) @ 6000 MHz CL30 (PVV564G600C30K)
*Cooling: Arctic Freezer III Pro 360 mm Liquid Cooler
*PSU: Corsair RM1000x (2024 Edition) — 1000 W 80+ Gold
*Storage: Samsung SSD 990 Pro

What else can i try ? Please, i want to play this game a bit more before my vacation ends ;_; .

*Re-installed poe (deleted everything using revo uninstaller)
*Launching game with --nosound flag

still no effect

*Tried older GPU drivers
*tried following these steps - [FIX GUIDE] Solve Shader-Related FPS Drops & Lag Spikes in Path of Exile 2 (PC) https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3800105

*Step include setting cache to 100gb, adding poe.exe to graphics settings
*rn sitting in map with game paused waitting for DRIVE and SHADER to calm down (mby needs to load) ?

*Got a juiced map with 100% deli t16 Full of harbingers in Glacier map, so its really packed with mobs.


*Waited out until drive and shader calms down.
*Unpause - nothing, still getting 10fps

Trying new map, same setup
Drive and Shader loading from scratch ?

Shader green bar full
Drive going 10-50 mb/s

Idk how this works...

*trying to follow Known Issues / FAQ https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1733474

*Set renderer to vulkan and textures to medium, entered map, waitting for drive and shader to calm down.

Issue persists

*change defender and firewall for poe
*disabled windows game mode, game bar, xbox stuff
*sfc /scannow, no issues there
*set sound channels to low
*disabled all other apps (discord/spotify/teams etc)
no effect

*unplugged 2nd screen
*made sure hdr is off
*tried all renderer
no effect

This is on GGG end, it is not your system
Their game runs like a turd because they can't code anymore, the people who knew how to keep the game afloat left the company or are working on PoE 2

Update:
Followed Ultimate AMD Performance Fix Guide: Stop Lag, FPS Drops & Boost Speed (2025) Ultimate AMD Performance Fix Guide: Stop Lag, FPS Drops & Boost Speed (2025) : r/AMDHelp
Most of points done before hand, main changes done:
*5. Set Global C-State Control to Enabled (Not Auto)
*6. Set PCIe Gen Mode 5 or 4 or 3 Manually (Do Not Use Auto).
*disabled smooth animation
Can't tell if better or the same, more feels like no change
still trying t16 100% deli glacier full with harbingers
Game goes very smooth, 240fps, but frames drop drastically when surrounded or going through monsters.

Like I told u earlier and Essaere aswell, it's probably not an issue on ur end.

It's PoEs engine struggling with the amount of calculations (and some very unoptimized animations with harbinger it seems). It's commendable that u try to fix it instead of blaming the game, but this time it is probably the right thing to do unfortunately.

I tried running Harbinger a few leagues ago and I couldn't handle the fps drops. Even without Harbinger I'm running full juiced maps only at like 30-120 fps. (capped 120fps @4k, but lows are around 30)
I'm still CPU capped tho, only having a 5800X3D with a RTX5080, so ur milage will vary.

Hopefully GGG will improve the engine, but right now it seems to only get worse, both in PoE2 and PoE.