[HELP] ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 (G533ZW, 2022) huge DPC spikes from ACPI.sys (audio buzz + game freeze

[ZephKeks]

TL;DR: LatencyMon flags ACPI.sys with ~33 ms DPC spikes on my Scar 15. I sometimes get a short audio buzz and a brief game freeze. I’ve already done clean GPU drivers + fresh Windows + latest BIOS. Looking for other owners’ results and any fix that actually stuck.

My system

• Model: ROG Strix Scar 15 G533ZW (2022)
• CPU/GPU: i9-12900H / RTX 3070 Ti
• RAM: 32 GB
• BIOS: 324 (latest)
• OS: Windows 11 Home 24H2 (build 26100)
• MUX: dGPU-only (on) | Armoury Crate Turbo

LatencyMon highlights (8m 27s run)

Highest interrupt-to-process: 32285.70 µs

Highest DPC routine time: 33855.66 µs (ACPI.sys)

Highest ISR routine time: 437.26 µs (ACPI.sys)

Driver w/ most total DPC time: nvlddmkm.sys (NVIDIA)

Hard pagefaults present (not primary issue)

What I’ve already tried

• DDU in Safe Mode installed community-recommended stable NVIDIA driver 566.36 (also tested others).
• Fresh Windows install + all ASUS/Windows updates.
• Latest chipset/MEI/audio/Wi-Fi/BT drivers.
• Turbo profile, MUX dGPU-only.

Screenshot/log attached. Thanks in advance happy to try anything reproducible and report back with what works.

Asus has stopped releasing BIOS updates for this model in 2023 and I feel like this is now more of a BIOS/EC issue than the drivers themselves.

Latency Mon logs: Logs

Thanks in advance.

[ElectroStingz]

Hello,

What's the latest update to your over heating issues in this thread? https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/rog-strix-series/i9-12900h-p-core-1-amp-p-core-3-always-hot/td-p/10806...

Because that one shows the cores throttling and frequencies dropping well below 800MHz, so this can and will cause lag issues too.

[ZephKeks]

Hey Electro,

Quick update. I tore the machine down and found the CPU liquid metal had cooked off and left a dark spot on the die. I cleaned everything and repasted: Conductonaut Extreme on the CPU and PTM7950 on the GPU. Temps are back to normal, and Cinebench R23 multi is around 19,600 with sane temps.

The DPC latency issue predates all of this. I have tried a lot of fixes and nothing sticks. At this point I suspect a BIOS/firmware quirk, and it does not help that ASUS seems to have stopped supporting this model barely after about three years.

[ElectroStingz]

That's good with the temps 🙂

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ROG-Strix-Scar-15-G533ZW-Laptop-Review-1440p-240-Hz-gaming-powerh...

That review doesnt really mention too much other than the DPC measurement which was not as high as what you are seeing but still high for what it was back then.  

Do you have this installed or anything showing up similar in device manager?

Play around with that one as it can cause latency issues on the older laptops, disable it for testing or try other versions.

[ZephKeks]

I have but it really made no difference.

[ZephKeks]

I have confirmed that this is a BIOS problem, reverting back to 322 made latency much better 

Something is absolutely wrong with the latest G533 bios, i reverted back to the 322 version and it made things a whole lot better, it's still high but ti fixed the audio crackling problems for me, asus needs to check this...

it's still high but compared to BIOS version 324 it's much better and fixes the audio crackling problems.. Asus needs to check this??

[ElectroStingz]

Looks better at least but if you have the time forward the results to ASUS as it might be fixable and apply to many other models.

[ZephKeks]

yeah forwarded it to them

[ZephKeks]

not sure where though 

[eXplode]

I send you 2 videos of my latency but watch them all to see everything after you watch them if you wont to help you start latency moon for 20 minutes and send screen shots from CPUs section

https://youtu.be/9BVd9oyXmoIhttps://youtu.be/9BVd9oyXmoI 

https://youtu.be/hPl1Wbmfu9o 

And just to mention my laptop is G16 G634JZ this mode is whit i9-13980HX in tour case i can sho you how to get latency around 50-80 and maximum latency spike around 1100

this screenshot is from 33 minutes gaming whit latency moon on