Microsoft and Nvidia work to fix latency spikes in Windows 10 v1903

Many users encountered issues with Nvidia drivers after installing the latest OS version on their machines. Ntoskrnl.exe is causing large latency spikes after installing the Windows 10 May Update.

One user reported the following problem:

InLatencyMonI noticed large latency spikes of around 1300us for ntoskrnl.exe. I also ran into 1 instance where my entire PC froze for a good 10 seconds or so while playing Apex Legends before all of a sudden everything resumed back to normal. I was using drivers 430.86 but am now back on 430.64 (need to do more testing).

Latency spikes after Windows 10 May Update

The issue appeared after updating to Windows 10 version 1903, as one Reddit user reported:

since I made a fresh Windows 1903 install I get a high DPC latency spike caused by ntoskrln.exe. My windows is optimized. I disabled all the C states etc in my UEFI. I disabled (gpedit) auto update and driver installations from Microsoft at the beginning of my installation of the OS. My PC is a i7 8700k Z370 build wih a GTX 1080.

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Ntoskrnl.exe also caused high CPU usage? Check this guide for further details!

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Major issue but no solution available

The users reported that the system had difficulties with real-time audio. They experienced clicks, pops, and dropouts due to buffer underruns.

In the latest Windows 10 update, Microsoft introduced some significant changes including those to the WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) and kernel.

For now, there are no solutions for the issue, but there is a workaround. Users said that after reverting to Windows 10 version 1809, the problem disappeared.

If you want to avoid similar issues, check our guide on how to block Windows 10 v1903 from installing on your computer.