DX11 mini freezes?

I've been testing the games out since I'm trying to do a playthrough of the games again since its been years. But with Dragon Age 2 I've noticed that the game will kinda 'stick' for a second while travelling around the maps. This only happens hjowever in DX11 mode, regardless of what other graphics settings I use/enable. Playing in DX9 mode works perfectly, no little freezes at all as far as I can tell, I'd be find with that but my goodness the shadows look AWFUL on DX9.

Is there a way to fix the stutter/freeze issue in DX11 or a way to increase graphics somehow in DX9?

thanks