Just to add to your thorough reply:
I do have links in this thread above as well for the advanced driver page as well as a link for the DDU tool to fully remove a driver.
-[Main Thread] Game Momentarily Freezes While Using Menu (Oct 17th 2023) - #120 by DTMAce-1687
FYI, I am still running on 535.98 from May 30th, right before D4 launch.
Mine has been pretty solid, so not upgrading unless I have to. lol
So either of the two from August are fine, but you can go older to see if it helps any further.
Its sad we need to do things like this sometimes, but at the moment there is no way to know which is causing the problem. I suspect its something with the recent patches, but it could be both of them or some sort of goofy issue with the driver not liking the game under certain conditions.
*shrug