System focuses more on transferring files than essential operations
System focuses more on transferring files than essential operations
The SSD has a defined write endurance rating. My idea is to explore this further using Windows event logs and SMART statistics. Begin there. Additionally, if the problem only occurs during Steam file downloads, it might relate to CPU throttling. This happens because Steam performs heavy decompression and checksum checks, consuming significant CPU power. If the processor overheats and reduces performance, headroom decreases and the system may display 100% usage.
It's definitely not throttling. I've never seen temperatures exceed 60°C even at as low as 25°C. I'll check the system logs and smart stats and get back to you. The problem seems to affect most launchers except Battle.net, Steam, Epic Games, and the Xbox launcher.
SSD benchmarks offer options for data length such as 1GB, 4GB, or 10GB. You can run tests repeatedly; doing many small runs helps clear any initial buffer issues. Once writing begins on slower drives, performance should stabilize. Most online SSD tests let you pick the file size to simulate a buffer and evaluate long-term write speed.
I installed CrystalDiskInfo and executed it in idle mode, then again during a download. I’m not entirely sure what I’m observing, but the temperature rose by about two degrees Celsius—which isn’t particularly significant. It’s typical for components to increase slightly under load. While the download was running, I captured two screenshots of Task Manager around the same time. My SSD was experiencing light usage, and my CPU was changing between 0 and 100%. I’ll include all the images here.
It seems you've written only about 62TB so far, well below the 640TBW capacity. The 1613 power cycles over four years are unusual but not necessarily a red flag for SSDs—SMART data doesn’t always warn immediately. Would you like to review the full report or discuss what this means for your system?
I reviewed the receipt which dates back to September 2020, making it roughly three and a half years old. I've been using it almost every day since then, balancing school and gaming. It was the machine I relied on during online classes during the pandemic. Over the years, I’ve sent it into Memory Express likely several times for diagnostics or part replacements, so there were probably some extra upgrades around that time.
The SMART metrics appear satisfactory, along with the endurance rating (90% retention). The drive supports 3.5GB/s reads and 3GB/s writes, which is adequate for its performance. While it meets read requirements, write speeds fall short, staying below 1GB/s. This limitation isn’t due to PCI 3.0 x4 interface but rather the SLC caching combined with onboard DRAM. The high CPU kernel usage suggests possible IRQ congestion or heavy NTFS.sys activity, which may stem from misalignment between partitions and SSD blocks. This misalignment can slow write operations and increase CPU load. To verify, use ADATA SSD Toolbox for deeper diagnostics and check firmware updates before updating. You should also back up data prior to any firmware changes.
Your partition starting offset is set to 1,048,576 bytes. After dividing by 4096, it should be 256 even. Would replacing the SSD fully resolve the problem, or could there still be a CPU-related issue? I used the ADATA SSD Toolbox and ran it—here’s what the output showed.