- A bug in AMD’s External Events Utility (EEU) is causing continuous data writes to SSDs, even during idle periods.
- Users report up to 1% SSD health degradation per month, with potential daily writes reaching 432GB.
- AMD has acknowledged the issue and is developing a fix for a future Adrenalin driver release.
AMD GPU Driver Bug Accelerates SSD Degradation
AMD Radeon graphics card users are experiencing a critical issue with recent GPU drivers that is causing continuous data writes to Solid State Drives (SSDs), leading to accelerated wear and reduced lifespan. The problem stems from the AMD External Events Utility (EEU), identified by the executable atieclxx.exe, which manages features such as hotkeys, display detection, and FreeSync adaptive synchronization.
The issue gained renewed attention on November 8, following a Reddit post by user ‘darklinkpower’ highlighting unusual drive activity. Reports indicate that some users are experiencing a loss of approximately 1% of their SSD’s reported health every month. One Radeon owner stated, “I just found out that the driver eats up 1% of my SSD health every month for 16 months.”
Scope of the Problem and Potential Impact
User reports suggest sustained data writes of about 5 MB/s while PCs are idle. This translates to roughly 18GB of host writes per hour, accumulating to 432GB over a full day. Uninterrupted activity for a month could push figures close to 13TB. While SSD controllers employ caching and wear-leveling techniques to manage incoming data, the precise amount of actual NAND flash wear resulting from this reported activity remains undetermined. However, such volumes of writes significantly impact the drive’s longevity.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Idle Write Speed | ~5 MB/s |
| Hourly Write Volume | ~18 GB |
| Daily Write Volume | ~432 GB |
| Monthly Write Volume | ~13 TB |
| Reported SSD Health Loss | ~1% per month |
The problem does not appear to be confined to the latest driver versions; reports include systems running Adrenalin 26.19.2, as well as older releases, with some users tracing the bug back to Adrenalin Edition 26.7.1, released in June of this year.
AMD’s Response and Temporary Workarounds
AMD has officially acknowledged the bug. On October 21, an AMD representative on their community forum confirmed they were investigating the issue. Subsequently, AMD representative AMD_Vik provided an update on Reddit, stating that the fix “should be fixed in the next one.” The resolution is anticipated in Adrenalin 26.11.1, though a specific release date has not yet been confirmed.
Until an official patch is released, users can implement two reported workarounds:
- Disabling the AMD EEU Service: Users can open Windows Services (Win + R, type services.msc), locate AMD EEU, and either stop the service or change its startup type to “Disabled.” This action appears to halt the excessive writes but may affect hotkey functionality and FreeSync.
- Disabling Resizable Bar (ReBAR): Another workaround reported by users is disabling ReBAR, which reportedly stops the disk activity without disabling the EEU. However, ReBAR can enhance gaming performance by allowing more efficient access to GPU memory, making this a less ideal long-term solution.
PROSTO24 advises users to first check their PC for the problem. This can be done by opening Windows Resource Monitor (Win + R, type resmon, select the Disk tab), sorting by write activity, and looking for sustained writes from atieclxx.exe or atiesrxx.exe. Ensuring your gaming PC components are healthy is crucial for optimal performance and longevity.
This issue underscores the importance of monitoring system activity, especially for SSD users whose drive lifespan is finite. While AMD is actively working on a solution, temporary measures can help mitigate premature drive wear. Users should proceed with caution when disabling system services, understanding the potential impact on other functionalities. Regular driver updates remain critical, and AMD is expected to deliver a definitive fix in the near future.
I’ve been noticing unusually high write activity on my NVMe drive lately, and this explains so much! I’m running an RX 6700 XT, and my SSD health has definitely dipped faster than I’d expect. Disabling the AMD EEU service seems to have stopped the constant writes for me without any noticeable impact on FreeSync or hotkeys, thankfully. It’s a temporary fix, but better than prematurely killing my drive. Hopefully, AMD rolls out that official patch soon.