AMD driver linked to SSD writes, fix due in 26.11.1
A Reddit user traced roughly 5MB/s of writes to AMD External Events Utility; an AMD staff member says a driver update should address it.
A Reddit user has reported that the latest AMD Adrenaline driver causes repeated, unnecessary writes to the system SSD, with the activity traced to the AMD External Events Utility service. An AMD staff member responded in the same thread that the issue should be fixed in the 26.11.1 driver expected later this month, according to gamespark.jp.
The user, posting as darklinkpower, said the writes reached around 5MB/s and were tied to the atieclxx.exe and atiesrxx.exe processes. The service kept writing to the system disk even when no task required access, the user said.
The same user reported that SSD health dropped by about 1% per month over 16 months.
Workarounds come with trade-offs
Two workarounds were reported in the thread: stopping the AMD External Events Utility service and disabling it at startup, or disabling Resizable BAR. On the reporter's RX 6700 XT system, stopping the service made frame pacing with Lossless Scaling's 2x frame generation noticeably unstable.
The AMD staff member, posting as AMD_Vik, did not give an exact release date for the 26.11.1 driver.
Quick answers
What is causing the extra SSD writes on AMD systems?
A Reddit user traced roughly 5MB/s of writes to the AMD External Events Utility service, linked to the atieclxx.exe and atiesrxx.exe processes.
When will AMD fix the issue?
An AMD staff member said it should be fixed in the 26.11.1 driver expected later this month, without giving an exact date.
Can I stop the writes now?
Users reported stopping and disabling the AMD External Events Utility service at startup, or disabling Resizable BAR. On the reporter's RX 6700 XT system, stopping the service made frame pacing with Lossless Scaling's 2x frame generation noticeably unstable.