SSD error in AMD Radeon drivers: Writing 432 GB of data per day!

AMD confirmed a bug in Radeon graphics drivers that caused constant writes to SSDs. It is stated that the problem can cause hundreds of GB of data to be written per day in some systems.

A critical driver issue that concerns AMD Radeon graphics card owners has been brought to the agenda. The fact that one of the components of the driver package that works in the background continuously saves data to the storage units has reached levels that can threaten the lifespan of solid state drives (SSD). Following user complaints, the hardware manufacturer made the situation official and started fixing the bug.

atieclxx.exe Process Running Nonstop in the Background

According to reports shared by users examining system performance, the atieclxx.exe executable file in the AMD software architecture performs uninterrupted write operations on the storage device. While the detected efficiency values ​​range between 0.3 and 1.5 MB per second on different hardware, on some systems this speed climbs up to 5 MB per second. It is known that the problem, which covers different Radeon models on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 platforms, dates back to the past.

The first official acceptance from the company front came in October from an official with the nickname AMD_Matt, and it was announced that the issue was being examined. Then, AMD_Vik announced that the prepared patch was completed in the development phase, but could not meet the planned release schedule. As a matter of fact, the expected repair was not included in the Adrenalin Edition 26.10.2 release notes, which were released on October 30.

SSD Life and Effects on Hardware Health

An uninterrupted write action at a speed of 5 MB per second means data transfer of approximately 432 GB per day and nearly 13 TB per month, according to theoretical calculations. Although the amount of input-output reported by the operating system may not exactly coincide with the values ​​physically reflected in the NAND cells of the SSD, it seems inevitable that the continuous cycle will accelerate hardware wear. Users expect this glitch, which rapidly consumes the endurance quota of their storage units, to be resolved definitively with the first driver update to be released.