For the past few weeks, my PC has been slow to start and stutters heavily whenever I launch applications. Even opening a simple website can cause the SSD to jump to 100% active time. Read and write speeds fluctuate, but they are not consistently extremely low.
The affected drive is a 2TB Samsung 980 PRO that has been installed since May 2022. Samsung Magician reports that the firmware is current, and CrystalDiskInfo shows 97% health with no warnings or outstanding issues. I have already removed a recent Windows update, cleaned the drive, compressed files, run scans, disabled SysMain, changed PCIe power-saving settings, checked for firmware updates, cleaned the PC, and restarted it several times.
A Samsung Magician benchmark showed approximately 6881 MB/s sequential read and 588 MB/s sequential write, with no unusual temperatures during testing. The system uses an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, 32 GB of RAM, an RTX 4080, an ASUS ProArt X670E-Creator WiFi motherboard, two Samsung 980 PRO SSDs, and a 4TB hard drive. What else should I check to determine whether this is a Windows, driver, motherboard-slot, or SSD problem?
3 Answers
The benchmark results suggest the drive can still reach normal sequential read performance, although the write result is lower than expected. I would check the SSD temperature and PCIe link information with a hardware-monitoring tool while the stuttering is happening. Also verify which M.2 slot the drive is installed in and whether that slot shares bandwidth with another device on the motherboard. A benchmark alone may not reveal intermittent latency or a controller problem.
The firmware is worth checking, since older 980 PRO firmware versions caused serious problems for some drives. However, if Samsung Magician confirms the drive is fully updated, that particular issue is probably not the cause here.
Try booting a temporary Linux or Windows environment from a USB drive and use the system for a while. That removes the current Windows installation, startup programs, and most installed drivers from the equation. If the same stuttering and 100% activity occur in the temporary environment, the problem is more likely to be the SSD, its connection, or the motherboard. If everything works normally, focus on Windows, drivers, background services, or a startup application.
I have not booted an operating system from USB before, but I will investigate that approach. It sounds like a useful way to separate a hardware problem from a Windows or driver issue.