AMD investigates graphics driver glitch that bombards solid-state drives with constant writes

AMD is developing a software patch after discovering that a component in its Radeon graphics drivers causes continuous writes to storage drives on some personal computers. The defect is tied to the AMD External Events Client Module, running as atieclxx.exe, which is installed alongside Radeon software. Affected PC owners report that the utility silently writes data even when their computers are idle, with one user seeing sustained writes of around 5MB/s and another claiming a 1% decline in drive health each month over a 16-month period. [2][3]

Continuous activity at 5MB/s equates to roughly 18GB of host writes per hour or up to 432GB daily, though SSD controllers deploy caching and wear-leveling techniques that may lessen actual wear on NAND flash memory. The problem has surfaced on configurations running Adrenalin 26.19.2 and older builds, yet AMD's release notes for version 26.20.2 from October 30 omit any mention of it. Temporary user workarounds include turning off the AMD External Events Utility in Windows Services or disabling Resizable BAR, though turning off ReBAR can diminish gaming performance. [3]

AMD representatives have acknowledged the reports on official forums and Reddit, noting that an investigation is underway with the goal of releasing a fix in an upcoming driver update. The company has not provided an exact date for the patch. [2][3]