Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Windows 11 may be slowing NVMe SSD speeds for many users

By

Multiple users reported issues with the speeds of their NVMe SSDs in the past few months, and it seems that the problems can be traced back to Windows 11.

The reports have appeared on various online forums and on Reddit. Several benchmarks support the credibility of these claims.

A person using a laptop that is running Windows 11.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Various users reported several different issues with their NVMe drives, and Neowin compiled a list of some of the reports found all over the internet. It seems that the nature of the problem varies from drive to drive, depending on the model, but the one common factor is that all of these systems use Windows 11.

Recommended Videos

One of the issues was reported on Microsoft’s own forum, where a user stated that the random write performance of their SSD has been reduced by half. Provided screenshots compare Windows 11 performance to Windows 10, and they lend credibility to the claim. It is true that the same drive performed significantly worse when running Windows 11 than it did with Windows 10.

Related

Some NVMe drives are also underperforming when it comes to their input/output operations per second (IOPS), but again, this only applies to Windows 11. A user reported on the Windows Feedback Hub that their NVMe M.2 and SSD random write speeds halved, while their read access time tripled when running Windows 11. A different Feedback Hub thread talks about poor peak write performance and write IOPS, as well as high latency.

Usama Jawad, an editor at Neowin, also carried out a test to confirm whether the reports are true. Testing the same drive in CrystalDiskMark on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 concludes that there is a definite dip in performance between the two operating systems.

A close-up of the Western Digital SN850 SSD.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Considering the number of reports that suggest there is a problem with NVMe SSD speeds on Windows 11 in particular, it’s clear that something is going on. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact issue, but there could be a problem with some of the drivers in Windows 11 that causes slowdowns in some, but not all NVMe SSDs.

Microsoft hasn’t taken an official stance on this problem yet. However, a Microsoft employee replied to one of the Reddit threads reporting the issue, stating that the Microsoft file systems team is investigating the situation.

As more reports come in, it’s likely that Microsoft may escalate and try to find a fix to this problem. This isn’t the first performance dip brought on by Windows 11 — AMD users already experienced performance issues in gaming when upgrading to the new OS. Fortunately, this has problem already been addressed.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Windows 11 to let you use your phone as a webcam
Using an Android phone as a webcam.

The Windows 11 update 24H2 includes a new feature called Connected Camera that lets you turn your smartphone into a webcam. The folks at PCWorld have tested the feature out, and it looks pretty easy to use, though you do need to have an Android phone to use it.

Using your phone as a webcam -- either for your desktop or your laptop -- isn't new, but native support for it has been patchy. At first, people had to use third-party apps to do the job. Then Apple users got Continuity Camera, and a few years later Android 14 users got a similar feature, too.

Read more
Windows 11 24H2 may crash your PC if you have a certain SSD
The blue screen of death in Windows.

Microsoft's Windows 11 2024 Update, more commonly referred to as 24H2, is here, but it's not without issues. Reports from disgruntled users have flooded various forums, talking about constant blue screens of death (BSOD) that have appeared since they updated to the latest version of Windows. Although Microsoft has yet to officially acknowledge the problem, the users seem to have pinpointed the cause of it, and even found a workaround.

So far, it looks like these crashes are fairly limited in scope, as they seem to happen if you have one of a few Western Digital SSD models. Other SSD vendors appear unaffected so far. As reported on the WD Community Forums, users are getting BSODs with the error "critical process has died" ever since they updated to the 24H2 update.

Read more
Microsoft is fixing my biggest problem with Windows 11 on handhelds
Asus ROG Ally with the Windows lock screen.

We're finally starting to make some progress on the handheld experience of Windows 11. Although Windows 11 handhelds like the ROG Ally X are some of the best handheld gaming PCs you can buy, that's despite their use of Windows, not because of it. Now, the latest Windows 11 Insider preview (build 22631.4387) adds a feature that should make navigating the OS much easier on a handheld -- a keyboard built for gamepads.

Windows has included an onscreen keyboard for years, and updates over the last couple of years have even made it usable with touch inputs. On a handheld, however, there are two problems with the keyboard. You can't invoke it naturally -- you have to bind Windows + Ctrl + O to a hotkey -- and you can't use your controller to navigate it. With the new update, Microsoft is fixing that last point, at the very least.

Read more