Hello everyone,
Last week, I've built a desktop PC with the following specs:
Asus Z390 E-GAMING Mobo
Intel i7 9700K
XPG S40G SPECTRIX 512 GB SSD which advertised as a 3500 read / 3000 write SSD. no other storage unit is installed on the machine, so this is my OS drive naturally.
Windows 10 Pro x64 Bit
I noticed that my MSI GS65 laptop was faster than my desktop in some tasks, when used side by side with the desktop, which felt slow and sluggish for a pc equipped with a 3500/3000 ssd.
So i decided to run some benches on the Desktop, That's when i saw that my S40G was running at 1000 / 650 speeds. Tried with a bunch of disk benchmark softwares, including Crystal Disk Mark. After a vast investigation, i found that Asus Aura (1.0.7.71) and Asus Armoury Crate is the problem. Whenever i install one of these softwares, S40G's performance dips down to very low values. I uninstall the software, it goes back to 3500 / 2400 values. Since this is a RGB SSD, i'm now certain that Asus Aura (or Armoury Crate) RGB control drivers are causing a conflict with the drive's normal operation. But this only happens when S40G is the OS drive. If you uncheck the SSD from the peripherals list from the Aura, it also goes back to normal.
Can be seen here:
https://ibb.co/mvg7tK9 I tried plugging the SSD on to 2 different m.2 sockets (m.2_1 / m.2_2), and tried it on 2 different z390 e gaming motherboards. Both gave me the same results.
This is the original thread here:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thre...#post-21385070i do not use neither Aura nor Armoury Crate at the moment, since dipping from 3500 to 1000 MB/s is a major issue, and needs to be addressed. I also ordered a XPG SX8200 PRO, and when it arrives, I'm gonna make it my OS drive, and check the S40G again with the Aura / Armoury Crate.