A Redditor has observed what, at best, might be classed as unexpected behavior precipitated by the AMD chipset drivers. Takia_Gecko has uncovered a bug/feature in AMD's drivers that causes a system log file to be repeatedly appended as on-screen windows are moved and/or rescaled. Undoubtedly, this is happening, but the most important question is whether it is a mountain or a molehill, and that is yet undetermined. Are the observed rapid, constant file writes going to impact system performance or wear the SSD? We’ve reached out to AMD for a definitive answer.
Modern computer systems do a lot of stuff in the background that everyday users might be completely unaware of. Opening up a system monitor, like the built-in Windows Task Manager, and expanding all the processes provides some insight into these behind-the-scenes goings-on. But most of what is happening – beyond the apps you use and the obvious Windows things – will likely be unfathomable to the majority.
The video embedded above gives you a super-clear view of the observed issue. What you are seeing is a log file in C:\Windows\System32\AMD\EEUDumps\ on Takia_Gecko’s PC getting bombarded with updates in response to windows being manipulated on screen. This behavior was charted by a utility dubbed ReadDirectoryChangesW.
SSD impact?
So, the unexpected behavior is quite certainly there. And, as a workaround, the Redditor discovered that it could be stopped by “redirecting writes to the whole [EEUDUmps] folder to nul:”. But is this machine-gunning of data to your SSD going to impact its health and longevity?
The frustrating answer we have right now is ‘probably not,’ with an emphasis on the probably. Modern storage makes extensive and smart use of caching – even cacheless SSDs use some of your system RAM (e.g., HMB drives) to ease back on actual disk activity. These log file writes, though numerous and rapid, are apparently tiny, so they might not have any impact on concerns about SSD endurance, and so on.
FreeSync impact?
Another legitimate concern among those with AMD chipset drivers installed is that this bug/feature might affect FreeSync. Takia_Gecko claims they confirmed with an AMD engineer that a Windows process spawned by the drivers, called ‘AMD External Events Utility,’ is somehow related to the provision of FreeSync features.
This is an important observation because the Redditor noted that disabling this service/process prevents the log from being updated, thereby ending the errant, seemingly wasteful file writing. Alternatively, piping the process output to nul: is a workaround advanced by the Redditor. They note that this has no discernible effect on their system, but warn others to only do the same at their own risk.
Note that Takia_Gecko doesn’t say whether their system uses FreeSync. Comments on this post don’t establish any relationship between FreeSync functionality and this log file writing workaround, either.
We await AMD’s response
We’ve reached out to AMD to ascertain whether these seemingly meaningless log file updates are going to be addressed in upcoming updates to its chipset drivers.
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