Windows 11 Users Are Reporting Significantly Worse NVMe SSD Performance

[Tsing]

Image: Microsoft



Windows 10 users who have decided to hold off on upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft’s hugely popular OS have probably made the right decision, as the problems for Windows 11 appear to be piling up.



The latest relates to SSD performance; some users on the web are reporting that their NVMe drives are operating worse on Windows 11. More specifically, the OS seems to be crippling either the IOPS or read/write performance of various drives such as Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus and WD SN520.



From Mussels84, showing reduced writes on Windows 11 vs. Windows 10...

Continue reading...

 

[Dogsofjune]

Seems like there are more and more issues with Win 11. Maybe it will eventually progress to something stable and worthwhile. Till then, Win 10 and Linux in this house.

 

[Zarathustra]

Seems like there are more and more issues with Win 11. Maybe it will eventually progress to something stable and worthwhile. Till then, Win 10 and Linux in this house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Microsofts design decisions with Windows 11, but it's generally a good idea to delay ALL OS upgrades until the kinks are worked out.

Operating systems are generally one area where you really don't want to be "first"

 

[Denpepe]

Operating systems are generally one area where you really don't want to be "first"

True but someone needs to use it to get rid of the kinks they overlooked.

Also I'm not that versed in SSD performance but I find it strange that some of the tests in win10 they are showing higher write speads then reads which seems atypical as all SSD's to my knowledge have faster reads then writes but feel free to enlighten me on the subject.

 

[Niner51]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Microsofts design decisions with Windows 11, but it's generally a good idea to delay ALL OS upgrades until the kinks are worked out.

Operating systems are generally one area where you really don't want to be "first"

I don't have a problem with being first to try out a new OS. Haven't had any issues with Windows 11 and I've been using it since it opened up on the insider program. I change out hardware and cases quite often and have had no hiccups. Even switched to Alder Lake without doing a fresh install. As far as any SSD performance hits, I haven't experienced any that are noticeable.

 

[Stoly]

I used windows 7 as my main OS since it was in beta. Even in that state it was way better than Vista.

Really didn't use win 8/8.1 much and quickly jumped to windows 10. Since none of my PC is Windows 11 ready, I'm not making the switch.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I upgraded almost immediately from XP>Vista>7>8>8.1>10 to get the APIs for gaming. Windows 11 has no draw for me and I've also let the staff at my other job know that I've no plans to upgrade to it until at least next summer. I know some people who've had great experiences with it but it will take time for me to trust it after what I am seeing now and have already experienced with 10.

Reading this last week didn't exactly bolster confidence from me either.
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/8311...pathetic-less-than-1-have-upgraded/index.html

 

[Brian_B]

So, I have no idea if my SSD is slowed down or not. I have my OS installed on a NVMe drive, and I have a second SATA SSD in the system. In typical real use (not video file editing or broad parallel database access or anything crazy - just typical gaming and light office stuff) - I can't tell the difference between the two if I'm honest.

I also have a spinner in the system - you can definitely tell if something is on the spinner. But between the NVMe and SATA drives -- if something takes 0.03 vs 0.01, I haven't really been able to tell - at least until you get a whole lot of those types of transactions happening serially or something, which isn't very often.

That said, no excuse for Win11. Just saying there isn't much out there that really leverages the speed NVMe is bringing to the table.

 

[Brian_B]

So, I have no idea if my SSD is slowed down or not

For S&G I ran CrystalDisk this morning just to see. TL;DR is I didn't really see anything.

Here's what a random Google search benchmark site saw on my drive:

With a newer version of Crystal I set the testing parameters to match up, but no idea if the internals are running the same so I can't claim this is strictly apples-to-apples, and I'm too lazy to go hunting for an older version, but here's what I got on my drive



Little bit better on writes, but not to far off the mark really.

Just for comparison, I usually run PrimoCache read cache (see thread here where I got started - I extended the cache to RAM cache the SSDs as well as the HDD) here's the same test run with PrimoCache RAM caching turned on. I dunno if real-world it helps more than standard pre-fetch, but it definitely affects these benchmarks.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

For S&G I ran CrystalDisk this morning just to see. TL;DR is I didn't really see anything.

Here's what a random Google search benchmark site saw on my drive:

With a newer version of Crystal I set the testing parameters to match up, but no idea if the internals are running the same so I can't claim this is strictly apples-to-apples, and I'm too lazy to go hunting for an older version, but here's what I got on my drive

View attachment 1363

Little bit better on writes, but not to far off the mark really.

Just for comparison, I usually run PrimoCache read cache (see thread here where I got started - I extended the cache to RAM cache the SSDs as well as the HDD) here's the same test run with PrimoCache RAM caching turned on. I dunno if real-world it helps more than standard pre-fetch, but it definitely affects these benchmarks.

View attachment 1364

Thanks for the share. Yeah, so far what I've heard has been inconsistent and I do wonder if there other factors at play we're not hearing about. I remember a few weeks back there was a story about BT Xbox controllers causing issues on PC and I use one with my laptop and have never had issues except for when the batteries die. Regardless though, I'm going to hold off a bit before upgrading anything. I just don't want more driver headaches. I've had enough in the last 3-5 years.

 

[Dogsofjune]

I was going to investigate it too, but, I don't have Win 11.


Always a bridesmaid, never the bride......

 

[Grimlakin]

Running windows 11 on nvme here and haven't felt any issues at all.

 

[Brent_Justice]

There are no, read NO, advantages to moving to Windows 11 at this time. It offers nothing compelling or different or better to make the switch.

 

[LazyGamer]

Got a TPM module for one of my spare systems and performed an in-place upgrade. Working well enough so far, more or less amounts to a minor facelift IMO.

 

[Brian_B]

Got a TPM module for one of my spare systems and performed an in-place upgrade. Working well enough so far, more or less amounts to a minor facelift IMO.

Pretty much this - feels like any other major Win10 update where they screw with all the settings panels and random UI stuff for the sake of screwing with stuff.

I can't see anything significant at all.

That said, I don't recommend for or against it. If what you got works for you, there's nothing to gain moving to Win11 right now, but I also don't think it's any worse than Win10 with it's random "major update" changes either.

*edit* - I lied, there was one feature I did notice, but it's pretty minor. Win11 supports Auto HDR, and I do have a couple of games that support it. It's nice, but hardly worth an entire OS upgrade for. The new Start is utterly useless. I had high hopes for Widgets, but they are completely and utterly retarded in Win11. Supposedly Win11 will also let you run apps from the Android store, but that feature isn't quite ready for prime time (and even when it goes roll out - what really is on the Android store that I need to run on Windows?)

 

[Stoly]

There are no, read NO, advantages to moving to Windows 11 at this time. It offers nothing compelling or different or better to make the switch.

Gee, I've heard the exact same argument since Win95 if memory serves me well, not that it ain't true.

I'm not moving to windows 11 simply because my hardware does not support it and I'm not going to upgrade just for a new OS.

 

[Brian_B]

Moving to a new OS/console/anything is more about looking forward.

On release, it's usually at or near parity with whatever preceded it. You can't stray too far from the status quo, because you are still supporting a majority of people on the status quo.

But the promise is, moving forward, the status quo gets dropped and all the new stuff starts coming out exclusive to the new platform.

So you either get on board, or eventually get left behind.

 

[Grimlakin]

I was one of those people that jumped to Vista and 64 bit libraries back in the day. And I've moved to windows 11 from 10 and I even used and 8.0. 11 is fine if you don't mind having to dig for the nitty gritty controls from windows 10 and 7 time frame. Many of them also don't exist.

I chose windows 11 insider version and have been ding well. Not missing anything really but also no huge gains either.

 

[Stoly]

I skipped Win Me, Windows Vista and Windows 8/8.1. I guess I will end up moving to Windows 11 eventually just not in the near future.

 

[Brian_B]

I guess I haven't skipped any since 3.0


Me sucked. 8 sucked. Vista was maligned but I didn't think it was ~that~ horrible, there was just a huge buildup because we had been on XP forever and it felt like a letdown. XP was great for the time - it finally made Windows stable, and 7 was it's best successor.

Seems like there have been 3 major generations of Windows... at least with respect to design philosophy. The original through 3.11, 95 through 7, and then 8 through today. 95 was the biggest jump, but it wasn't a great release - something as benign as an improper shutdown corrupting Registry meant routine re-install among other issues. 8 was almost as big a jump as 95.

10 had promise - it was supposed to be the XP of the 3rd generation of windows - something that finally brought stability to the design. But they could never seem to leave the design alone and kept changing the layout. I hated it for that.

That said, throughout all of these iterations, Windows hasn't really changed that much from the front face. An OS shouldn't do much other than facilitate applications to run, and apart from that it should stay out of the way. The best releases in my opinion have been the ones that do that the best.