[SOLVED] New PC slows to a crawl when downloading (writing to disk?) ?

[OrangePeanut]

Hello! I have a brand new PC that slows to a crawl consistently during most downloads. I've monitored processes and nothing is above 50%. I literally cannot do anything else it lags so bad, mouse jumps around and keyboard inputs are delayed. The moment I stop downloads everything returns to normal. While it's lagging my resource monitor shows 2 cores maxed out and others not doing much, not sure if this is expected but I saw on my friend's computer when he did the same kind of download all his processors were evenly worked. Otherwise everything else runs super smoothly just this one problem. More details below with screenshots, not sure what else I can do. Appreciate any input in helping me resolve this. Thanks!

I've tried the following, all scans reported no issues:
Running memtest and memory diagnostic tool
Running check disk utility
Running full scan MalwareBytes
Running full scan ZoneAlarm
Updated all my drivers for motherboard, graphics card from respective manufacturer websites
Updated windows to latest

Additional details:
Ethernet connection, speed test averages 180+mbps download and 10mbps upload
First two screenshots - this is when it's downloading and slowed to a crawl. Taken from Resource Monitor and task manager, downloading at 15.8mbps, CPU at 39%, memory at 47%. One thing to note is 2 processors are at 100% while the others are less than 50%, most seemingly not even 25%

Next screenshot with no downloads, regular activity (browser open, various applications, one game open) with similar CPU and memory usage stats but no lag at all, very smooth

I looked at a friend's computer doing the exact same thing when I lag and his processors were all evenly at 50-75%. I'm not sure what the correct behavior is or if it's related at all.

Seems any kind of download slows it, regardless of browser or application. Specifically I've tried Firefox, Chrome, and Brave, all lag while downloading. I've also tried different applications downloading, like Steam, Google Sync, and other Game applications that even while downloading an update exhibit the same super slow behavior.

Happy to share any additional details as needed, thanks!

My current build is:
Windows 10 64bit
Intel i5-10600K
MSI MPG Z490 Motherboard
MSI GeForce GTX 2060
CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB DDR4-4000
Kingston 1TB A2000 M.2 Nvme SSD
Samsung SSD EVO 2TB
Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB CPU Cooler
EVGA 750W Power Supply

 

[Colif]

So which drive is this downloading to? does it matter?

Have you run this? https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager
or Magician on the Samsung drive? https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

CPU generally have preferred cores so its not surprising some are higher than others but 100% seems a little high for just downloads.

Amazed people still use Zonealarm, I used to a long time ago.

Download Process explorer and run it as admin (it comes from Microsoft so its safe)

the default view is tree structure meaning like your task manager screen, it will show what processes are under each service, but unlike task manager, it shows the ram usage of each part so you can see what is eating your CPU. can also use it to look at internet usage, I am pretty sure it will help you figure out whats actually going on.

This page shows what all the colours and headings mean, link at bottom of it shows how to use it to find problems. You can right click processes and run an av scan from within the program.

 

[OrangePeanut]

@Colif Thanks so much for your reply! Didn't know about these tools, I downloaded the HD managers and samsung had a firmware update for one of my old SSDs (250GB - but I wasn't downloading to this drive, in fact this drive is completely empty), since then I have opened process explorer and tried to reproduce the issue but it seems much better now, not sure why, there's an occasional jitter but nowhere near as bad as it was before. When the jitter happens there's an audio buzz sound and one of the cores spikes up to 100%, but so far nothing really stands out in process explorer and it doesn't consistently stay at 100% as it did before. I'll continue to monitor for now but these tools help a lot thanks!

Btw I've used zonealarm forever and never really bothered to check another program. Is there a better one you recommend?

 

[Adam0ne]

Btw I've used zonealarm forever and never really bothered to check another program. Is there a better one you recommend?
[/QUOTE]


I was a loyalist to Zone alarm back then. But I ran into some problems with a few of its extra features. I tried Kaspersky and haven't looked back since then. It has a lot of features, but I stick to the protection capabilities. Everything else is deactivated- I run those manually. I would advise the same thing to you too, no matter what security you're going to use. You have to have complete control/disgression of what your security app will do. Check some independent reviews. There will always be 3 security softwares that will stand out. Search for comparison reviews of those.

 

[Colif]

I use Bitdefender, and then there are others who say you don't need any of them and can just use defender. I feel its up to the person and not what other people think.