How to fix WD Black SN850X bandwidth drops in Silent Hill 2?
Seeing my 1% lows finally stabilize above 60 FPS was an incredible feeling—this is how the game is supposed to play. Before the fix, the 1TB SN850X was hitting 88-95% bandwidth utilization under peak load, meaning assets weren't hitting the VRAM fast enough. I tried disabling all power-saving options in the Control Panel, but the bandwidth still swung wildly; that kind of surface-level tweak doesn't touch the actual bottleneck. I flashed the latest official firmware and forced the motherboard PCIe slot from 'Auto' to 'Gen 4'. AIDA64 storage tests now show a rock-steady 6600-6800MB/s read speed, and the drops are gone. I actually bricked the drive's visibility for a second during the firmware update—total panic moment—but a re-flash and a full format brought it back. Temps are a healthy 54-60℃. I checked the performance panel and the throughput is finally peaked.
