Dealing with Kioxia EXCERIA PRO 2TB overheating?
Running an open world on this drive felt like driving a carriage on a highway; every time the effects peaked, the game just crashed to desktop. The controller on the Kioxia EXCERIA PRO 2TB was hitting 85-91℃ under load, triggering the hardware thermal protection. I tried slapping a small case fan directly on the drive, but it only dropped the temp by 2 degrees—totally useless. I eventually went into the driver settings and capped the maximum transfer speed at 3000MB/s and killed all unnecessary background write services. During an OCCT stress test, the controller stayed between 68-75℃, and the drive stopped disappearing from the system. I actually locked up my PC on the loading screen while trying to lower the voltage, which was a nightmare until I adjusted the power management plan. Now it runs at 58-65℃; it's slightly slower, but I can finally play for three hours straight. I've exported the crash logs via Event Viewer, and fans are steady at 1400-1600RPM.
