Downloading big files slows down+freezes my PC

[XyaMorph]

Hey!

 

I'm having this strange issue where my pc slows down and evetually freezes when downloading big files (With big files, i mean files of 1 GB or larger). With slows down i mean it starts lagging real bad, button presses takes several seconds to register and applications might even stop responding completely. Pausing the download stops the lag from getting worse, but the lag that has already appeared doesn't go away until i restart the PC. If i let the download go for long enough, my PC evertually completely freezes and nothing on screen moves. This forces me to use the physical power button (or reset button) to restart my system. 

 

At first i thought that it was UTorrent that was slowing down my PC, since it was most often when torretning that i discovered the slow-down. But after trying to download GTA 5 yesterday (via the rockstar social club installer) the PC decided to slow down aswell. 

 

The issue seems to only affect my PC and not other PC's on my network, since my laptop for example can handle dowloading large files just fine (even though it's several years old). This makes me believe that it is not a networking issue. 

 

Things that i have tried to fix my problem so far:

• Searching for viruses using Malwarebytes, Avast Antivirus and Windows Defender. All of them showed nothing. 
• Cleaning the system of any junk files and old restore points (using windows disk cleanup and CCleaner)
• Unistalling junkware
• Replacing the torrent downloading software

 

System specifications:

• Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
• Memory: Crucial DDR3 BallistiX Sport 1600MHz 2x4GB
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4670k 
• Cooler: Corsair H60 Hydro Series 
• GPU: MSI Geforce GTX 780
• HDD: WD Desktop Green 1TB
• SSD: Crucial M500 SSD 2.5" 120GB
• PSU: Corsair CX 600M

My network is a fiber 100 Mbit/s Download, 10 Mbit/s Upload solution.

 

[MrDrWho13]

Sounds like an issue with the HDD to me but it surprises me that you're using an SSD and still experiencing these problems. Have a look at task manager when your system is slow and see if the HDD is completely saturated with reads.

[XyaMorph]

2 hours ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Sounds like an issue with the HDD to me but it surprises me that you're using an SSD and still experiencing these problems. Have a look at task manager when your system is slow and see if the HDD is completely saturated with reads.

Yeah, it sound a little strange, but i think that you might be onto something here.

 

Almost all of my large downloads are stored on the harddrive. The only stuff i've got on my SSD is Windows, drivers and League of Legends. So it is very possible that the harddrive may have something to do with the problem.

 

When observing the activity of the harddrive while the computer ran slow, i noticed what i think might be the problem. The activity was at 100% almost all of the time while downloading, with a few drops to 10% activity every 30 seconds or so. Is this a "normal" behavior for a harddrive when downloading files?  

 

Also, thanks for helping out!