When transferring large files to or from NVME drives, CPU usage spikes and file transfer speeds decr

I am currently using a powerful Windows 11 workstation equipped with 24 cores, operating on version 23H2 build 22631.3737. The device boasts impressive specifications.

While transferring a large 6.7 GB file using File Explorer between NVMe drives, I noticed a peculiar behavior. Initially, the transfer speed peaked at 3-4 GB/s but suddenly dropped to 150 MB/s and remained at this slower speed for the duration of the transfer.

During the sluggish transfer phase, the CPU utilization spiked at 50% on Task Manager's "Performance" tab. Surprisingly, the top processes listed in the "Processes" view showed unusually high activity, even though they were unrelated to the file transfer. Strangely, the "System Idle Process" on the "Details" tab consistently retained around 98% CPU usage during the slower transfer stage.

Repeated tests resulted in the majority of transfers remaining within the 150-200 MB/s range, despite efforts to resolve the issue like disabling antivirus software.

On the contrary, when benchmarking the NVMe drives using CrystalDiskMark 8, both drives exhibited impressive speeds of 7.4 GB/s read and 6.8 GB/s write on the SEQ1M Q8T1 test.

This issue seems reminiscent of a similar problem reported by a user on the Microsoft Q&A forum regarding abnormal CPU usage during file transfers in Windows 11.

I am perplexed by this situation and would greatly appreciate any insights or solutions to address this frustrating problem.