How much free space is on your SSD? Have you tried re-installing chrome? There is also an option in chrome that allows use of hardware acceleration that could be doing something wonky.
First, I'd check if it's actually Chrome that is causing it, or another program (security software perhaps checking everything chrome is doing?). Open up your Resource Monitor (run>resmon), click on the "Disk" tab, and start using chrome as you normally would. Then keep an eye on what programs are accessing your drive.
Hmmm... since it's happening across other programs as well, it could be your scratch? Try lowering your page file (and/or moving it to a separate drive), see if that helps. Also try disabling any security programs you are running. Antivirus, malware etc. You can also try disabling search indexing, that can sometimes have this effect with certain programs/file types.
I've also seen this happen on underpowered systems too (though, it's usually accompanied by other symptoms, but not always), so make sure your PSU has enough power to run everything, and that it is in good working order. You mention that it's a raidmax... so not the most reliable PSU ever most likely. Just something to look into.
Open it up when Chrome is having its fit and let it grab info on whats going on.
You may only need a few seconds worth so press Ctrl + E to stop capturing events, and this is going to throw up a massive amount of data for you to look through.
Up the top of the screen, you'll see 4 icons with magnifying glasses on them. A registry icon, faile cabinet icon, 3 PC's icon (network) and the Windows logo (processes).
The file cabinet one will show you disk activity, so you can uncheck the other 3 to remove all that data from the results.
This should help to show you what Chrome is trying to access on the disk, and give you direction about what the problem is.
I use a mix of Chrome and opera for this very reason. Opera is really light on system usage. I still use Chrome out of habit, but I often switch over to opera when it starts revving up.