Best hard drive configurations for gaming / benchmarking

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bennyg1357

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I have "been out of the loop" with PC hardware for the last 5-6 years. I used to love to put together, test, benchmark, and play on high end rigs. My money has finally begun to stabilize and so in turn my love for building rigs is also beginning to stabilize. I have never been really sharp when it comes to hardware, I've just always loved building and testing and adding. So anyway, I have just finished building my first machine in a long time and I just got a single SSD drive to get up and running and now I'm hoping all of ya'll will help me figure out the best number / type of drives I need for optimum performance. I have a 240 gig PNY XLR8 CS2100 Series. Since I only really play BF$ what I have now is fine, but I also enjoy maxing out my 3D mark scores. I'm in no way rich, but I can afford a pretty high end rig, I'm just trying to learn how to set one up. I'm of course going to add more VCs and memory but I want to start by building a great storage configuration. Do I need all SSD drives, back when I used to build we were using 10K RPM raptors in a RAID 0. Can you/should I do that?? Do I only need 2 drives, is 4 better, maybe even 6???I have seen where people use one drive to handle the OS, another for program files some say use older style HDs with the SSDs and at this point, I'm lost!!!! My rig is listed below, someone help please!!!! Just shoot me some opinions,

MB - Asus Z97 - A ( Not so sure I got the right board, could have spent another 150 and got the Sabertooth X99) I wonder if I can swap the board out for a refund and just pay the difference, like I'm doing with my card. Everything is only 5 days old today
Chip - Intel I5 4690 @ 3.5
Memory - 2x 8 Gig Sticks - Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR 3 2400 PC# 19200
V.C. - EVGA GTX 970 REF (Getting upgraded to a FTW+)
Drive - PNY CS2100 Series SSD XLR8
P.S. - Corsair CX 750

My final thing is my board. I kind of jumped the gun and din't really do enough research before I ordered all of this( Got a bonus at work and I had to have everything the next day) I'm hearing from others that once I add drives, another 970, another 16 gigs of mem. my board is going to be the bottleneck, what do you guys think of this board, to do what I want to do, High Benchmarks and a great frame rate for BF4


Thanks for all of your time reading this book of mine, but it's important to me and I wanted to be detailed :)
 
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glamdringfh

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For storage:

Don't put SSD's in RAID 0, there have been plenty of tests to prove it doesn't significantly boost performance.

The best drive performance right now is going to be from something like a M.2 SSD like the SAMSUNG 850 EVO M.2 500GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147399

...though the Samsung 950 PRO M.2 is about to come out, and it's going to be gloriously fast:

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

Your current motherboard (Z97-A) does come with an M.2 socket if you want to eventually get something like this.

Right now, in general: SSD's mostly plateau in read/write speeds after they hit the 500GB size. There no need to get lots of them to somehow boost their performance, the only reason you would want more would be for extra super-fast storage.

**Your PNY is a great SATA drive, you will be able to enjoy really great speeds from it even though it isn't 'cutting edge' like the M.2 drives

For your PSU:

If building a new gaming rig...DON'T GET THE CORSAIR CX LINE. It is notorious for using cheap internal components and failing. Here is the most recent PSU tier list from Tom's Hardware, you'll want to find a 750W+ PSU from the tier 1 or 2 list for your build:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html


Finally:

The best system builder site around is called pcpartpicker. You can choose and configure every aspect of a new rig here. If you want to see what new parts you can add on and what's popular on the market it is a wonderful tool.

http://pcpartpicker.com/

 
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bennyg1357

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Thanks so much for the info, that was an awsome reply!!! I'm thinking a standard WD Sata drive, keep my PNY for Windows and add another PNY for games and programs. What do you think????
 
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bennyg1357

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Wow what a great detailed answer. Thanks a bunch. I had someone else tell me to keep the PNY I have and just keep windows on it, get another one same thing PNY for programs, then a old fashion WD Sate 340 for storage of everything. Thanks again for the cool reply, that was a ton of info. I will look at those drives and PSUs. Will this Coirsair that I have run 3 drives and the 2 - 970 FTW+ cards???

Thanks again!!!
 
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glamdringfh

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That will work just fine.

There are quite a few people who have found it difficult to manage their smaller SSD disk space, so getting a few extra drives to help spread the load will certainly make things easier. You'll notice a slight improvement by running games on an SSD (map loadtimes etc.), so if you can put them on a seperate SSD from your OS drive you'll definitley get the best you can out of them.

Welcome back to the enthusiast gaming community, and feel free to ask as many questions as you want here on Tom's, we all love custom building here. :)
 
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bennyg1357

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I'm looking at these standard internal Sata Hard Drives (and I'm a WD fan). Since I'm only using this for storage, do you think I need a raptor?? I was thinking one of the 7200 RPM models. Do you have any suggestions / Ideas???
 
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bennyg1357

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Maybe I will keep the PNY. you seem to like that drive. Also add the M2, then one of the low capacity WD - Black for the storage. Here is the real question. Do I put the games and programs on the SSD or the M2, and then which drive runs my Windows 10?? Or do you want your big games on the same drive with OS??? Then the more basic programs, like word, and other office software

I'm also getting my EVGA GTX 970 REF changed to a FTW+ and my boss is going to pay for my second 970 FTW+. So if all goes according to plan, I will have the new drives (if we can decide how to set them up and which ones to buy) and I should have my second card too by the end of the week! Hell Yeah, What do you think of my board and chip?? Originally I was going to use this chip " Intel Core i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core" with a MSI Computer ATX DDR4 3000 LGA 2011-3. But I thought it was to new, and I wanted to stick with the "somewhat older" boards and chip, and these 2 that I have seem to have great ratings for beginner boards. Let me know what your thinking
 
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glamdringfh

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For the storage:

M.2 drive: OS, smaller programs (don't put on Autodesk or CAD software here)
PNY: Games, larger programs you want to run really quickly (Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk, CAD software, etc).
WD Black: Media & data files

In the setup above you'll want to re-direct things like your system's download folder and internet browser downloads to the WD Black drive to avoid unneccessary writes to your M.2 SSD.

The i7-5930K is a great processor and will be able to handle just about anything you throw at it. Since you're getting an unlocked 'K' model I'd suggest looking at after-market heat sinks for your CPU, as you'll need one if you overclock the chip at all.
 
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bennyg1357

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Lets just say that I cat afford that M2 drive for right now. I just spent a little to much $ on anther card, GTX 970 FTW+ which is on the way right now, and a cooler for my chip. That M2 is a little expensive and since I can always go get it down the road, I'm going to leave my PNY CS2100 Series XLR8 with my OS and BF-4 only (those 2 wont total 30 - 50 gigs!. Then when the the 300 Gig WD Black gets here, it will hold everything else. Lower importance programs, audio, pictures, video's ETC. ETC. Then after my savings account recovers, I will then buy one of those MS drive, and maybe they will go down in price a little.

Speaking of chips, ^ up there you wrote that I have a I7 - 5930. I actually have a I5- 4690 @3.5. I'm trying to get a small little Overclock set up on this chip right mow this morning, but with this "stock heat sink and fan its making me nervous.

1)Would you try and overclock it with the stock heat sink and fan???

2)Is my 240 gig PNY big enough to handle Windows 10 and BF 4, if that's all I put on it??

3)Also, where can I look to see how to over clock my rig??? Different levels of OC, if available

2) How to Verify Mem speeds and timing in windows, if you can. I did it in the bios, and it says it's set at 2400 but I didn't flash the Bios,. and after I run Future Mark it says my mem is 677 HRZ??? I also read in several places, that you should flash your bios when you start with all new parts, and build it yourself , why would I need / do that???

3) what is to hot for this I5 4690 REF? had what I think must have been a substantial OC because, I saw the temps get well up into the 80s

Let me know what you think
 
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glamdringfh

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1) I wouldn't personally recommend OC'ing with the stock cooler, though to be honest I'm not a big overclocker and there are other people on the forums with more hands-on experience for that. You would want to make a new thread and specifically ask about OC'ing your chip if you want more info in that arena.

2) Yes, your 240GB SSD should be plenty for the OS and one big game

3) You can either ask specific questions about OC'ing here on Toms (you'll want to make a new thread) ; http://www.overclock.net/ is another good place to go.

4) Memtest 86 is a great free tool to verify and test your RAM: http://www.memtest86.com/

5) You don't need to flash a new BIOS on the motherboard unless there is an update that you NEED for it to work. I wouldn't start by flashing the BIOS...leave that alone if you can.
 
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