New Build - Seperate Drive for Windows?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
MagnusOpium

MagnusOpium

Reputable
Apr 17, 2014
37
0
4,530
Hey folks, I'm putting together a new build, plan to order the parts this week. It'll be primarily for gaming but a bit of everything else as well.

I was thinking along the lines of getting a smallish M.2 drive (120GB or 250GB) just for windows (and maybe one or two other vital programs), then a 500GB or 1TB SSD for Steam, Origin, games, Office, etc. with a big HDD then just as overspill storage space.

Is this worth doing, or would it not offer tangible benefits as opposed to having Windows on the main SSD along with Steam, games, etc?
 
Solution
popatim
The 850Evo M.2 SSD is not a pcie ssd. Its the same sata6 ssd just in m.2 trim. There's no benefit to getting this drive over the sata version. Not that it isn't an excellent drive (it is) :)

If you want a fast pcie m.2 drive, look at the 950 Pro (and pricing)
Sort by date Sort by votes
MagnusOpium

MagnusOpium

Reputable
Apr 17, 2014
37
0
4,530


Thanks for the quick reply, but I guess the main point I'm asking is whether it's worth that first drive being M.2/PCIe rather than a standard SATA 6GB/s drive?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,418
17,886
184,590


And often, use of that m.2 port impinges on other SATA ports.
If using that m.2 means I lose 2 regular SATA ports...no.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MagnusOpium

MagnusOpium

Reputable
Apr 17, 2014
37
0
4,530


Well in terms of mobo I'm looking at probably getting the MSI Z170A Gaming M7 or EVGA Z170 FTW. The SSDs I'm looking at are Samsung 850 EVOs, and the M.2 variant is only about £12 more at £77 while the SATA version in 250GB is £65, so not too much price difference tbh...




Yeah, I have noticed that issue when looking at mobos, but I figured I don't need as many SATA ports as a lot of mobos have anyway. They're only for storage devices anyway, right? Or have I stupidly overlooked something? (It's been a while since I last did a build, so I may well have done)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tincan79

Tincan79

Honorable
Aug 2, 2015
30
0
10,540
I use a M.2 SSD/PCIe on my MSI Z97 MOBO and I'm very happy with it [read: 750MB write: 490MB]. I'm researching to see if I want two SSD or two HDD for my storage of files and games? I'm expecting if I use two SSD ($100 for 250GB) in RAID 1 then primary and secondary drives will transfer at a rate of 300MB (6Gb/s). Note: Windows power management will put your HDD in hibernation and it takes a couple seconds to spin up storage from hibernation and transfer to my HDD is only 30MB.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
popatim

popatim

Titan
Moderator
Dec 2, 2009
38,904
980
135,890
The 850Evo M.2 SSD is not a pcie ssd. Its the same sata6 ssd just in m.2 trim. There's no benefit to getting this drive over the sata version. Not that it isn't an excellent drive (it is) :)

If you want a fast pcie m.2 drive, look at the 950 Pro (and pricing)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom