First PC Build, recommendations?

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user2119

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Oct 17, 2016
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Hi i have decided to build my own pc over paying someone to build it for me so this is what i have come up with.
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/RqbBvV
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/RqbBvV/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£308.28 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste (£11.02 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-DELUXE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£238.97 @ YoYoTech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£171.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£98.42 @ Misco UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.53 @ Misco UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.53 @ Misco UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (£629.89 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Corsair 750D Airflow Edition ATX Full Tower Case (£137.44 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£102.12 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£49.04 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan (£15.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan (£15.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition 37.9 CFM 120mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans (£26.28 @ Kustom PCs)
Fan Controller: NZXT SENTRY 3 Fan Controller (£35.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 24.0" 60Hz Monitor (£133.99 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 24.0" 60Hz Monitor (£133.99 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 24.0" 60Hz Monitor (£133.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £2575.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-20 01:53 BST+0100

If you guys can improve on this build please let me know and post your build below! It will be used for streaming+gaming.

Thanks in advance
user
 
Solution
azaran
With the SSD, most people don't need the Pro version, going with an Evo will bring the price down a bit. Not that Pro is bad, its just more expensive. If you need the higher write warranty on it, cool go for it, it not than an Evo line would be good. I would also recommend a 240/250GB over a 128GB. Games are coming out with 40-80GB patches so running out of room fast is not hard to do. For avid gamers, I've seeing a lot move to 500GB drives.

For a 128GB if thats the size you like
120GB Evo
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9Q7CmG/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam
128Gb Pro
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/PXXfrH/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7ke128bw

For a 240/250GB drive
750 Evo. A good entry level drive. Not as fast as the...
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
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I am pretty new to building computers so all advice is very much appreciated! Please tell me what SSD to use over the 840 pro, also i just heard that WD Blacks were the best? I haven't 100% made my mind up on how big of a HDD i should get. Are the blues any better over the blacks? As i always thought that the blacks were the best?

Please advice on what parts to change for better performance/reliability! This is why i came here was because i am asking for advice :D
 
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azaran

azaran

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Feb 17, 2010
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With the SSD, most people don't need the Pro version, going with an Evo will bring the price down a bit. Not that Pro is bad, its just more expensive. If you need the higher write warranty on it, cool go for it, it not than an Evo line would be good. I would also recommend a 240/250GB over a 128GB. Games are coming out with 40-80GB patches so running out of room fast is not hard to do. For avid gamers, I've seeing a lot move to 500GB drives.

For a 128GB if thats the size you like
120GB Evo
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9Q7CmG/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam
128Gb Pro
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/PXXfrH/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7ke128bw

For a 240/250GB drive
750 Evo. A good entry level drive. Not as fast as the 850 lineup but cheaper.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Ck98TW/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz750250bw
850 Evo. Good mainstream drive
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3kL7YJ/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam
850 Pro.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/JMPfrH/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7ke256bw

If you wanted to move up to a 500GB
750 Evo
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/prvZxr/samsung-750-evo-500gb-25-solid-state-drive-mz-750500bw
850 Evo
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/FrH48d/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e500bam
For the price, I wouldn't even look at the 850 Pro.

As for the HDD, the blacks are a very good series. Given the markets you're looking at, the Blacks are a good price point. I personally prefer Hitachi Deskstar and Ultrastars but the cost out there is much higher so I don't think I'd recommend it. The Western Digital Blues are good drives as well, but the performance and warranty arent as good as the blacks. If you move beyond 2 drives in a raid, you'll need to move to something like WD Reds which are designed for higher level of RAIDs.
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
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1,510


Ok i can see why you say what you do above and from that i have changed to a Samsung 850evo 250gb. I think i will be sticking to just the 2 HDD's so ill prob stay with Blacks unless someone says otherwise with valuable reasons. Is there anything else you would recommend me changing?
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
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1,510
Another question. Would it be better to run a cpu on the x99 platform over z170 like the 5820k or should i just stick with the 6700k? Because this will be a streaming AND gaming PC i want it to be able to handle the processes this holds?
 
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azaran

azaran

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Unless you have something that can take advantage of more than 4 cores, I think you're going to have a better gaming experience on the Z170 i7. I'd check some forums for the specific streaming service and programs you'll be running so see if going to a octo core i7 is worth it over a quad core i7 just to be sure tho.
 
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azaran

azaran

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Unless you really like micromanaging your install directories, just get one SSD large enough for your stuff and a large HDD for files that don't need the speed of an SSD (documents, music, videos, etc). 240GB does it for most people, maybe 500GB if you know you're going to be going with a lot of games with large patch sizes (GTA V I'm looking at you). I would absolutely not recommend a 128GB for any reason.
 
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King Dranzer

King Dranzer

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Aug 16, 2016
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If you want better results get this for 3 monitor setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£127.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£56.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£84.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.48 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GameRock Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£559.92 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GameRock Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£559.92 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£48.40 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£119.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£51.66 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit (£29.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VX239H 23.0" 60Hz Monitor (£142.22 @ More Computers)
Monitor: Asus VX239H 23.0" 60Hz Monitor (£142.22 @ More Computers)
Monitor: Asus VX239H 23.0" 60Hz Monitor (£142.22 @ More Computers)
Total: £2505.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-22 08:41 BST+0100

And for 2 monitor setup with extreme performance:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£127.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£56.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£84.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.48 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GameRock Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£559.92 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Palit GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GameRock Video Card (2-Way SLI) (£559.92 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£48.40 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£119.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£51.66 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit (£29.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 24.0" 144Hz Monitor (£219.97 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 24.0" 144Hz Monitor (£219.97 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £2519.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-22 09:36 BST+0100

And for 2 monitor setup with crazy looks:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£105.46 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£184.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£85.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£84.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.48 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (£692.34 @ BT Shop)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case (£61.82 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£119.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£51.66 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit (£29.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG248Q 24.0" 180Hz Monitor (£399.99 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG248Q 24.0" 180Hz Monitor (£399.99 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £2560.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-22 09:29 BST+0100

For 3monitor setup go with first build.
For best gaming performance go with second build.
For best looks go with third build.

All three builds are of high quality. For three monitor setup GTX1080 SLI is recommended.

Get that OS Windows 8.1 and as you install it upgrade it to windows 10.(the best offer ever)

I would recommend you to go with second build as it will perform best in games.
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
0
1,510



Thanks for these builds it is very much appreciated. I really do not want to go SLI until it is needed. I would like to get a decent 1080 rather than go SLI. Also why do you choose WD Blue HDD? Whats so good about Blue over the others? I will have more questions for you guys down the line im just wanting to get my set up as good as it can be with it being around 2500pounds. Thank you guys for your input so far!

This is the current build i am looking at.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/pqgTm8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/pqgTm8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£310.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste (£6.17)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-DELUXE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£238.97 @ YoYoTech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£176.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£84.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£110.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£110.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.90 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.90 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (£655.98 @ YoYoTech)
Case: Corsair 750D Airflow Edition ATX Full Tower Case (£137.44 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£132.95)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£51.66 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition 37.9 CFM 120mm Fan (£14.43 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans (£26.49 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £2404.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-22 12:42 BST+0100

I will be using a 3 monitor setup, im also looking for this build to be as future proof as i can afford it to be.

Is there anyway you guys can improve on this and/or choose different parts/makes to bring the price down a bit so i can spend more on monitors, but i would like to keep the performance i have above...

Thanks in advance
user
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
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1,510


And one of my last questions for this thread is how much will the OS take up on a SSD in gb? because i want to get a samsung evo ssd just for the OS alone and Sandisk ssd's to store other stuff on.

windows 10
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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So what's the purpose of this build? Gaming? If so there's a lot of money being wasted on storage, case fans and accessories. You could drop this stuff and shave a lot of money off the total cost of the system. How much are you looking to spend?

As far as HDs go there's no rhyme or reason - they all come off the same assembly line in Thailand and there's no real difference between mechanical HDs anymore other than the label.
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
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1,510


Hello thanks for replying!
The purpose of this build will be to use it for Gaming and Streaming. Please can you post the build that youd reccomend without the un-needed extras i have on that list you quoted. And tell me why each thing you have changed/removed is not needed?

Thanks in advance

Edit: With the monitors im looking to keep it around 2500 for the build.

Link to build as it is now: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Gh3JkT
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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I think the main thing is that you have way too much money being invested in case fans, the fan controller, the BD-R burner, the thermal compound and I don't get why you need so many hard drives and SSDs. Storage is one thing I always buy out of necessity rather than just adding as many drives as I can. Plus you can always add drives as you need them, most cases make that really easy these days. BD-R if you're going to use it to watch movies on your PC is too big of a hassle because of HDCP that it's not worth it, and everything is moving toward streaming anyways. You also don't need the extra thermal compound either.

As far as the case fans go, spending a large chunk of your budget on them is something I would never advocate doing. Because you can only have as many fans as the case has the mounts for. Plus that's also determined by the way your air flow is setup. I would not purchase a liquid cooler either, most closed liquid loops don't really offer much more than air cooling does.

This is what a more stripped down version of your build would look like:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£316.98 @ Novatech)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£53.72 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£193.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£99.98 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£172.68 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (£659.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT Noctis 450 ATX Mid Tower Case (£101.99 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£104.99 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1882.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-31 17:21 GMT+0000

So not including monitors I shaved about £450 off your proposed system. The thing is you have a lot of money spent unnecessarily on that build and I always advocate not spending money when you don't have to.
 
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user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
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1,510



Ok thanks i have taken that all on board! Can you also tell me how much space for the OS is required, because i am wanting to use a samsung 850evo for the os and sandisk for storing.

Kind regards
 
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King Dranzer

King Dranzer

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Aug 16, 2016
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35GB for Windows10 Pro, Home edition should be taking nearly same amount of space.
 
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U

user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
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1,510


Ok thanks
 
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U

user2119

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
16
0
1,510
Ok guys so another question. With some parts i am experimenting with (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/vfHVBP) it says there is a compatibility issue because i am using a m.2 ssd. (build not complete need to change parts)
"The motherboard M.2 slot #0 shares bandwidth with a SATA Express port. When the M.2 slot is populated, one SATA Express port is disabled."

So what parts use a SATA express port? Will it affect me if i want to SLI in the future? What will be affected if i go ahead with this build even though there is a sata express port unavailable?

Thanks in advance
 
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azaran

azaran

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Feb 17, 2010
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You'll never use a SATA express drive so don't worry about it. Sata Express was the betamax of the computer world. Manufactures are FINALLY dropping the port for better options on new boards.
 
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