Need Help with Build [Video/Music PC]

[mmh]

I read a few tips earlier today like turning off indexing and stuff and changing where documents are stored.

As I understand it, you install programs and OS on the SSD and Data on the alternate drive right?

is it common practice to put current projects onto the SSD and move them off when completed/archived for quick access?

Noob to the SSD tbh.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The page file will wear out the SSD quicker,so that is why you should switch it off,or move it to your mechanical drive.

[mmh]

Oh FFS... the Processor isn't in stock :@ lead time is a week today...

SCAN!!! WHY HAVE IT SHOWN IN STOCK WHEN ITS NOT!?? NOT ONLY THAT, LEAVE IT TIL THE END OF THE DAY TO INFORM ME. Now I've got the day off for no reason!

[kalniel]

The page file will wear out the SSD quicker,so that is why you should switch it off,or move it to your mechanical drive.

Page file is best left on the SSD, it will not wear it out any quicker. It's actually recommended to keep it on the SSD because it's such a good match for the characteristics.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2...rives-and.aspx

Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?

Yes. Most pagefile operations are small random reads or larger sequential writes, both of which are types of operations that SSDs handle well.

In looking at telemetry data from thousands of traces and focusing on pagefile reads and writes, we find that

Pagefile.sys reads outnumber pagefile.sys writes by about 40 to 1,
Pagefile.sys read sizes are typically quite small, with 67% less than or equal to 4 KB, and 88% less than 16 KB.
Pagefile.sys writes are relatively large, with 62% greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% being exactly 1 MB in size.

In fact, given typical pagefile reference patterns and the favorable performance characteristics SSDs have on those patterns, there are few files better than the pagefile to place on an SSD.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Page file is best left on the SSD, it will not wear it out any quicker. It's actually recommended to keep it on the SSD because it's such a good match for the characteristics.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2...rives-and.aspx

That was written 4 years ago,and the NAND used back then had far greater lifespan,than the cheaper NAND types used now,as SSD have moved from a luxury item to a commodity item. There is much greater reliance on the firmware now to manage things and even out wear,and AFAIK companies are actually plonking on less extra NAND for overprovisioning to cut costs.

I would rather limit the read/writes on my disc to useful things,not to legacy holdovers like the page file,especially with the fact RAM is so cheap now. I also have a Sandforce drive too. Moreover,the page file takes up a needless amount of space on a 120GB/128GB SSD,especially in my case with my SSD being around 75% full.

In fact I don't even have a page file active on my system,and I use things like Lightroom and Photoshop fine.

I have not had any issues(so far) since 2011.

[kalniel]

Drives still have way more lifetime than anyone needs, just look at the anandtech articles where they check it out. And the things in that link still apply - pagefile is mostly read operations which doesn't wear the drive out in the slightest.

Lightroom and photoshop have their own pagefiles (cache), but a pagefile is still recommended for other things.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Drives still have way more lifetime than anyone needs, just look at the anandtech articles where they check it out. And the things in that link still apply - pagefile is mostly read operations which doesn't wear the drive out in the slightest.

Lightroom and photoshop have their own pagefiles (cache), but a pagefile is still recommended for other things.

Yes,I do know LR and PS have their cache files and scratch files. I have been using PS since 2004,so I am quite aware of that!! You mean like the builds in the past I have specced in the past which have a separate scratch disc fo PS??

Anandtech only did theoretical calculations with an empty drive. However,have they taken into account the effect,of a drive which is 50% to 80% full or not with the latest NAND types or the reduced amount of NAND dedicated to overprovisioning?

Nope,and they have not done any tests with the latest NAND types either,just commented on them in the 840 series.

Anandtech,is not that perfect especially after their shoddy ARM vs X86 power efficiency review,which was riddled with holes,and the use of a dubious benchmark test too.

Moreover,why even bother with a page file when it takes up space on a SSD?? The page file is just a pointless holdover,from the old day of windows. With 8GB of RAM on most systems you don't even need one. I have been operating without one for 2 years without any problem.

The OP is doing primarily video conversation on their rig,so instead of wasting read/writes and space on a pointless thing,they should be preserved and put towards what he actual uses.

With 16GB of RAM he does not need a Windows page file.

People are feel they need one,even though that seems to ignore the fact RAM price and quantity,has outstripped the needs of most people.

If they even feel worried,just put 1GB on their HDD,just in case. That 1GB saved on the SSD is served better by leaving more empty space on the SSD anyway.

I doubt,they will even use it TBH.

None,of the games I run have any problems. PS does not. LR does not. HandBrake has no. Not,a single problem. Not even FF with loads of tabs,with LR and PS open.

[watercooled]

I second that, I frequently hear people saying you *must* have a PF because some programs won't work without one, I've not used on for years and not had a single problem. If you're using 1GB of RAM, it's a necessity, but with 8GB or more being pretty much standard now, I'd argue most people will be fine without one - TBH even when I did have one on a second drive, the drive would just go into standby as it was never used.

As for drive life, as I've said on other threads, TLC used in the likes of the 840 has reached a point where it's very reasonable to expect it to pass it's specified amount of PE cycles during its life. Even if a user doesn't write much to the drive directly, Windows is far from a read-only operating system, and the same goes for a lot of programs. Based on my own testing, everything from antivirus to browsers write a significant amount of data to disk, and I'd say 10GB per day is easy to reach with fairly light use.

As for other modifications, most 'SSD optimisation guides' are written by people who don't have a clue what they're talking about TBH. In general, leave everything alone, and never defragment. Don't touch indexing, prefetching, superfetch, and so on - Windows 7 and above automatically disables stuff which doesn't give any benefit on an SSD, and an SSD makes no real difference vs HDD when it comes to indexing i.e. leave it on.

Tweaks you might want to make to increase available space/reduce writes include what's already been said about PF, also hibernation and system protection can be disabled if you know you don't need them.

The hibernation file will be about the same size as your RAM, so a fairly big chunk of wasted space if you don't use it. To disable, launch an elevated command prompt and type: powercfg -h off
I can't necessarily recommend everyone disable system protection as it can be useful, but it's rarely any use to me, and I back up properly so I disable it. To disable, right-click Computer, properties, System Protection in left bar, then highlight your drive(s) and configure.