Hard Drive Setup

[djjohnmerry]

I am looking to get a 256GB M2 NVMe SSD for my OS Drive - and a 1TB SSHD for Applications etc and a standard 3TB for Archive / Photo Storage?

Do you think will still give good performance? Running day to day? Or do you need everything to SSD to get better performance for applications as well? Thoughts welcome!

[jimbouk]

I'd want my applications on a SSD as well. Even an older one will be a jump in performance from a SSHD as the cache will fill up pretty quick switching between games. Can you make do with just one 500GB SSD?

[Macman]

I keep my OS to my 120GB SSD - Boots up in less than 10s.

And have 1TB Hybrid SSD Will be enough for what I need it for. Gaming CSGO or EVE at the very most. Browsing net/forums. Sony Vegas and Fraps is pretty much all I have installed on it.

[EndlessWaves]

Given that there's only about £20-30 in it I'd go for the 1TB SSD any day. Hard drive to SSD is a 100x improvement in access times, a better SSD or a hybrid drive don't offer anything close to that.

[Andy14]

I have a 500Gb 840 Pro in my current setup and I've been so pleased (for almost 4 years) that I will be choosing the 860 Pro in my new build very soon. I then have HDD's for storing data such as video / audio.

This allows me to put everything I access often and all the games / apps I use on the SSD. I'm pretty good at managing what I play though, so if you are kind of person that wants 20+ premium games installed at once then you need a bigger SSD. Of course you could simply move the games you don't play often onto the HDD for archive, this is especially easy if you are using Steam.

[Macman]

Given that there's only about £20-30 in it I'd go for the 1TB SSD any day. Hard drive to SSD is a 100x improvement in access times, a better SSD or a hybrid drive don't offer anything close to that.

Wouldn't pay extra just for "standard 3TB for Archive / Photo Storage?"

[EndlessWaves]

Wouldn't pay extra just for "standard 3TB for Archive / Photo Storage?"

I meant I'd go for a cheap 1TB SSD over the 256GB SM961ish & 1TB SSHD. The 3TB storage drive would stay the same.

[Macman]

My bad man, my bad lol.

[djjohnmerry]

Thanks for the feedback - I will continue to think about maybe getting a slower SSD SATA Drive for my OS & applications instead but bigger in size maybe 1TB instead of the M2

[wazzickle]

256gb nvme ssd for OS and apps should be great depending on what apps you'll be using. Large hdd for archives is the order of the day. If you're playing lots of games, you might consider either a secondary SSD, SSHD if you're tight on money, or just a bigger primary SSD.

[Spreadie]

You won't notice any difference between an NVMe SSD and a standard sata3 SSD as an OS drive. I have one (256GB Samsung 951) because I'm running an ITX rig and it means two fewer cables to tuck out of sight, and I got it for about the same price as a 256GB SATA3 drive i.e. half the retail price.

Don't get wrapped up in the read/write speeds - the results looks mighty impressive when I run ATTO Bench, but real world advantages are slim at best.

A bigger SATA3 drive would make more sense, unless you drop on a bargain.

[wazzickle]

So where does a faster SSD count, only during file transfer?

[satrow]

Access is faster to every file on the SSD and the faster the SSD, the bigger the difference - but the real world difference 'felt' reduces with each relatively minor (compared to the initial jump from HDD) SSD speed upgrade.

Solid/compressed files like movies, pictures, zipped files, etc. don't get enough benefit from being on an SSD, they can be accessed just as fast when needed from an HDD.

Transfer speeds are limited by the slowest drive involved.



(EDITED, not a good answer first time, still not great, must be getting too tired to think.)

[djjohnmerry]

Excellent thanks for the Feedback :-) A single bigger SSD SATA3 might be the better option then over the NVMe :-) Food for thought

[Andy14]

To back-up the above few posts, when I discussed my new proposed setup with SCAN they logically and sensibly stated that I'd be better off spending the SSD money on a large cheap one rather than the 960 Pro. From their experience (which is way more than mine) they stated I will not notice the difference for normal PC usage (inc gaming).

I am considering their logic (as I know they are right) but I'm also attracted to the 960 for the reliability factor as well as brute speed. And over the years I will keep the PC the difference in price is not really that much.

Kudos to SCAN though for excellent advice.

[EndlessWaves]

I'm also attracted to the 960 for the reliability factor

Samsung? Reliable?

This is the company that took two attempts to fix the 840 Evo and only managed a workaround and then a year or two later did exactly the same thing with the Note7.

Just about anyone else is less likely to have issues given the state of Samsung's design QA at the moment.