[SOLVED] Best NVME Setup for 2 SSD on limited mobo

[firstbuildbestbuild1]

Hello,

I am about to build my first PC and just got all my parts below, when I realized I'm not sure how I should configure my two m.2 storage SSDs with only a single PCIe X4 slot. Specs below:

CPU: i7 9700K (plan to oc)
CPU fan: Noctua DH-15
GPU: Asus GTX 1080 Turbo (transferring from old build)
Case: Corsair iCue 465x ATX Mid Tower
Mobo: Asus Prime z390-P
Storage: 1x Addlink S70 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive, 1x Addlink S70 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (both for PCIe Gen3x4)
RAM: 32 GB (16x2) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3600 Mhz
PSU: Seasonic PX-750 Focus
Monitor: Dell 24" S2417dg 2K @ 144hz

Ideally I would like this to be a "modestly" future-proofed gaming rig, but also capable of some Unreal Engine 4 game modding for games like Insurgency Sandstorm (via their recent Steam Workshop update).

My idea was to run 2 NVME SSDs out of the 2 provided M.2 slots, but now I see that only one of the m.2 slots on the z390 board supports X4 PCIE, while the other is an X2 PCIE slot.

Storage is one area I've had a difficult time finding much information on the latest NVME guides. Would it make sense to put my larger 1TB drive as the boot drive in the x4 m.2 slot, and use the smaller 500 GB as a separate storage drive in the x2 m.2 slot? That way I assume I could run most of my work/modding with NVME speed, and use the X2 PCIE for some less-priority games and such? I remember, however, with storage tech long ago, that using a boot drive that also held the majority of your storage was not recommended. Instead, you wanted to leave that drive as empty as possible. Wanted to confirm that is no longer the case with NVME m.2 storage, assuming besides leaving a minimum 50-100 GB free for pagefile? Again, pretty in the dark here in terms of personal knowledge on a first build, but based on the above, which configuration of my storage on the z390 is best with those 2 slots? Bigger storage on the boot Pcie x4 slot or give up NVME for the pcie x2 as the 1TB? And anything to be careful on with that in consideration?

 

[CountMike]

Hello,

I am about to build my first PC and just got all my parts below, when I realized I'm not sure how I should configure my two m.2 storage SSDs with only a single PCIe X4 slot. Specs below:

CPU: i7 9700K (plan to oc)
CPU fan: Noctua DH-15
GPU: Asus GTX 1080 Turbo (transferring from old build)
Case: Corsair iCue 465x ATX Mid Tower
Mobo: Asus Prime z390-P
Storage: 1x Addlink S70 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive, 1x Addlink S70 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (both for PCIe Gen3x4)
RAM: 32 GB (16x2) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3600 Mhz
PSU: Seasonic PX-750 Focus
Monitor: Dell 24" S2417dg 2K @ 144hz

Ideally I would like this to be a "modestly" future-proofed gaming rig, but also capable of some Unreal Engine 4 game modding for games like Insurgency Sandstorm (via their recent Steam Workshop update).

My idea was to run 2 NVME SSDs out of the 2 provided M.2 slots, but now I see that only one of the m.2 slots on the z390 board supports X4 PCIE, while the other is an X2 PCIE slot.

Storage is one area I've had a difficult time finding much information on the latest NVME guides. Would it make sense to put my larger 1TB drive as the boot drive in the x4 m.2 slot, and use the smaller 500 GB as a separate storage drive in the x2 m.2 slot? That way I assume I could run most of my work/modding with NVME speed, and use the X2 PCIE for some less-priority games and such? I remember, however, with storage tech long ago, that using a boot drive that also held the majority of your storage was not recommended. Instead, you wanted to leave that drive as empty as possible. Wanted to confirm that is no longer the case with NVME m.2 storage, assuming besides leaving a minimum 50-100 GB free for pagefile? Again, pretty in the dark here in terms of personal knowledge on a first build, but based on the above, which configuration of my storage on the z390 is best with those 2 slots? Bigger storage on the boot Pcie x4 slot or give up NVME for the pcie x2 as the 1TB? And anything to be careful on with that in consideration?

I don't think that NVME is important for storage only, seriously doubt you'd see any difference over x2/SATA.

 

[firstbuildbestbuild1]

I don't think that NVME is important for storage only, seriously doubt you'd see any difference over x2/SATA.

Thanks for the reply, good to know the x2 won't cause any slowdown in performance (especially with a more modest rig like I have). Still though, what should I do given these two SSDs? Is there any downside in running the 1 TB as the boot drive and also for main storage? Figured the 1 TB can run most of my modding out of UE4 if needed (which I assume will benefit some from NVME), but want to be sure that doesn't cause any SSD issues by using that as main boot drive.

 

[USAFRet]

No, that won't cause any issues.

Use the 500GB in the x2 slot for games and project files.

 

[firstbuildbestbuild1]

No, that won't cause any issues.

Use the 500GB in the x2 slot for games and project files.

Thank you! But ah, was about to select this as best answer and just found out that according to the mobo manual, I was wrong and this does in fact have two m.2 (socket 3) slots that"support data transfer speeds up to 32 Gb/s"! So I guess two X4 slots after all. Given this new information, would you personally put the 500 GB as the boot drive now and 1 TB as storage, given they should both run NVME?

Edit: I guess you already did still provide best answer to the initial question, but any follow up appreciated!

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you! But ah, was about to select this as best answer and just found out that according to the mobo manual, I was wrong and this does in fact have two m.2 (socket 3) slots that"support data transfer speeds up to 32 Gb/s"! So I guess two X4 slots after all. Given this new information, would you personally put the 500 GB as the boot drive now and 1 TB as storage, given they should both run NVME?

Edit: I guess you already did still provide best answer to the initial question, but any follow up appreciated!

Given enough budget, yes, 2x NVMe drives. But only good quality ones. I would not go cheap just to have 2.

Much like the early days of SATA SSD.

 

[firstbuildbestbuild1]

Given enough budget, yes, 2x NVMe drives. But only good quality ones. I would not go cheap just to have 2.

Much like the early days of SATA SSD.

Great thank you! Will set up the 500 GB as the boot drive then did some research and these Addlink NVME drives seemed well reviewed for gaming on some sites (oddly no mention of them on others though).