[SOLVED] Fastest set up, OS on M.2 SSD along with games, or better to keep OS & games separate?

[deusvolt]

Hi,

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

My rig:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
B450 AORUS PRO-CF (AM4)
16GB RAM DDR4
Radeon RX 580 4GB
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SSD)
PNY CS900 480GB SSD (SSD)
Win10

I had read it's best to keep your OS on a separate drive, and games on another.
So I have an SSD for OS and an SSD for games.

I need more storage so I am thinking of getting an M2 PCIE SSD

My question is: Is it better to clone the OS SSD onto the M2, and put high demand games on the M2 along with the OS?
Would I see much of a performance boost or is everything limited by the slowest drive in the equation anyway?
So unless I get 2x M2, and have OS on one, games on t'other, is there not much point in getting an M2 with OS operating alongside standard SSD with games?

Also, how much slower does ASATA run than SATA?

Thanks again, any enlightenment would be received with gratitude!

All the best.

 

[popatim]

Your board has support for an M2 Sata drive in one of the M2 slots but Sata is Sata, limited to 540MB/s max, speed would be dependent on the drive.
NVME M2 drives are the fast ones

from your manuals' specs:

1. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A_SOCKET)
2. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 PCIe 3.0 x2 SSD support)(M2B_SOCKET)
3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10
   * Refer to "1-7 Internal Connectors," for the installation notices for the M.2 and SATA connectors.

 

[deusvolt]

Your board has support for an M2 Sata drive in one of the M2 slots but Sata is Sata, limited to 540MB/s max, speed would be dependent on the drive.
NVME M2 drives are the fast ones

from your manuals' specs:

1. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4/x2 SSD support) (M2A_SOCKET)
2. 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 PCIe 3.0 x2 SSD support)(M2B_SOCKET)
3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10
   * Refer to "1-7 Internal Connectors," for the installation notices for the M.2 and SATA connectors.

Thanks for your reply.

I had checked the manual, but I was unsure on whether having OS on a different drive made much difference. Or, if M2 is faster, to just put OS and high demand games on the M2 together... any thoughts on that?

 

[popatim]

Again, Speed depends on the actual drives involved, there are excellent sata drives as well as not so good nvme drives.

Windows fast boot makes the difference between Sata & NVME ssd's trivial IMO. Games will load faster , generally, from an nvme drive but won't really improve anything beyond that. Some games seem to have issues running from nvme drives that aren't there when moved to sata drives oddly.

 

[deusvolt]

Again, Speed depends on the actual drives involved, there are excellent sata drives as well as not so good nvme drives.

Windows fast boot makes the difference between Sata & NVME ssd's trivial IMO. Games will load faster , generally, from an nvme drive but won't really improve anything beyond that. Some games seem to have issues running from nvme drives that aren't there when moved to sata drives oddly.

Ok great, thanks.

As I'm unsure on the M.2 Drive fitting under the GPU I think I'll probably just stick with adding a 2.5" SSD to the current set-up.

All the best

 

[popatim]

Intel 660p/ 665p is a budget NVME drive that will surely fit under the GPU.
Samsung 960/970 plus, evo, or pro versions. Must faster but more expensive as well.

Whats your budget?

 

[deusvolt]

Intel 660p/ 665p is a budget NVME drive that will surely fit under the GPU.
Samsung 960/970 plus, evo, or pro versions. Must faster but more expensive as well.

Whats your budget?

Thanks - my budget is slightly open to consideration. Depending on if I just clone the OS to the M.2, as apparently NVME won't improve game speed that much and some games get squiffy with it (as you mentioned). So I may just get 250GB/500GB M.2 or i could just get 1TB and use it for all my downloads etc.

Will I see a noticeable difference in M.2 performances?

I saw this:
https://www.ebuyer.com/947319-wd-blue-sn550-1tb-nvme-m-2-2280-pcie-gen3-ssd-wds100t2b0c
It's a fair bit slower than the Samsung ones, but pretty fast overall. I could get 500GB Samsung pro 970 for same price.
Will I notice a big difference in speed? I don't think so from what I have read, but the M2 slots would be discreet to use too (my case is a bit full).

Thanks again.

 

[Zerk2012]

Thanks - my budget is slightly open to consideration. Depending on if I just clone the OS to the M.2, as apparently NVME won't improve game speed that much and some games get squiffy with it (as you mentioned). So I may just get 250GB/500GB M.2 or i could just get 1TB and use it for all my downloads etc.

Will I see a noticeable difference in M.2 performances?

I saw this:
https://www.ebuyer.com/947319-wd-blue-sn550-1tb-nvme-m-2-2280-pcie-gen3-ssd-wds100t2b0c
It's a fair bit slower than the Samsung ones, but pretty fast overall. I could get 500GB Samsung pro 970 for same price.
Will I notice a big difference in speed? I don't think so from what I have read, but the M2 slots would be discreet to use too (my case is a bit full).

Thanks again.

Their not enough difference in NVME and a regular SSD. Get what cost less.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3AMz-xZ2VM

 

[geofelt]

You are unlikely to notice any difference in performance between pcie and sata ssd devices.
Here is an amusing video on that:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA


Opinions differ on separating os and app drives.
Performance differences are negligible, if any.

My personal preference is to use a large single ssd for both os and active apps.
Space management is easiest with one large C drive.

m.2 is a size format, it comes in both sata and pcie flavors.
Pricing is similar, so I would opt for a m.2 pcie ssd.
It is convenient in that you just plug it in, no data or power connectors needed.
A slot located under the graphics card is common and works well.

Heat is not an issue, so long as the case is reasonably well ventilated.
Heat builds up under sustained sequential operations of perhaps 30 seconds or more.
Think anti virus scan. If the temperature gets too hot, the m.2 temporarily slows down.
Not a big deal.

Samsung makes a nice ssd migration app that will move your C drive to the new m.2.

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

You will usually pay more for a samsung ssd, but there is nothing more reliable or better performing.
Puget systems uses them:

What is the most reliable hardware in our Puget Systems workstations?

Here at Puget Systems, our goal is not only to provide the fastest workstations possible, but the most reliable as well. As a part of our constant drive to offer only the highest quality components possible, we track and regularly review the failure rates for each part we carry. Today, we want...

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[deusvolt]

You are unlikely to notice any difference in performance between pcie and sata ssd devices.
Here is an amusing video on that:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA


Opinions differ on separating os and app drives.
Performance differences are negligible, if any.

My personal preference is to use a large single ssd for both os and active apps.
Space management is easiest with one large C drive.

m.2 is a size format, it comes in both sata and pcie flavors.
Pricing is similar, so I would opt for a m.2 pcie ssd.
It is convenient in that you just plug it in, no data or power connectors needed.
A slot located under the graphics card is common and works well.

Heat is not an issue, so long as the case is reasonably well ventilated.
Heat builds up under sustained sequential operations of perhaps 30 seconds or more.
Think anti virus scan. If the temperature gets too hot, the m.2 temporarily slows down.
Not a big deal.

Samsung makes a nice ssd migration app that will move your C drive to the new m.2.

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

You will usually pay more for a samsung ssd, but there is nothing more reliable or better performing.
Puget systems uses them:

What is the most reliable hardware in our Puget Systems workstations?

Here at Puget Systems, our goal is not only to provide the fastest workstations possible, but the most reliable as well. As a part of our constant drive to offer only the highest quality components possible, we track and regularly review the failure rates for each part we carry. Today, we want...

www.pugetsystems.com

Great, thanks.

So, if I go for a 1TB M.2 PCIE NVMe, I can still use my 500gb and 240GB drives for games, and have a boatload of spce for O/S and downloads, and most likely still run games off there, that hopefully won't crash as some NVMe users have noted?

 

[geofelt]

I do not know what NVME crashes others have reported.
There may be NVME issues for your motherboard.
The bios may need to be updated, as well as the NVME driver.
I know that Samsung has a NVME driver, presumably tailored to their devices.

 

[Bob.B]

Great, thanks.

So, if I go for a 1TB M.2 PCIE NVMe, I can still use my 500gb and 240GB drives for games, and have a boatload of spce for O/S and downloads, and most likely still run games off there, that hopefully won't crash as some NVMe users have noted?

Just to muddy the water.
Think about how your going to backup this stuff.

As to the disk mix and data mix opinions will differ.
Perf wise I doubt anything dramatic will show if you go sata ssd vs nvme ssd.

 

[deusvolt]

Just to muddy the water.
Think about how your going to backup this stuff.

As to the disk mix and data mix opinions will differ.
Perf wise I doubt anything dramatic will show if you go sata ssd vs nvme ssd.

Thanks.

I'm going to go for 500GB Samsung 980 M.2 NVME, and clone OS to that. I'll test which games work ok on that, and use the other 240GB drive for games and data.

Hoping that keeping OS drive separate gives it some protection.