Is there anything i can put in my PCI slot or generally add to my build?

[Wayfall]

My computer specs:
-i5 4460 3.20GHz
-ASRock Z97 Anniversary Motherboard
-MSI GTX 970 4GB
-Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz 2x4GB Dual Channel 8GB kit
-EVGA G2 550w Gold Modular PSU
-Samsung EVO 850 250GB SSD (OS and a few main played games)
-1TB Western Digital Caviar Hard Disk Drive (Least played games, music and junk)
-Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
-1920x1080 LG monitor

Hi

So I have one PCIE slot that my GPU uses and one PCI slot that is empty. I have heard you can put a network card in to speed up the internet transfer speed or as some people get sound interference in their system which is like a buzzing in their speakers that they can put a sound card in to fix this but generally they are for better sound quality.

Is their anything I could put in that slot?

Regards

 

[USAFRet]

A NIC in there won't be any faster than the NIC built into the motherboard.
Sound card? Only if you really have a need for it, and have high quality output devices.

You don't have to use that slot.

 

[Wolfshadw]

PCI slots are mostly defunct now. Your onboard network is as good as any PCI network card. Same goes for audio.

-Wolf sends

 

[Wayfall]

Hmm I'm just looking to see if I can add anything at the moment. I have a PC World gift card with £50 on it which was from a friend but the only thing I want is another SSD (the same one I have for my OS) but PC World just happens to not be able to deliver that one... only the over priced 500GB one

God I hate gift cards, I can only use it at PC World, I nearly always just buy my stuff off Amazon. Maybe I will get a external backup HDD which is in an enclosure so I can weekly backup my stuff.

Dunno, I wonder what I could add to my build... I would love a better case as I have a cheapo Bit Fenix Comrade case currently.

 

[USAFRet]

A drive for backups is a MUCH better idea than a sound card or another NIC.

 

[Wayfall]

Can I constantly backup my SSD and HDD data one a 1TB HDD? Would these backups be like image files or something?

 

[Kiril_Petkov]

Hello Wayfall,

There is a lot of stuff you could use PCI port depend of your needs. Z97 Anniversary is lacking some extra USB ports or COM, Wi-Fi card, Fiber channel the list is long specially whit this MB that dont have many/any extras. Most ppl use the port for sound cards the integrated one is not good if u have 5.1 or 7.1 sound. Ofc most ppl may never use this port just because they just need the above feathering but is always nice to have one free PCI slot to plug in something you may need at some point.

 

[Wayfall]

I have been thinking about this for a backup:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/data-storage/data-storage/wd-elements-external-hard-drive-2-tb-black-22087970-pdt.html

Just wondering, with windows backup can I set it to backup to a certain folder on a backup drive so I can keep the SSD and HDD backups apart?

 

[USAFRet]

Can I constantly backup my SSD and HDD data one a 1TB HDD? Would these backups be like image files or something?

I use Macrium Reflect.
It does whole disk images, to whatever folder(s) you want, on whatever schedule you want.

My main PC does an image of the C drive to another drive every night at 2AM. Keep 2 weeks worth, deleting the oldest.
it does another image to a different PC every Sunday at 3AM. Keep 4 weeks worth.

Other drives are on a different schedule.


I would not use Windows backup.

 

[Wayfall]

How long does it take to write these image files? And say something happened how do I use the most recent image to get my pc up and running again?

 

[Wayfall]

How long does it take to write these image files? And say something happened how do I use the most recent image to get my pc up and running again?

 

[Wayfall]

How long does it take to write these image files? And say something happened how do I use the most recent image to get my pc up and running again?

 

[USAFRet]

How long does it take to write these image files? And say something happened how do I use the most recent image to get my pc up and running again?

For a 250GB SSD, approx 150GB used, it takes ~25 minutes. Copying to a 3TB WD Green.

How to use? Macrium Reflect will allow you to make a Rescue Media DVD.
Boot from that, select the image you wish to restore, point it at the target drive, Go.