Question Need some help with which M.2s to put in which slot (1 is PCIe 3 and 1 is 4)

[txsarge17]

Hi all. After some great feedback on another post, I recently upgraded my CPU/GPU combo to Ryzen 7 5800x3d and RX 6700 XT. I also went ahead and upped my memory to 3600MHz CL6.

My question comes from this: I currently have a WD Black SN750 and a WD Black SN770, both 500G. My MSI B550 M.2 1 runs at CPU speed of PCIe 4 and the M.2 2 is chipset based PCIe 3. Currently, I have my OS on the 750 in the second slot (PCIe 3) and games on the 770 in the first slot (PCIe 4). My OS boots near instantly, and when loading into anything group related I usually have to wait for the others to join.

Unfortunately, 1TB total isn't enough, so I'm looking at swapping the SN750 for a 2TB drive to be my game drive. Would I even notice if swapped things around, loaded my OS onto the SN770 and put in the PCIe 3 slot and put the games on the PCIe 4 slot or vice versa?

I honestly don't know if my games or my OS should be on the faster slot. both SSDs will be PCIe 4, but only one connection is.

Also, if I'm putting OS in the PCIe 4 slot, should I just buy a 2T PCIe 3 drive?

 

[Lafong]

"Would I even notice if swapped things around, loaded my OS onto the SN770 and put in the PCIe 3 slot and put the games on the PCIe 4 slot or vice versa?"

The 770 is 4.0 capable, but you'd be putting it into a PCIe 3.0 slot. I'd suspect it would be pointless.

I've got a 770 OS drive in a 3.0 slot myself. Eventually, I will change motherboards and put it in a 4.0 slot, but I'm not expecting to notice much if any difference beyond benchmarks.

The 770 is cheap lately. You might be able to talk yourself into a 2 TB 770 rather than the 2 TB 750, despite the minimal difference.

The 750 has DRAM; the 770 is dramless; you'd be immediately off into the discussion of how much that matters. Few minds have been changed.