Question Seeking advice on buying a disk for caching (Adobe, etc.)

[blur410]

Hello,

I'm looking for an SSD or NVMe that I can use for caching in Adobe software and other media creation software. I would like to keep this under $200. I've done some googling but every website and youtube video has different suggestions and hypocritical advice. Plus, I can't tell if they are promoting products just because the get affiliate sales.

My main questions are:

1. Based on my system (specs below), what is realistic in speed/bandwidth? I don't want to put tires rated at 1000 Mph on a pinto.
2. NVMe or 3.5 SSD?
3. I read that putting an NVMs caching disk in slot one increases the R/W speed because slot one is connected directly to the CPU. Is this difference noticeable in everyday use? Let's just say rendering 5 minutes videos that pull in AE and PS files using Premier and Media Encoder.
4. If I relocate the OS drive from slot one to slot two, what would the overall impact be on OS performance? Is it noticeable?

I'm looking at:
PNY XLR8 CS3140 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Heatsink - M280CS3140HS-1TB-RB (goes to PNY website)

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. And thank you.

Specs:

• CPU: AMD RYZEN 9 5900X 12-Core 3.7GHz (4.8 GHz Turbo)
• CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX High Performance 240mm, extra quiet Liquid Cooling System
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X570 AORUS ELITE AM4, DDR4, X-fire, USB 3.2, GB LAN
• Video Card: GeForce RTX 3060 TI 8GB PCI EXpress 3.0, up to 4 monitors, HDMI+display port
• Sound Card: M Audio 196|14 (External)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x 32GB) DDR4 3200(PC4-25600) C161.35V Desktop Memory -Black
• Internal Storage: 512GB m.2 Solid State Drive, SATA3 , 550MB/s (Team Group)
• Power: Thermaltake Smart 750W ultra quiet ATX Power Supply (6+2pin)x2
• Win 10 Home

 

[Dylan Beckett]

I used a old 64GB Samsung 830 for years for a scratch drive close to the same thing when it got close to full just secure erase and keep using it depends on the space you need as to how big.

This doesn't cause any issues?
Does it just repopulate the bits it still needs?

Don't these programs auto delete the temp stuff their done with?


cheers

 

[Dylan Beckett]

I do have an older PNY 240GB 2.5 Optima SSD that I found in a used PC

Would it cause you a big headache if it suddenly died on you though when you really needed to get something done?

cheers

 

[Dylan Beckett]

I'm using a 6 or so year old Crucial MX100 SSD 128 gb as a boot drive and continue to believe any money I spent on a replacement would be better spent on some other component....

Like I said above - you could live to regret that... my system drive has just borked out and it's an old 2.5" SSD too.

Unless you've got a full clone of your system drive and don't mind buying having to go out and buy and set up a new drive when it dies - then sure?

But personally from now on - I'd never use an old drive for the System drive.... only as a backup to a backup - eg something I know I can't rely on!


cheers