Storage config help

[HerrSchrodinger]

This summer, before I (hopefully) go off to college I've been working and intend to build myself a new pc to replace my old phenom II based system that I'm currently using. I've got all my parts picked out and ready to buy but I just can't seem to decide on storage. Originally I had a 500gb Samsung 850 EVO and a 3TB WD HDD but since then I have changed my mind several times and am currently on the fence as to whether I should get,

1:
Samsung 950 pro m.2 (256gb) (boot)
Samsung 850 EVO 500gb (for the more important games and such)
WD 2TB black (for everything else)

OR

2:
Samsung 950 pro m.2 (512gb) (boot + important games and such)
WD 2TB black (for everything else)

The cost is about the same where I am (+£15 for option 2) with -~250gb of SSD storage for slightly faster storage and I'm about hitting my budget so I can't really go for something like a 2TB 850 EVO right now.

Any help would be appreciated and any alternate configs would be welcomed too.
Thanks.

 

[JaredDM]

To be honest, there isn't that much difference in the speed of the PRO verses the EVO that you're likely to even notice it. Both will perform very snappy. The only real advantage of the PRO is that is uses better memory which can handle more write cycles before the memory starts to degrade, thus making it better for frequent editing such as audio/video production work. For the normal user, the EVO will work just fine. My suggestion would be to get a 1Tb (or 512 if you can't afford it) but get the EVO instead of the PRO. Then get another large storage drive to go with it.

As to the large storage HDD, I'd personally recommend you get yourself a good HGST drive rather than WD Black. It'll save you some money and they are actually more reliable. If you're not using it as an OS drive, then the "performance advantage" of the Black is totally moot. They'll all perform about the same on sequential read/writes. The black is just a little faster for the small read/writes you experience with an OS drive. For just a storage drive you don't need to do Black, and the HGST will last twice as long.

 

[Viking2121]

To be honest with ya, I'd take option 1. The super fast speed of the 950 pro m.2 would be awesome in windows and programs, 256gb is more then enough for such.

The 850 EVO is plenty fast enough for games. Its sata based so your speeds are going to be as fast as sata 3 can provide.

WB Black, I wouldn't even bother with a WB Black. nothing against WD, but the black drives run hot, no speed difference than the WB Blue.


JaredDM, You realize the the 950 pro m.2 is NVME

Max Sequential Read: Up to 2200 MBps
Max Sequential Write: Up to 900 MBps


The 850 Evo
Max Sequential Read: Up to 540 MBps
Max Sequential Write: Up to 520 MBps

Its fast for sure, but is much slower then the 950 Pro m.2. He just needs to make sure the motherboard in question support NVME m.2