Timing and technological advances - new build

[Yarberger1]

Hello folks, and Happy New Year.

There's nothing wrong with my current set-up, but I've got a 'new build itch'. Part of the itch stems from a desire to change the external aesthetic, but I like the sound of upgrades while I'm at it.

My primary upgrade query is timing. I have the luxury of a functioning system, so there is no urgency. Preliminary reading suggests that there are major advancements in storage (in particular) coming down the pipeline, which would make for a significantly faster system. I have a Samsung 850 EVO SSD drive as my primary/boot drive, but the M.2 and NVMe chatter has me thinking that system speeds will be (potentially) much faster as we move through 2019.

Is storage technology advancing at a rate that would justify holding off for a while?

My present system specs are below, and my primary computer use is office applications, internet/video streaming and gaming (WoW at 1920 x 1080 via an old SyncMaster E2320, although I'd like to upgrade this prehistoric monitor asap).

M/Board: ASUS P8Z77-V
CPU: i5-3570 3.40 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
Memory: 16GB, no idea what kind

Budgetary considerations are a moving target. I will likely opt to purchase parts in stages (i.e. buying a new case, PSU and associated parts ahead of time).

 

[USAFRet]

There is always something new on the horizon.
But currently, NVMe drives are at the top of "storage within a reasonable budget".

There is the Optane 905p, which faster. But way out of a reasonable price per GB range.
1TB = $1200
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167458

vs NVMe 1TB at $327
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA12K77Z5760

or SATA III 1TB at $147
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147673

(fatfinger edited to read the correct drive sizes)

 

[Dunlop0078]

Do you do any storage intensive tasks? Like large sequential file transfers? If not you wont really see much of a benefit with the latest NVME drive. It wont be much faster than your 850 evo in say app launch times, game load times, windows boot times, etc.

Things are heating up between intel and AMD in the CPU market however, intel is finally doing something given the threat from ryzen. And AMD Zen 2 is looking to provide even stiffer competition, so I would expect the amount of cpu power you get for your money to keep rising sharply.

GPU's are another story. Nvidia is dominating and without good competition from AMD we are not seeing the generational jump in performance we used to.

 

[Yarberger1]

Many thanks for these replies.

USAFRet, you initially had me startled. I think that those are 1TB drives, rather than 1 GB drives. The price point comparisons are very interesting, and as you point out, the Optane is well out of reach.

Dunlop0078, I was under the impression that boot times in particular would be significantly faster with the NVMe drives. If that isn't the case, I agree that this appears to be a fool's errand. On the GPU front, I believe that moving up to a 1070 will represent a significant performance boost over what I have presently, assuming that something better doesn't come along to knock the 1080s down a bit. I don't do any storage intensive tasks, no.

 

[USAFRet]

Many thanks for these replies.

USAFRet, you initially had me startled. I think that those are 1TB drives, rather than 1 GB drives. The price point comparisons are very interesting, and as you point out, the Optane is well out of reach.

Dunlop0078, I was under the impression that boot times in particular would be significantly faster with the NVMe drives. If that isn't the case, I agree that this appears to be a fool's errand. On the GPU front, I believe that moving up to a 1070 will represent a significant performance boost over what I have presently, assuming that something better doesn't come along to knock the 1080s down a bit. I don't do any storage intensive tasks, no.

Oops...correct.
1TB
Fat fingers messed up.

 

[USAFRet]

Many thanks for these replies.

USAFRet, you initially had me startled. I think that those are 1TB drives, rather than 1 GB drives. The price point comparisons are very interesting, and as you point out, the Optane is well out of reach.

Dunlop0078, I was under the impression that boot times in particular would be significantly faster with the NVMe drives. If that isn't the case, I agree that this appears to be a fool's errand. On the GPU front, I believe that moving up to a 1070 will represent a significant performance boost over what I have presently, assuming that something better doesn't come along to knock the 1080s down a bit. I don't do any storage intensive tasks, no.

Boot time is a poor indicator of performance.
So many other things are in play there.

(not actual numbers, but well within the range of possibility)
Lets go down the chain of drive types and typical boot times:
HDD - 60 seconds boot time
30 seconds is the BIOS doing its thing, another 30 seconds of the drive doing its thing.

If we consider a SATA III is 3 times as fast as a HDD:
40 seconds boot time
30 seconds for the BIOS, and then 10 seconds for the SATA III SSD

Further, an NVMe. again, 3 times as fast as the SATA SSD
33 seconds boot time
Still 30 seconds for the BIOS, and then 3 seconds for the drive.

This is well into the land of diminishing returns, because of all the other things that are going on.

The difference between HDD and SATA SSD is mind blowing. Mostly due to the near zero latency of the solid state.
Going from SATA III SSD to NVMe, not so much. Yes, the benchmarks read faster. But we out here don't use benchmarks.
We use applications and files. There is a lot of other stuff going on in the PC that impacts overall user facing performance.

 

[USAFRet]

Further regarding 'boot time'...
Boot time on my 'all SSD' system is basically zero, because I don't turn it off.

This allows a few things.
Windows updates happen when I'm not using it.
My backup routine runs between 1AM and 4AM, so I'm not impacted by that either.

This system (hover over my avatar for the specs) idles at about 75-80 watts.
Typical US electricity price = $4/month to just leave it running. Not even a single cup of coffee.

 

[Yarberger1]

USAFRet, thanks so much for this info - very helpful. Given that I have a SSD, it seems there is little room for big improvements in my PC's speed at this point. Looks like an aesthetics change is all I should be aiming for.

 

[USAFRet]

USAFRet, thanks so much for this info - very helpful. Given that I have a SSD, it seems there is little room for big improvements in my PC's speed at this point. Looks like an aesthetics change is all I should be aiming for.

When you build up a new PC, then yes...an NVMe drive might be in order.
But strapping an NVMe drive on to your current system is like putting racing tires on a stock Honda Civic.

 

[Yarberger1]

Understood. Looking back at my original post, I realize I was completely unclear - many apologies. My intent, if recent advances justify current tech over my existing system, is to effectively gut what I have (motherboard, CPU, GPU, storage) and replace those items. Essentially a new build, while holding onto existing bits and pieces like optical drive, SSD (as a secondary drive, perhaps), soundcard, keyboard/mouse, etc). My queries over storage in particular were with this in mind.

 

[USAFRet]

Understood. Looking back at my original post, I realize I was completely unclear - many apologies. My intent, if recent advances justify current tech over my existing system, is to effectively gut what I have (motherboard, CPU, GPU, storage) and replace those items. Essentially a new build, while holding onto existing bits and pieces like optical drive, SSD (as a secondary drive, perhaps), soundcard, keyboard/mouse, etc). My queries over storage in particular were with this in mind.

A whole new system, either 2nd or 3rd gen Ryzen, or Intel i8/i9, will be significantly faster then your current system.
And with that new one, yes, an NVMe drive in there.

 

[Yarberger1]

Apologies, USAFRet, for whatever reason I didn't see a notification for your response. Your reply is really encouraging. I will have a look around and, if you have a few minutes here and there, I'll ask you for some further advice regarding components in due course. From what I understand, it might be best to look after the monitor upgrade first (2560x1440 at 144 Hz) and build from there...? Anyway, thank you so much again for your help and guidance.