Using M.2 for programs and libraries with OS on separate drives?

[matthi90]

Hi everyone!

So im building a new "studiorig" for 3d rendering and Music production. So far i got

ASUS TUF B450-PLUS GAMING, Socket-AM4
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 Cooler
2x SSD 2.5 265GB
Ballistix Sport DDR4 16GB WHITE
Corsair TX850M, 850W PSU
Zotac Geforce GTX 980 Amp! Edition
ST Lab PCIe FireWire 2+1P w/ (My Soundcard is a 19" studiorack-mount unit of an older standard so i need Firewire, i see the new ones are mostly USB)
+ fans and controllers and all the knickelwinks needed outside the above.

Now my question is actually about M.2 SSD`s. I was planning to use the two 2.5 SSD`s for Win10 and Win7 since im not worried about having to wait 40 seconds for my computer to start.

I was wondering this:

If i install Win10/7 on the two SSD`s and then bought a Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD and installed all my 3d and audio software including libraries for both like textures and audio samplese etc on the M.2 as a separate drive...will my programs run faster and load files faster if i do that OR...do i HAVE to have my OS on the M.2 aswell?

Thanks for your time!

 

[karenjoly]

No need for the OS to be on the same drive as the program files to have a speedup from the M2 drive. Be aware that the diff in speed between the SATA SSD and a NVMe SSD is hardly noticeable in any event but worthwhile if you need a larger drive anyway.

 

[USAFRet]

You can have the applications on whichever drive you choose. You just have to install them on the desired drive fromt he start...you can't "move" them later.

Your concept will work, but I doubt you'd notice much difference between the m.2 drive and the SATA SSD.

 

[matthi90]

So...the punchline is actually that i wont really benefit much/anything from buying a M.2 SSD unless its for OS? I wont see very much difference in searching files that has been misplaced or textures and other media? Cause if that is the case then theres no need to get an M.2 , simply buy a 2.5 SSD 500GB since they are cheaper and if the performance isnt very noticable then im just paying for speed i cant really utilize aint i?

 

[USAFRet]

So...the punchline is actually that i wont really benefit much/anything from buying a M.2 SSD unless its for OS? I wont see very much difference in searching files that has been misplaced or textures and other media? Cause if that is the case then theres no need to get an M.2 , simply buy a 2.5 SSD 500GB since they are cheaper and if the performance isnt very noticable then im just paying for speed i cant really utilize aint i?

An NVMe drive would shine if you are manipulating large sequential blocks of data.
For your use.."3d rendering and Music production"...maybe some gain.

For just the OS or applications...minimal gains.

 

[matthi90]

"large sequential blocks of data" ...im sorry come again? u got that in layman terms, im sorry im not english by origin and its my 4th language really so some terms just goes woooosh over my head :\

 

[USAFRet]

"large sequential blocks of data" ...im sorry come again? u got that in layman terms, im sorry im not english by origin and its my 4th language really so some terms just goes woooosh over my head :\

For instance...
A single file of a 3D render or movie, that is all contiguous data on the drive.
Copying from one NVMe drive to another, or from RAM to the NVMe drive...blazingly fast speed.

Applications and the OS works on much smaller file sizes. Hundreds or thousands of them. Here, there isn't a great amount of benefit. Both SATA SSD and NVMe SSD have near zero latency when accessing another file. Both very fast, when compared to a spinning HDD.

For the OS and applications...would you see a benefit with an NVMe drive? Yes.
But NOT 3-4x, as you might expect from benchmark numbers.

 

[matthi90]

Ok so placing my (aprox GB`s given) 150GB VST folder and my 150 GB samples folder + Ableton AND 3ds studio Max and Cinema 4D and all including plugins and texture/models/hdri`s etcetc which is around 100GB on an M.2 would most likely be be a smart thing to do? These are huge applications and plugins...some over 10GB alone. even one thats over 40GB standalone...Does that qualify as "large sequential blocks of data" ?

 

[USAFRet]

Ok so placing my (aprox GB`s given) 150GB VST folder and my 150 GB samples folder + Ableton AND 3ds studio Max and Cinema 4D and all including plugins and texture/models/hdri`s etcetc which is around 100GB on an M.2 would most likely be be a smart thing to do? These are huge applications and plugins...some over 10GB alone. even one thats over 40GB standalone...Does that qualify as "large sequential blocks of data" ?

Yes.

 

[matthi90]

Thank you so much for your help guys!