Question What would be my best choices for improving this old configuration?

[carpdan]

Hello,

My current configuration is this:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K , 4.0GHz, Skylake, 8MB, Socket 1151, Z170
Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VIII GENE, Socket LGA1151
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4-3200 1600MHz
SSD: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB SATA3 & a 300GB Seagate
GPU: AMD Radeon 5700
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H75

The GPU is the oldest thing in there.

I'm mainly using the PC for work/browsing and occasionally video streaming and gaming (but mostly older titles). Work means coding and sometimes Adobe Photoshop/InDesign stuff.

I'd like some advice on what to do with it. I could get an entirely new setup, but before I do that, I'd like to upgrade this system to keep it relevant for as long as possible as a second PC.

I'm considering the following:
- getting more RAM: 2 additional 8GB DIMMs would bring it to 32 GB total which should help in work-intensive tasks
- buying a better GPU: I have a monitor that supports FreeSync Premium Pro, so it would need to be a Radeon RX 6xxx to make sense. I was eyeing a RX6600 or RX6650. However, my concern is if I'm not wasting that sort of a GPU on this CPU configuration.
- upgrading the SSD/HDD configuration. However, this is the part where I need the most guidance.

SSD/HDD Configuration​

The board has 1 M.2 slot, 2 SATA Express Slots and 6 SATA PORTS

It says that 4 of the 6 SATA ports are shared with the SATA Express ports. I'm not sure what that means. If I use the express ports, then I won't get full performance if I also use these other ones?

It also says that the M.2 slot, when used in SATA mode, disables the 1st SATA Express slot. (in another place in the manual it says that it actually disables both SATA Express ports). Again, I'm not sure how to interpret this. My thinking is that I could use an M.2 on PCI Express and not see any downsides, is that correct?

If I buy an M.2 SSD and configure it to use PCI Express, will I be able to setup a RAID configuration between it and another SSD configured on SATA?

Should I rather get a bigger M.2. SSD or get a second 250GB SATA SSD and make it a RAID with my current one?

One concern here is that I wouldn't want to just throw away my current SSD, but I've had it for over 6 years now and I'm not sure what's the life expectancy of these things.

I've highlighted the questions I'm looking for help with.

I appreciate any input and I thank you in advance!

 

[Lafong]

I'd guess you'll get mostly frowns on using RAID in conjunction with SSDs.

SSD life expectancy is highly unpredictable...like any electronic device. Dies in 10 seconds or 20 years. Who knows. Conduct yourself accordingly...back up anything important and otherwise hope for the best and carry on with it.

Can't help about possible SATA Express issues.

 

[Aeacus]

getting more RAM: 2 additional 8GB DIMMs would bring it to 32 GB total which should help in work-intensive tasks

You buying additional RAM, even if identical one, has chances of working together 50:50.
Further reading: https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...d-and-frustrated.3648678/page-4#post-22112990

So, you have a choice:
* Play the RAM lottery and risk if your new RAM works with your old RAM or not.
* If you want a guarantee to get 32 GB working at advertised speeds (e.g 3000 Mhz), buy a set of RAM. Either 2x 16GB or 4x 8GB.

buying a better GPU: I have a monitor that supports FreeSync Premium Pro, so it would need to be a Radeon RX 6xxx to make sense. I was eyeing a RX6600 or RX6650. However, my concern is if I'm not wasting that sort of a GPU on this CPU configuration.

You can buy new GPU problem free, and once you upgrade the rest (CPU-MoBo and perhaps RAM to DDR5), you can just carry over the GPU, from old build to new build.

It says that 4 of the 6 SATA ports are shared with the SATA Express ports. I'm not sure what that means. If I use the express ports, then I won't get full performance if I also use these other ones?

SATA Express is a dead technology.
Back in the Skylake (perhaps even Haswell) days, SATA Express was a new, upcoming technology, where some industry professionals did think it would replace the SATA. Hence why SATA Express ports were added to MoBos as well (e.g even my Z170 chipset MoBo has two SATA Express ports). But this didn't come to true and SATA Express never took off.

So, you don't have to worry about SATA Express, since you can't find any drives that uses it regardless.

Again, I'm not sure how to interpret this. My thinking is that I could use an M.2 on PCI Express and not see any downsides, is that correct?

Yes.

If I buy an M.2 SSD and configure it to use PCI Express, will I be able to setup a RAID configuration between it and another SSD configured on SATA?

RAID, overall, is poor choice when it comes to backups. Since if one drive in RAID array is lost, entire array is gone. This doesn't make it reliable IMO.

Also, i don't know enough about RAID to tell if you can set up the array between M.2 NVMe and 2.5" SATA drives.

One concern here is that I wouldn't want to just throw away my current SSD, but I've had it for over 6 years now and I'm not sure what's the life expectancy of these things.

Check the TBW (TeraBytes Written). This tells how much life the SSD has left.
For your Samsung drive, download and run Samsung Magician. This is the software to control and monitor all Samsung drives.

Your 850 Evo 250 GB drive has endurance rating of 75 TBW.
Meaning that when your drive has written 75 TB worth of stuff, it doesn't die. Instead, the drive goes into "read-only" mode. Where you still can access the data on it, but can not write any new data on it anymore. It essentially becomes like a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc.

 

[USAFRet]

or get a second 250GB SATA SSD and make it a RAID with my current one?

No.

If I buy an M.2 SSD and configure it to use PCI Express, will I be able to setup a RAID configuration between it and another SSD configured on SATA?

No.



Just get a Gen 3 NVMe drive, such as a Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Whatever size meets your needs and budget.

 

[geofelt]

You have a lovely motherboard.
You should be able to get significantly more performance by overclocking your 6700K.
Foe whatever reason, the page with statistics is no longer available:

https://www.siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics

But, to my recollection I7-6700K can usually be overclocked to the 4.60 range.
You may need a better cooler.
Your H75 is getting long in the tooth and may start to see air intrusion or pump failure.
A modern twin tower cooler can be carried over in time to a new build.
Noctua NH-D15s for example.

Whatever drive activity you do can be done better on a ssd.
ANY ssd.
Differences among ssd devices are more technical in nature and not so readily apparent to the user.
These experts could not tell:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

A2tb ssd, either m.2 or sata would be an easy upgrade and can be carried forward to an eventual new build.
Devices faster than sata will use the bandwidth of two ssd connections.
Not a big deal unless you run out of sata connections.
Even that can be handled with a sata port adapter card.

The Samsung ssd migration aid is an easy way to convert.
APP and manual here:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

As above, raid is not a great idea.
Raid-0 has been over hyped as a performance enhancer.
Sequential benchmarks do look wonderful, but the real world does not seem to deliver the indicated performance benefits for most
desktop users. The reason is, that sequential benchmarks are coded for maximum overlapped I/O rates.
It depends on reading a stripe of data simultaneously from each raid-0 member, and that is rarely what we do.
The OS does mostly small random reads and writes, so raid-0 is of little use there.
In fact, if your block of data were to be spanned on two drives, random times would be greater.
There are some apps that will benefit. They are characterized by reading large files in a sequential overlapped manner.

Here is a older study using ssd devices in raid-0.

One SSD Vs. Two In RAID: Which Is Better?

One SSD is good, right? So, two SSDs in RAID 0 must be better. That’s certainly the case when you're benchmarking sequential performance. But we're finding that, except in extreme examples, one SSD that's twice as large is often better.

www.tomshardware.com

And a newer report:

Samsung 950 Pro 256GB RAID Report

Samsung's 256GB 950 Pro is an excellent way to get NVMe's low latency into your PC for less than $200. That made us wonder if using two drives in RAID 0 would offer a better value for enthusiasts looking for higher capacity and more performance.

www.tomshardware.com

Spoiler... no benefit at all.

Adding ram is not 100% guaranteed to work.
Ram is sold in kits for a reason.
A motherboard must manage all the ram using the same specs of voltage, cas and speed.
The internal workings are designed for the capacity of the kit.
Ram from the same vendor and part number can be made up of differing manufacturing components over time.
Some motherboards, can be very sensitive to this.
This is more difficult when more sticks are involved.
Ram must be matched for proper operation.

You can sometimes compensate for errors by increasing the ram voltage in the motherboard bios if you have a motherboard that permits such settings.
If you can handle a return if it does not work, it is worth a try.
Unlike ryzen, intel is quite tolerant if non matched ram.
I give your chance of success higher, perhaps 80%

Considering that 13th gen intel performs equally well with DDR4 vs. DDR5. I might just try a 2 x 16gb 3200 speed DDR4 kit that could be carried forward.
You could also possibly find sufficient compatibility to run with your current ram and get 48gb to work with.

If you do not play fast action games, a gpu upgrade might not produce much improvement.

 

[Aeacus]

Foe whatever reason, the page with statistics is no longer available:
https://www.siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics

It has been changed.
Need to select "Historical Binning Statistics" from home screen (https://www.siliconlottery.com/) to view the results.

 

[carpdan]

Thanks for all the replies people!

What I've got so far

• I'm better off getting a new M.2 SSD - which sounds reasonable and it's also pretty affordable.
• I can replace the GPU, but that makes sense only if I use it for games.
• I can overclock the CPU, but I'd need a newer/better cooler to do that

I'm not worrying about RAID configurations anymore. And I won't add additional RAM either, for now.

I do want to mention that the idea is to upgrade this to function as a 2nd PC, not to port any components to a new build. This is why I'm asking on advice on making the most of this MoBo/CPU.

I'd like to ask this: what GPU should I get for this build that makes sense considering the other components? As I said, I was looking at RX 6600 or RX 6650, but I want to know if that won't be too powerful for my CPU. If that's not the case, would it make sense to wait for a RX 7600 or RX 7700?

Thank you again!

 

[Aeacus]

I'd like to ask this: what GPU should I get for this build that makes sense considering the other components? As I said, I was looking at RX 6600 or RX 6650, but I want to know if that won't be too powerful for my CPU. If that's not the case, would it make sense to wait for a RX 7600 or RX 7700?

Your monitor(s) size, resolution and refresh rate are?

Since there's no point to get beefy GPU, that could easily run 1440p @ 144 Hz, when all you have, are 1080p monitor(s) @ 60 Hz.

Also, do note that RX 6600 and above are all PCI-E 4.0 GPUs, while the MoBo you have, has PCI-E 3.0 slot for GPU. So, there wouldn't be much point to get PCI-E 4.0 GPU, instead PCI-E 3.0 GPU would suit better.

I'm better off getting a new M.2 SSD - which sounds reasonable and it's also pretty affordable.

I suggest getting Samsung 970 Evo Plus (2TB). It's the best price-to-performance ratio M.2 NVMe SSD you could get. Also, the SSD is PCI-E 3.0 drive, same as your M.2 slot is capable of providing.
Review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-970-evo-plus-ssd,5608.html

I too am using 970 Evo Plus 2TB as my OS drive, with my Z170 chipset MoBo (same chipset as yours is).