New Computer Build with M2 PCIe SSD

[#1]

So many options Jim, if your going to spank the GPU, you might as well go with this sort of option......

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-geforce-gtx-1050-rog-strix-oc-gaming-2gb-gddr5-graphics-card-64...

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-ryzen-3-1200-s-am4-quad-core-4-thread-34ghz-10mb-cache-65w-cpu-r...

[#2]

I am not but bit seems silly not to go for a superior graphics capability for a small extra cost

If I decide to add a graphics card in future I would just put this in MSI GTX 650TI OC 1GB which is sitting unused in my surplus box

[#3]

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@Oldjim wrote:

not yet - the first thing is to buy the case - this one https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-source-340-compact-white-mid-tower-case-with-side-window-and-2x... probably then I need to look at how I can best mount the SATA drive

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That's a lot of case fans, @Oldjim.  I would have thought a case fan is superfluous (let alone 2) as you plan to use a motherboard with onboard graphics.  

[#4]

The point about that case - and the main reason I selected it - is the good dust filter which is easily cleaned

Most - virtually all - cases with good filtration are gaming cases which have even more fans and are a lot bigger and fancier

All my recent builds have had 120mm fans mainly for quietness

Given that I want effective filtration a fan is essential otherwise the airflow just doesn't work properly

My better half's present computer had an 80cm fan and no filtration and the amount of dust inside is horrific which means it runs too hot

[#5]

@Oldjim

140mm case fans run quieter than 120's and you can get really good ones on the cheap too.

also you can get things like this and use them on any case,

I personally use framed versions that cost a bit more on the inside to stop things getting into the fans (like flexible water pipes that refuse to bend the way I want) 

but you can also use them where no filters are available if there's a cheaper case you prefer, especially since there super easy to clean (quick pass by with a hoover once a week) if you look around you can also get them in 120 or 80 sizes as well /

my cases all used to cost under £30 so long as it had enough space to fit the parts in, paying more often doesn't mean a better unit/

[#6]

All up and working with Windows 10 installed from a bootable USB Stick but not yet activated although I thought I had mucked up something as it didn't appear to boot and there were no beeps

Turns out that the HDMI cable had come loose so no picture and the case doesn't have a speaker so no beep

[#7]

Pick up one of these.

[#8]

will indeed

[#9]

Little beeper installed and the top fan removed with the port blanked off with the rear fan changed to one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/ARCTIC-F12-PWM-PST-Controlled/dp/B002QVLBM2/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&... which is a 4 pin fan connected to a 2.0 amp rated system fan controlled header and it is dead quiet - really chuffed

Next project is started - my gaming computer - which has a Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 motherboard using the  PCIE x4 Version 2.0 slot with one of these  DT-120 Lycom M.2 SSD to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter Card combined with a 128GB Samsung PM961 Polaris M.2 (22x80) PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe SSD, Read 3000MB/s, Write 650MB/s, 360k/150k IOPS which should make an amazing difference given that the present boot drive has a speed of 175MB/s even taking into account the reduction from 3.0 to 2.0

I did consider getting the M2 version but as it ran using the Sata bus I didn't see the point at the time as it meant losing two Sata connectors so only left with 4 giving no spare at all (3 Sata HDD plus a Sata DVD drive at present)

That should stop me killing my credit card for a while to my better half's relief I am sure

[#10]

is there any difference in speed using the nvme drive over using a standard sata ssd for playing games? 

I was under the impression it only made a difference if your doing high rendering workloads and that it made no noticeable difference which type of solid state drive you had

[#11]

Playing games isn't a reason it is the boot time as the games are all located on a pair of much larger normal hard drives

The reason for not going the original M2 option at the time was that I would lose two Sata ports as I explained and that particular adapter only came out the back end of last year as far as I can tell

[#12]

yeah I meant the use of nvme/m2 as opposed to just having a normal sata ssd,

as far as I can tell from various review sites theres around half a second In the difference between boot times and sticking games on an ssd has more effect than adding a pcie drive as the os drive does....

I don't have pcie storage only standard sata so I cant tell in the real world if theres a big difference or not, I mean windows login screen tends to pop for me in under 20 seconds and once I put the password in it takes another couple of seconds to be useable (well most of the time this is the case, there are some times when it take forever to do anything) is an nvme drive really going to make that much difference to that ? 

[#13]

But why should I go that route as the price difference including mounting is only about £12 and the speed will be down about 50% and I would use up another Sata slot

The transfer rate difference is more of a restriction as the typical Sata SSD has a read limit of about 550MB/s whereas the M2 has a read limit on PCie 3.0 of 3000MB/s which probably reduces to 1600MB/s or maybe 1000GB/s  on PCIe 2.0 so at least twice as fast

But you are probably right that there isn't much difference in boot time  in practice but looking at the bus speeds the Sata is limited to 6 Gb/s and the PCIe 2.0 x 4 is 12.8Gb/s which is where the big difference is

Even though the difference in boot load time may not not too large the space taken up by the operating system and normal programmes and user files would leave about 80GB so good for a game or two which is the best of both worlds

[#14]

well sure if you've got to buy the parts anyway you should always go for the best option if there's so little in  the difference.

but I was wondering genuinely if there was a noticeable difference between using nvme pci-e or just a standard sata ssd,

I have the latter but not the former and when I was replacing my ageing Samsung 840 ssd the other month (cos its reporting smart errors and is outside its warranty period)

the price difference between a standard 850 evo ssd and the pcie drives was about £30 which meant £60 when adding in the cost of an adaptor, money which was better spent on some 140mm ML pro fans for the water cooler... although in my case I stil lhave 2 spare sata ports on the motherboard 

[#15]

Not if you compare these https://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb-samsung-pm961-polaris-m2-(22x80)-pcie-30-(x4)-nvme-ssd-read-30... at £61.49 with the cheapest SATA ones at about £55 and the adapter cost of £12 https://www.scan.co.uk/products/lycom-dt-120-m2-ngff-ssd-host-adapter-card-pcie-30-x4-22x80-22x60-22... and subtracting the cost of the 2.5" bay adapter of about £4 to £5