Please help me decide... its all getting out of hand...

Associate
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Hi All

So i have a PC i built last year, but i want to shrink it down to mini itx. The new case will be Fractal Core 500.

So at the moment, storage wise, it consists of 1x Samsung 830 128GB SSD, 1x 500GB HDD, 1x 320GB HDD and 1x 250GB HDD. These are all old drives that ive had for years.

  • so my first thought was, replace the bunch of old drives with a new 2 or 3 TB HDD and keep the Samsung 830 - cost about £50 - £65
  • Then, i thought, maybe i should go for an SSD instead, would help keep the noise down, and be faster. i worked out i'd be ok with a 500GB SSD for games. I could go for 2.5" SSD, keep windows on the 830, thus keeping the M.2 slot free in case i needed to replace the 830 and i could have a pcie SSD for windows. - Cost about £120 ish if i go samsung 850Evo
  • Then, i thought, well maybe i should go for an M.2 drive now, since its a motherboard out job to fit it later (mITX mobo has M.2 on the back) so, 128GB fast M.2 for windows (PM961) , and 500GB SSD - cost about £185
  • Then, i figured a 256GB M.2, is better value, so a 256GB PM961 and 500GB SSD - cost about £205
  • Then... why two drives? i could get a 1TB M.2 SATA for about £220 (WD Blue or crucial MX300)
  • Or, since this is largely just a Gaming PC, Windows install should be minimal, i could go for 500GB M.2 pcie for about £145 (WD Black) to around £200 (Samsung 970 Evo).

Heeeelp!!

What would you do?

thanks guys
 
Associate
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Thanks

I had decided the same thing, then while reading reviews,many of them summarized how great it was, but also mentioned that it (and all superfast nvme SSDs) dont bring that much benefit for games. quicker load times sure, but considering i was quite happy with my SSD for OS, and ancient HDDs for games, i'll probably save a bit and go for a Sata m.2. It'll be fast enough. need to choose between 500GB or 1TB sata now.
 
Soldato
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Personally I would go 1Tb M.2 if the money isn't an issue, no cables to worry about and great airflow to keep it cool (Or a 1Tb SSD if airflow is a worry).
 
Associate
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I thought the idea with SSD's was you didnt want to heavily write to them constantly. If its ok to store everything on an SSD i'd ditch the HDD and get

I would probably get an m2 boot drive, big enough for os, games, other software and an SSD for storage in whichever capacity you think is best
 
Associate
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That must be so loud.

SSD only.

If you need more storage, NAS in a room with no people.

Its not too bad actually, but yeah, SSD all the way. I have a NAS already for media etc, but thats not so useful for installing games.

Personally I would go 1Tb M.2 if the money isn't an issue, no cables to worry about and great airflow to keep it cool (Or a 1Tb SSD if airflow is a worry).

I'm leaning towards a 500GB Sata M.2 as the price is easier to justify. the case im going to use (Fractal core 500) has a closed off motherboard tray (i think) and the ITX has the M.2 slot on the back. there should be enough space for it to fit (if not, i'll make it fit) but there wont be any air flow to the M.2. I didnt think a Sata based M.2 would get any where near as hot as a NVME M.2.... 2.5" Sata drives dont get hot do they?
 
Don
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I would imagine that heat only becomes an issue if you're constantly maxing the read/write speeds or during benchmarks etc.

I've got to M2/nvme drives, with my fans on 5v, oneI never seen high temps.
 
Don
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I would imagine that heat only becomes an issue if you're constantly maxing the read/write speeds or during benchmarks etc.

I've got to M2/nvme drives, with my fans on 5v, oneI never seen high temps.
 
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