Options for increasing storage...

Belisarius

Belisarius

Belisarius

Associate
Joined
27 Aug 2007
Posts
207
Location
Whitley Bay
Hi,
Got some excellent advice here last year (and excellent support from OC) on a gaming PC for my lad. Ended up with the following:

A-22Y-BX Bitfenix Formula Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply1
CA-36V-CM CoolerMaster MasterBox Q300L Micro-ATX Case - Black Window1
CP-3AF-AM AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor1
GX-197-PC PowerColor Radeon RX 590 Red Dragon 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card1
HD-002-GI Gigabyte UD Pro 512GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Toshiba 3D NAND Solid State Drive1
MB-348-MS MSI B450M Mortar (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard1
MY-26N-KS Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3333MHz Dual Channel Kit

It's been a great PC and has handled everything my lad has thrown at it! Only issue now arising is storage. With a few big games installed and assorted boring school related software he's running out of space! Need to look at what options there are to increase this? There is another space in the case for another drive but I'm wary of disentangling the rather tight and neat cabling to pull out a power connector! Are there any other options? If the board supports USB3(?) could he use an external drive (SSD) and get OK performance? I know you can expand an XBox via an external drive. Or would there be an option to connect an external SATA drive?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Cheers

Andy
 
Belisarius said:
Hi,
Got some excellent advice here last year (and excellent support from OC) on a gaming PC for my lad. Ended up with the following:

A-22Y-BX Bitfenix Formula Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply1
CA-36V-CM CoolerMaster MasterBox Q300L Micro-ATX Case - Black Window1
CP-3AF-AM AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor1
GX-197-PC PowerColor Radeon RX 590 Red Dragon 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card1
HD-002-GI Gigabyte UD Pro 512GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Toshiba 3D NAND Solid State Drive1
MB-348-MS MSI B450M Mortar (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard1
MY-26N-KS Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3333MHz Dual Channel Kit

It's been a great PC and has handled everything my lad has thrown at it! Only issue now arising is storage. With a few big games installed and assorted boring school related software he's running out of space! Need to look at what options there are to increase this? There is another space in the case for another drive but I'm wary of disentangling the rather tight and neat cabling to pull out a power connector! Are there any other options? If the board supports USB3(?) could he use an external drive (SSD) and get OK performance? I know you can expand an XBox via an external drive. Or would there be an option to connect an external SATA drive?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Cheers

Andy
Click to expand...

An external USB3 could certainly be an option, a 1 or 2 TB Mechanical hard drive would likely be a better option. The B450M should come with a M.2 SSD Slot as I doubt your PC came with one, the SSD is likely a SATA 3 one so that might also be an option.
 
Yes the Mortar will have an emptyM2 slot if you're correct you only have a SATA SSD - so you don't have to untangle any wires, you just place it onto the motherboard. You will need an M2 screw which should have come with the motherboard.
 
M.2 SSDs connect directly to your board so no need for any extra cables.


If you can stretch the budget this one is very good value for a 1tb

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £113.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)


You can find the 500gb version for around 60 quid if you google the part number CT500P2SSD8​
 
Last edited:
My god. I didn't even know they existed! :)

I'll have a look in the morning as I think the graphics card may be in the way (or need removing to fit).

So would that just pop up in Windows as a new drive?
 
Belisarius said:
My god. I didn't even know they existed! :)

I'll have a look in the morning as I think the graphics card may be in the way (or need removing to fit).

So would that just pop up in Windows as a new drive?
Click to expand...
It would need to be initialised first in disk management but then yes it’ll just show up as an additional drive.
 
Just had a look in the case. There is the M2 slot just above the graphics card and looks clear and easy to install. I just need to find the box of bits that came with it and find that screw! Then I'll order.

Thanks for the help. This seems the best option and no disruption to the tidy cabling.

Cheers

Andy
 
Belisarius said:
Just had a look in the case. There is the M2 slot just above the graphics card and looks clear and easy to install. I just need to find the box of bits that came with it and find that screw! Then I'll order.

Thanks for the help. This seems the best option and no disruption to the tidy cabling.

Cheers

Andy
Click to expand...

Definitely mate, the best and like you say no messing with cabling, the M2 slot is a clever design isn't it.
 
M.2 drive arrived today. Just installed with minimal issue (took a while to find the motherboard box and the correct screw! :) ) and Steam folder now relocated. My lad is now happily downloading new games! And the kids enjoyed the Haribo that cam in the package!

Thanks for the help. Now to sort a spec for a new PC for me... :)
 
Belisarius said:
M.2 drive arrived today. Just installed with minimal issue (took a while to find the motherboard box and the correct screw! :) ) and Steam folder now relocated. My lad is now happily downloading new games! And the kids enjoyed the Haribo that cam in the package!

Thanks for the help. Now to sort a spec for a new PC for me... :)
Click to expand...

I'm one voice out of those that contributed. You're very welcome mate, pleasure.
 
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