Which ssd drive advice pls

ZXSpekky48k · 26 Jun 2022 at 10:14

Hello when I built my rig I didn’t consider ssd drives for some reason and got a traditional hdd but I feel it could be performing a lot better and feel like changing. I have an MSI x570 tomahawk WiFi mb which I think can take 2 m.2 drives. Maybe one or 2 tb versions so which would be best please - any recommendations and what to look out for? Also nvme vs sata? Upgraded after a loooong time kids related away from pcs so missed the ssd changes. Thanks!

darael · 26 Jun 2022 at 13:16

Is this your motherboard? Assuming so, the first thing I would do is ensure it's running the latest BIOS, which was only just released on 31/05/2022 and is version 7C84v1A.

You will definitely notice a massive improvement moving from a mechanical hard drive to an SSD, even a SATA one, let alone a faster M.2 drive. Personally, I'd buy an M.2 drive as they have faster transfer speeds, which can be handy when moving large files around. They are also slightly faster than SATA drives, but most people can't tell the difference between M.2 and SATA drives during normal use.

When you do get an M.2 drive, be sure to install it in the M2_1 slot on your motherboard to get the best performance out of the drive.

I personally like Samsung drives, they have always served me well. People like Western Digital drives too, but I've not installed one on my own machine, so can't comment.

Something to look for are TBW figures, these figures tell you how much data can be written to the drive over it's life.

My 500 GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus drive has a 300 TBW figure and I've given it a decent thrashing over the 3 years I've owned it. Samsung Magician tells me that 92 TB has been written to the drive through it's life, with CrsytalDiskInfo reporting 91% health - pretty good, in my opinion.

MissChief · 26 Jun 2022 at 13:27

As you have an X570 youd be best to go for a Gen 4 drive as they’re coming down in price. If you want a 2TB drive then something like https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seag...olid-state-drive-zp2000gm3a002-hd-3bx-se.html or if a 1TB drive will suffice then https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds100t1x0e-hd-57h-wd.html

ZXSpekky48k · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:10

Thanks both for your advice much appreciated

MissChief · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:22

ZXSpekky48k said:
Thanks both for your advice much appreciated

Don’t forget to put windows on it!

mickyflinn · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:31

MissChief said:
Don’t forget to put windows on it!

Agreed would particion it to 500gb and the rest for games installs.

ZXSpekky48k · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:35

Oh really not sure what you mean? I was thinking reinstall windows from a flash drive on it?

mickyflinn · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:42

ZXSpekky48k said:
Oh really not sure what you mean? I was thinking reinstall windows from a flash drive on it?

That's fine but you can particion the 2tb drive into diffrent sizes so it acts like 2 or more drives so if windows fails you won't loose your games or vice versa . You can create diffrent sizes when installing windows so I would set windows and programes to 500gb then you have 1.5tb for games .

ZXSpekky48k · 26 Jun 2022 at 14:44

Ah ok sounds a bit technical thought I’d ditch the old hdd and start again? Is windows likely to go kaput on ssds ?

MissChief · 26 Jun 2022 at 15:30

ZXSpekky48k said:
Ah ok sounds a bit technical thought I’d ditch the old hdd and start again? Is windows likely to go kaput on ssds ?

No, but saves formatting the whole drive if you ever need to reinstall windows you just format the windows partition.

ZXSpekky48k · 26 Jun 2022 at 15:33

Ah cool sounds like a good idea thanks have ordered the 2tb one linked above ta all

darael · 28 Jun 2022 at 17:37

ZXSpekky48k said:
Ah cool sounds like a good idea thanks have ordered the 2tb one linked above ta all

It'd be good to hear about your experience with what I assume is your first SSD drive, such as installation of the drive and speed increases.

ZXSpekky48k · 28 Jun 2022 at 19:03

Well I’ve not been measuring how fast things were going with the hdd but I do know it seemed to take a looong time to load everything and seemingly try to update every program every time (I probs was only using it once every other week due to lots of other commitments - it’s not my work comp). I installed it today and it does seem to get there a lot faster to start with - I’ll post back here once everything’s loaded on properly and I’ve used it a bit.

ZXSpekky48k · 29 Jul 2022 at 12:04

Ok @darael it seems to have made a huge difference in terms of overall speed of system. One caveat I was using an old windows xp code for windows 10 and for the new install I bought a new code for w10. Previously it was really crippling it with updates etc but this is no problem now. The old code seemed to work but… it might be a combination of the two

ODuffer · 29 Jul 2022 at 12:48

MissChief said:
As you have an X570 youd be best to go for a Gen 4 drive as they’re coming down in price. If you want a 2TB drive then something like https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seag...olid-state-drive-zp2000gm3a002-hd-3bx-se.html or if a 1TB drive will suffice then https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds100t1x0e-hd-57h-wd.html

I notice the 530 is the same price. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seag...olid-state-drive-zp2000gm3a013-hd-3dx-se.html

darael · 29 Jul 2022 at 12:58

ZXSpekky48k said:
Ok @darael it seems to have made a huge difference in terms of overall speed of system. One caveat I was using an old windows xp code for windows 10 and for the new install I bought a new code for w10. Previously it was really crippling it with updates etc but this is no problem now. The old code seemed to work but… it might be a combination of the two

I really noticed a difference when building Windows installation images and testing them on virtual machines. The thought of copying a couple of large ISO images on a hard drive makes me wince.