building a PC geek talk... | GTAMotorcycle.com

building a PC geek talk...

wonderings

Well-known member
I am building a new PC from scratch. I have never done it this way, I have always upgraded a previously built PC. Upgrades I have done are CPU, GPU and PSU. So this is my first crack at everything from the motherboard down to the RAM.

What I currently have:

case - Canada Computers & Electronics

motherboard - Canada Computers & Electronics

cpu - Canada Computers & Electronics

gpu - Canada Computers & Electronics

I will be taking out of my current PC a 750w PSU. I was also planning on taking the SSD's I have, I have 2 small 256 gig drives. Now this is where my question is. I noticed in some youtube videos that there is a new type of SSD, it is a small PCIe drive, reminds me of the proprietary ones Apple uses in their laptops. Anyways, prices are not that bad for them I can get a 1 TB WD PCIe M.2 ssd on Amazon for around $150. This would be way more then enough storage for what I need.

Is this sort of drive meant to be used for storage or is it best to keep a smaller drive to use for the OS and then have a "normal" drive for everything else? I am assuming I could just use this for everything, but not sure of the technology. I love how much cleaner it would make things, no cables, no mounting drives, just attached to the motherboard and thats it. Use is some light gaming really and just the geek in me that likes tinkering around. Any issues or concerns with going with this PCIe drive?
WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - WDS100T2B0B: Amazon.ca: Gateway
 
I think you might have the wrong forum -- the majority of us do motorcycles.

If you question was shaft or chain, you'd probably get a lot of relevant feedback.
 
Wow. Prices really have gone down for these things. Yeah go for it and enjoy not waiting for loading screens anymore.

There would be more life on the drive if its not maxed to 1TB. That being said, keeping a backup on any media is always a good idea.

There used to be an issue with older motherboards not being able to boot from the pcie slot. This mobo seems new enough.
 
Wow. Prices really have gone down for these things. Yeah go for it and enjoy not waiting for loading screens anymore.

There would be more life on the drive if its not maxed to 1TB. That being said, keeping a backup on any media is always a good idea.

There used to be an issue with older motherboards not being able to boot from the pcie slot. This mobo seems new enough.

I don't use the PC for anything serious so never bother with backups because it is just basically a few games and all that data is in the cloud. I can see only really using around 300 - 400 gigs of space so the PCIe drive at 1TB would be relatively empty. I am wondering about the quality of the WD ssd I listed in my original post, seems way to cheap compared to everything else. Not sure why, WD is a reputable brand.
 
I think you might have the wrong forum -- the majority of us do motorcycles.

If you question was shaft or chain, you'd probably get a lot of relevant feedback.

There is not question for shaft or chain... it is shaft all the way. I don't think I would ever buy a bike with a chain again, love the shaft drive.
 
If you are bothering with an M.2 drive, I would buy an NVMe and use it for a blazing fast boot drive. Probably samsung 960 or 970 evo (pro costs more and is functionally equivalent unless you are doing multiple gig file transfers). I wouldn't bother with a PCIe M.2 if you already have SSD's.

IIRC, I have 20% provisioning set (20% of capacity is unavailable to be used and the drive moves that 20% around to increase life). I'm not even sure that is required anymore. For everyday use, the lifetime is sufficient even without provisioning, but I had the space and it can't hurt. FWIW, I'm at 9.2 TB written on my two year old 500 GB 960 with zero media errors logged. Sequential read speed test is over 3000 MB/s (six times faster than the WD in your initial post)
 
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I've built a few

suggestion I have is get the best MoBo you can afford
specs on chips don't count for beans if the MoBo is a bottleneck
 
hmm this is a winter type project, why do this now?? Get out there while it's still good! Plus Black Friday in Novemeber you can pick up parts cheap.
What GreyGhost said is correct.
But if you don't need the extra storage just move the SSD's you have into the new box.
 
I've built a few

suggestion I have is get the best MoBo you can afford
specs on chips don't count for beans if the MoBo is a bottleneck
I have a decent mother board, good cpu and good gpu. Was just curious about this new ssd drive. Going to look for an NVMe drive that is a reasonable price for 1T. As much as I do ‘t need the space it would be nice to have it all on one drive and even better when it is directly mounted on the motherboard, no cables, nice and clean.
 
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Is this sort of drive meant to be used for storage or is it best to keep a smaller drive to use for the OS and then have a "normal" drive for everything else? I am assuming I could just use this for everything, but not sure of the technology. I love how much cleaner it would make things, no cables, no mounting drives, just attached to the motherboard and thats it. Use is some light gaming really and just the geek in me that likes tinkering around. Any issues or concerns with going with this PCIe drive?
WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - WDS100T2B0B: Amazon.ca: Gateway

Generally speaking, the state of NAND endurance on current NVMe ssd drives are going to be more than sufficient for home users. The whole concern about SSD NAND failure due to fatigue had been addressed several years ago. Current NVMe PCIe 3.0 drives have only one issue and that is cooling under sustained IOPS. A lot of SSDs will come with heat spreaders which are more than enough and some motherboards even come with integrated heatshrouds (which your listed motherboard has). Its not really an issue unless you are copying multiple GB files at full speed for an hour (think motovlogger with several gopros moving videos off SD cards).

Long term archival is the only situation where you would not use an SSD. At that point, it is a question of capacity per $ and nothing beats spinning disks yet. There is nothing that prevents you from using your SSD for archiving but 6TB of SSD storage is a heck of a lot more expensive than a WD 6TB Red drive.

That WD Blue is ok. Crucial P1 is also a recommendation. Don't worry about speed as almost any current model nvme pcie 3.0 drive will be fast enough. Don't even bother with pcie4.0.
 
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I think I will go with the WD blue one
WD Blue 3D NAND 2TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - WDS200T2B0B: Amazon.ca: Gateway

I am not that concerned with speed, I mean as long as it is as fast as a regular SSD I am fine. Currently I have an SSD in my PC and it boots up in 5 seconds so happy with that speed. I looked at some of the other brands and ones with NVMe but they are all pricier and I think it is just not needed for my uses. I am not transferring files, not using it as a media hub, just a few games. It is all over kill I guess, my current machine is pretty good, but I do have to draw the line somewhere. I had almost bought the i9 9900 and just had to stop myself, I was never going to need that level of power.
 
I built mine, but I can't remember much about it. Probably time think about renewal, but it works and I'm not a power-user anymore.
 
Generally speaking, the state of NAND endurance on current NVMe ssd drives are going to be more than sufficient for home users. The whole concern about SSD NAND failure due to fatigue had been addressed several years ago. Current NVMe PCIe 3.0 drives have only one issue and that is cooling under sustained IOPS. A lot of SSDs will come with heat spreaders which are more than enough and some motherboards even come with integrated heatshrouds (which your listed motherboard has). Its not really an issue unless you are copying multiple GB files at full speed for an hour (think motovlogger with several gopros moving videos off SD cards).
Are you sure about the temperature thing? My understanding is that the controllers don't really like heat, but the actual Nand chips like to be run warmer. I think the heat spreaders are just for marketing/aesthetics (and some M.2 heat sinks actually raise the temperature of the drive through crappy contact and elimination of convection over the drive so it's hard to tell what their effect will be). For the vast majority of the people, the vast majority of the time, I don't think heat in an M.2 drive matters one way or the other.
 
Are you sure about the temperature thing? My understanding is that the controllers don't really like heat, but the actual Nand chips like to be run warmer. I think the heat spreaders are just for marketing/aesthetics (and some M.2 heat sinks actually raise the temperature of the drive through crappy contact and elimination of convection over the drive so it's hard to tell what their effect will be). For the vast majority of the people, the vast majority of the time, I don't think heat in an M.2 drive matters one way or the other.
I know my mother board has some heat sink for these drives, think I would go without it if I didn’t have it, never needed extra cooling for traditional SSD drives
 
I received my WD PCIe M.2 gotta love amazon, ordered yesterday got it this morning. Anyways it is crazy how small and yet how much storage this thing holds. Will be picking up some RAM next week as well as a CPU cooler. I have a thermal pad I am waiting for, this is to be used instead of thermal paste. Reviews have been pretty good for it so I am going to give it a try. I like the idea of a thermal pad as it is reusable, cheap and you do not have to worry about applying it correct with the right amount, too much or too little.
Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pad ? Alternative to Thermal Paste/Grease (30 X 30mm): Amazon.ca: Electronics

The thermal pad is supposed to arrive today, if not I will have it on Tuesday and can hopefully get everything plugged in correctly and be up and running.
 
I spec'd out a great monster computer build (for me) and did it in 2010. SLI video, NH-D14 CPU Cooler, Cooler Master HAF X case, 12 GB top shelf RAM, high spec Asus MB on the short lived but respected LG1366 enthusiast platform, USB 3.0 ready, etc. It's still a powerful computer today. Retail was over $4k for the case and contents, but I paid cost which was why I did it. I can't really help you here myself but I can recommend you check out Overclock.net - An Overclocking Community for suggestions on custom builds. There's a wealth of build talk across all major components. To deep dive a specific platform go into the motherboard owner threads; I think this is the one for you, UPDATED: ASUS Z370 and Z390 Motherboard Series - Official Support Thread - Overclock.net - An Overclocking Community.

Good luck.
 

You clearly know your **** if you're using that site. The rest of you...wtf lol

@wonderings What monitor are you using? I've noticed a really common mistakes with PC building is no one factors in monitor costs. I'm using a X34 Predator that I got for a friend used; I would NEVER go back to a peasant monitor. Makes no sense to buy a decent GPU and use a **** monitor/TV for gaming.
 
You clearly know your **** if you're using that site. The rest of you...wtf lol

@wonderings What monitor are you using? I've noticed a really common mistakes with PC building is no one factors in monitor costs. I'm using a X34 Predator that I got for a friend used; I would NEVER go back to a peasant monitor. Makes no sense to buy a decent GPU and use a **** monitor/TV for gaming.
gaming online since 16, went pro for a bit. Been building my own pcs since AMD k6-2's.

there, i dated myself. :geek:
 

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