New drive, looking for advices

[Gianky]

Hey there!

 

So, with last updates my DCS installation soared past 210 GB, even after deleting NTTR and Normandy, and that's on a 500 GB SSD, which holds the OS, plus IL-2 BOS/BOM/BOK (I already uninstalled X-plane)... I guess it's time for a new drive, with more space.

 

The current disk is on the main M.2 slot, with a PCIe x4 connection. I have another M.2 slot, but it can work only in x2 (I have an Asus Prime X470-Pro, PCIe is Gen 3).

 

So, the options I see are:

 

1) buy another 500GB SSD and move IL-2 and everything I can in it and put it in the second M.2 slot, leaving DCS on the main drive, even though, realistically, it'll keep growing and I'll have the problem again in a few months/years (if I install NTTR and Normandy again I'm around 250 GB already, and we have Marianas coming, plus I'm waiting for the 339, Typhoon, maybe the Apache, other terrains... you see the problem);

2) buy a bigger disk, ideally a 2 TB SSD and move DCS on it, either a) putting it with the OS on the main M.2 slot, or b) putting it with DCS only on the secondary M.2 slot.

 

Right now I'd like to go with option 2b), since it's probably the best to be able to handle future DCS installation for a good amount of time and I won't have to go through all the hassle of having to reinstall the OS (and shuffle around all the other stuff I have on C:, like Oculus and Steam - libraries are installed on another drive -).

 

My main doubt about this solution is that the secondary M.2 slot is slower than the main one, supporting only PCIe x2, so:

 

A) will this affect the game, if I go with solution 2b? Is the x2 connection fast enough not to have stutter and loading problems in game? Keep in mind I have a Ryzen 2700X, 32 GB of 3200 Mhz RAM, a GTX 1070, play in VR (Rift CV1) and I'm planning to move to one of the last generation GPUs (as soon as prices permit it) and buy a new VR headset with higher resolution and POV (right now the likely candidates are the Reverb G2 and the Valve Index);

B) Going with the x2 slot, would you spend more money to buy a fast SSD, maybe even a PCIe Gen 4, or would you go with a slower, more mundane unit?

C) What size would you buy? A 1 TB is probably enough to handle DCS for the foreseable future, but 2 is surely better, in your opinion is it worth the higher price to sleep tight for a longer time?

 

Thanks for the time you'll put in reading this and, if you will, answer it. If you have any kind of suggestions, advices or ideas that goes beyond what I wrote above, feel free to submit them!

 

Salute, guys, see you in the virtual sky!

[Bossco82]

Hi mate, this is only my opinion but its from my own experience. I had my OS on a 256gb M2 and my games on a seperate sata ssd, it was a 1tb Crucial MX500. I went and bought a 1tb Nvme Pciex4 Gen 4 M2 drive to go in the first slot of my X570 motherboard. It a Sabrent Rocket. I then put my OS and games on that single drive. 

If there is a difference I cant see it or notice it. If loading times are faster its maybe by a second at most. There is no difference in the game itself regarding stutters etc.

 

If I now found myself running out of space I would just buy a seperate sata ssd and put my steam and origin folders on that. Leaving my OS and DCS on my Nvme. I dont think it really matters though. What I mean is if there is a difference I dont think you will notice in day to day real world usage

 

My own DCS install is 263gb my I-L2 is 49gb. I think a 1tb ssd will be future proof enough for you. Its up to you though mate.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Bossco82

[Thinder]

I can tell you what I would do in your situation, not pretending it is possible (I don't know) or is the best solution, but...

 

If gaming is your main activity with your PC, you don't need the O.S to be installed in the fastest slot, but first I'd disable/uninstall every "multimedia" app you don't use so as to make sure they don't eat up resources while running in the background.

 

Try to swap slot and install this M2 SSD in the X 2 one, if it works then you can get another one, * install it in the fastest slot and dedicate it solely to games and paging files, typically 2 X the size of your RAM and set to run your background apps, reduce the O.S disk page files to the minimum it can run with.

 

*This is what I'ver done with my M2 SSD and after testing, it runs at more than ten times faster than my other disks (SATA).

Edited June 19, 2021 by Thinder

[Leg2ion]

Buy a large (2TB) SATA SSD - something like a Samsung 870 EVO 2TB 2.5" SATA III SSD and move/install your sims to that - don't think you will notice any major differences. 

[Gianky]

Hey guys!

 

Thank you all for your inputs.

 

So, seeing how most of you guys say that a SATA disk would be fast enough to not notice any significant different, I'm guessing I'll be ok with a PCIe on a x2 connection. I prefer this way 'cause it'll allow me, in the future, to use the disk on newer MBs (I'm considering Gen4, too, but they're really pricey, especially the 2TB).

 

@Thinder I'm intrigued by what you wrote, I always thought OS had to be on the fastest drive, I don't think I'm gonna do it this time (mainly because it's more complicated than just slapping a new disk on), but I'd like to know more about it, any reading you might suggest?

 

@Bossco82 Dude, GREAT avatar! Love the man!

[Thinder]

2 hours ago, Gianky said:

@Thinder I'm intrigued by what you wrote, I always thought OS had to be on the fastest drive, I don't think I'm gonna do it this time (mainly because it's more complicated than just slapping a new disk on), but I'd like to know more about it, any reading you might suggest?

 

@Bossco82 Dude, GREAT avatar! Love the man!

 

This is only true if the O.S is the main reason for you to use your PC, but in this case, the most demanding app and the one asking for the most resources is the game itself, reason why allocating the most resources to it and if you want to optimize it, the fastest SSD and bus is the optimum solution, the only unknown is about your O.S resetting itself on the new X 2 bus or not.

 

Your O.S only take a secondary role while gaming and you want it to stay this way, reason for setting your background apps and paging files the way I described.

 

Furthermore, a X 2 M2 SSD will always be fast enough to support Windows, I have absolutely no issue with my O.S speed and It runs on a SATA, what slows down the game is the O.S using resources such as CPU and RAM while you play your game, so setting your paging files for background apps on the fastest SSD helps to minimise the time it spends using those resources.

 

Paging files are virtual memory, transfered from the RAM when needed, the fastest, the largest (up to a point, 2 X your RAM size is enough in most case), the less time your RAM is used for other apps than the game itself, or when you run out of RAM during gaming, then Windows is gonna write the content of your RAM as paging files.

 

Otherwise said, once logged-on and gaming, your RAM and CPU should be working mainly for the game and if your PC is used as a gaming PC, optimizing the O.S apps, paging files but also SSDs and bus speeds for both O.S and games goes in the sens of optimization.

 

All of which means that there is more to gain by swaping slots for your M2 SSDs than keeping your O.S on the fastest one.

 

About paging files

 

Note that I didn't have to ask myself those questions as I don't have two M2 slots but only one.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Thinder

[Bossco82]

Cheers man, yeah Robin Olds is one of the many pilots I admire. Comes from very boyish dreams of becoming a fighter pilot!

As for your storage options I've had a cabled Sata3 SSD, a basic M2 on the motherboard and now a Gen 4 Nvme Pciex4 on my X570. I'm not going to say there is not a difference because there is. It's just so small in the real world. It's not worth worrying about. Buy what suits you best out of those three options. 

 

 

[Beirut]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:33 AM, Gianky said:

 

2) buy a bigger disk, ideally a 2 TB SSD and move DCS on it, either a) putting it with the OS on the main M.2 slot, or b) putting it with DCS only on the secondary M.2 slot.

 

 

For what it's worth, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but bigger SSDs are (slightly) faster than smaller SSDs.

 

I want to replace my 500GB Crucial SSD with a 1TB Samsung. I don't really think the Samsung is particularly better/faster than the Crucial, but the Samsung cloning software is really good.

[Bossco82]

Samsung, Acronis and Sabrent software have been very good when I have used them.

As for brand I have used Sabrent, Samsung, SanDisk, Kingston and Crucial. All have been very similar gaming wise. I buy whichever I can get the better deal on at the time.

[BitMaster]

21 hours ago, Beirut said:

 

For what it's worth, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but bigger SSDs are (slightly) faster than smaller SSDs.

 

I want to replace my 500GB Crucial SSD with a 1TB Samsung. I don't really think the Samsung is particularly better/faster than the Crucial, but the Samsung cloning software is really good.

 

This is partially true. Smaller drives, usually the smallest or the 2 smallest drives out of a series have too few Dies to have one connected to each channel of the controller and thus much of the performance cannot be leveraged on those i.e. 4 out of 8 channels. The parts, controller and storage dies are as fast as on the big TB drives, just fewer of them and that hurts parallel I/O performance. But to be honest at this specific capacity and price, those are usually the most expensive per GB as well. When you look at the 980 Pro, the 256GB is very expensive compared to the 500GB and 1TB model.

 

 

[Gianky]

Hey guys!

 

Thanks again for all of your inputs. With the complicity of Amazon Prime day, in a moment of temporary insanity, I ended up buying a 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro... more expensive than the PCIe 3 alternatives, but not that much that it didn't justify investing in future compatibility... I guess this baby will be my DCS drive for a very long time!

 

At this point, I think I'll give a shot to what Thinder suggested, it would be a pity to put such a fast drive on a x2 slot!

 

Again, thank you all for your contributions, they helped me refresh and deepen my knowledge of PC hardware!

[Thinder]

3 hours ago, Gianky said:

Hey guys!

 

Thanks again for all of your inputs. With the complicity of Amazon Prime day, in a moment of temporary insanity, I ended up buying a 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro... more expensive than the PCIe 3 alternatives, but not that much that it didn't justify investing in future compatibility... I guess this baby will be my DCS drive for a very long time!

 

At this point, I think I'll give a shot to what Thinder suggested, it would be a pity to put such a fast drive on a x2 slot!

 

Again, thank you all for your contributions, they helped me refresh and deepen my knowledge of PC hardware!

 

You always can revert if this doesn't work for you, I tested my SSDs speeds a couple of time and my 500GB 970 EVO Plus works as advertized = <> 3,500 MB/s/3,200 MB/s Read/Write, I chosed this SSD on budget and it is of moderate size but I don't need more than this, I got two games on it, DCS and Elite Dangerous plus 64GB+ paging files, and still have 290GB free space.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Thinder

[BitMaster]

18 hours ago, Gianky said:

Hey guys!

 

Thanks again for all of your inputs. With the complicity of Amazon Prime day, in a moment of temporary insanity, I ended up buying a 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro... more expensive than the PCIe 3 alternatives, but not that much that it didn't justify investing in future compatibility... I guess this baby will be my DCS drive for a very long time!

 

At this point, I think I'll give a shot to what Thinder suggested, it would be a pity to put such a fast drive on a x2 slot!

 

Again, thank you all for your contributions, they helped me refresh and deepen my knowledge of PC hardware!