Do I Need a SSD Storage and M.2 NVME Drive?

[MatteoMelidoni]

So I’ve already placed an order for my PC and I ordered no SSD storage and 1TB M.2 NVME drive.

i had a Mac previously and I had a 1TB drive and probably used around 400gb of it throughout the years.

so I decided to just go with the M.2 NVME but now I’m worrying if I should of got both.

what do you guys think and worst case scenario I have a 1TB usb drive that I could plug it to my PC or install one myself.

here are my specs, just waiting on finance referred, can’t wait for it to arrive.

LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard	ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive	NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive	1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste	STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans	NONE
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card	WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language	United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media	Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software	FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus	BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser	Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty	3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery	STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time	Standard Build - Approximately 16 to 19 working days
Welcome Book	PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

Pricing Information
Price (Ex VAT)	£1,175.00
Price	£1,410.00

 

[Steveyg]

Generally we recommend two drives because M.2's and SSD tend to slow as they get filled up. Once they reach about 60% capacity they tend to slow down so we always recommend a boot/OS drive that's independent so the OS always runs fast and smooth.

1TB is a decent enough size though especially if you think you'll only need around 400GB then you should be fine

 

[Scott]

There's a few things to note.

You can get the TUF Gaming motherboard with on-board Wifi that will save you the PCI slot by dropping the Wifi card.
The M2 drive you have selected is sub-par compared to the likes of the Intel 670
With the PSU we would recommend the 750w RMx, just covering the headroom isn't ideal and the last thing you want to do is have to buy a PSU when you upgrade.
Bullguard is a nightmare, I would remove it.
Silver warrant is well worth it for a fiver.

Other than that, 2 M2s would always be recommended where the budget allows. Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. If you are really frugal with your storage and keep things in good order then a 250gb primary drive would be OK. We always recommend 500GB as this gives around 250GB of use, which covers the OS, programs and a couple of games (depending on size). 250GB would be cutting it thin by the time you realise you only really have 125GB of use before slowdown. This would still cover the OS & programs but you would need to keep on top of documents and the likes.

With that in mind we almost always suggest:

500GB Primary drive, fastest you can afford. Intel 670 is the best value. Windows OS, Programs, a few documents & Games
1TB Secondary drive, Intel 670 1TB is the best value. Fast storage & game installs.

 

[ubuysa]

There are several reasons for preferring two drives; the principal ones are performance and ease of use.

Windows can only have one read/write operation in progress per drive, so having two drives, one for Windows and programs and another for user data, gives the best performance.

On a custom build you can expect to reinstall WIndows a number of times in the life of the computer. Having Windows on a different drive to your user data allows you to reinstall Windows without losing all your data.

Having decided on two drives there is then a choice of what drive types to go for...

Windows and programs want to be on the fastest drive you can afford, that means an M.2 NVMe drive (SSD) and the faster the better. This drive doesn't usually need to be huge, 512GB is generally plenty. Since NVMe drives are expensive you don't really want to be buying more space than you need.

User data doesn't need the blistering read/write data rates that NVMe provides, it's just not worth the extra cost. An M.2 ACHI drive (SSD) with data rates up to around 2000MB/s are perfectly fine. Even a SATA SSD with 560MB/s data rates is fine for most user data - it's what I use.

An HDD can still be of use in any config however. Music and video files gain no benefit at all from being on an (expensive) SSD because of the way they are processed. For these files, archive files and similar rarely used data an HDD is ideal.

 

[MatteoMelidoni]

There's a few things to note.

You can get the TUF Gaming motherboard with on-board Wifi that will save you the PCI slot by dropping the Wifi card.
The M2 drive you have selected is sub-par compared to the likes of the Intel 670
With the PSU we would recommend the 750w RMx, just covering the headroom isn't ideal and the last thing you want to do is have to buy a PSU when you upgrade.
Bullguard is a nightmare, I would remove it.
Silver warrant is well worth it for a fiver.

Other than that, 2 M2s would always be recommended where the budget allows. Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. If you are really frugal with your storage and keep things in good order then a 250gb primary drive would be OK. We always recommend 500GB as this gives around 250GB of use, which covers the OS, programs and a couple of games (depending on size). 250GB would be cutting it thin by the time you realise you only really have 125GB of use before slowdown. This would still cover the OS & programs but you would need to keep on top of documents and the likes.

With that in mind we almost always suggest:

500GB Primary drive, fastest you can afford. Intel 670 is the best value. Windows OS, Programs, a few documents & Games
1TB Secondary drive, Intel 670 1TB is the best value. Fast storage & game installs.

There's a few things to note.

You can get the TUF Gaming motherboard with on-board Wifi that will save you the PCI slot by dropping the Wifi card.
The M2 drive you have selected is sub-par compared to the likes of the Intel 670
With the PSU we would recommend the 750w RMx, just covering the headroom isn't ideal and the last thing you want to do is have to buy a PSU when you upgrade.
Bullguard is a nightmare, I would remove it.
Silver warrant is well worth it for a fiver.

Other than that, 2 M2s would always be recommended where the budget allows. Having all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. If you are really frugal with your storage and keep things in good order then a 250gb primary drive would be OK. We always recommend 500GB as this gives around 250GB of use, which covers the OS, programs and a couple of games (depending on size). 250GB would be cutting it thin by the time you realise you only really have 125GB of use before slowdown. This would still cover the OS & programs but you would need to keep on top of documents and the likes.

With that in mind we almost always suggest:

500GB Primary drive, fastest you can afford. Intel 670 is the best value. Windows OS, Programs, a few documents & Games
1TB Secondary drive, Intel 670 1TB is the best value. Fast storage & game installs.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to give them a call to change it.

So for my M.2 drive I have selected - 1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) (Special Offer)
for the storage device Ive selected - 512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
motherboard - ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! (removed wifi card)
power supply - CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

would you say thats okay, wasn't sure what storage device to choose? are two m.2 drives that important, I don't use tons of storage?
I can add two m.2 drives if needed but which ones would you suggest?
Looking at this for 1st storage device? is it worth it do you think -
500GB Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to give them a call to change it.

So for my M.2 drive I have selected - 1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) (Special Offer)
for the storage device Ive selected - 512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
motherboard - ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! (removed wifi card)
power supply - CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

would you say thats okay, wasn't sure what storage device to choose? are two m.2 drives that important, I don't use tons of storage?
I can add two m.2 drives if needed but which ones would you suggest?
Looking at this for 1st storage device? is it worth it do you think -
500GB Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)

Again, those choices seem really strange to me. As you quoted, I wrote the following:

With that in mind we almost always suggest:

500GB Primary drive, fastest you can afford. Intel 670 is the best value. Windows OS, Programs, a few documents & Games
1TB Secondary drive, Intel 670 1TB is the best value. Fast storage & game installs.

That advice would still apply. 500GB for the primary, 1TB for the secondary. With the difference in price I don't think going for a non-M2 is worth it, but for the storage drive it's definitely less important to have speed (unless being used for a cache, in which case the faster the better).

 

[MatteoMelidoni]

Again, those choices seem really strange to me. As you quoted, I wrote the following:



That advice would still apply. 500GB for the primary, 1TB for the secondary. With the difference in price I don't think going for a non-M2 is worth it, but for the storage drive it's definitely less important to have speed (unless being used for a cache, in which case the faster the better).

sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to things like this, I mis-understood you.

This is what I have now then, Is this what you meant? these are two m2 drives

1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) (Special Offer)

2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) (Special Offer)

I'm presuming when you say primary drive you mean the 1st drive? also I couldn't find 500gb one so I went with that one

thanks for the help too, I appreciate it

 

[AgentCooper]

Again, those choices seem really strange to me. As you quoted, I wrote the following:



That advice would still apply. 500GB for the primary, 1TB for the secondary. With the difference in price I don't think going for a non-M2 is worth it, but for the storage drive it's definitely less important to have speed (unless being used for a cache, in which case the faster the better).

Not to mention that when Windows 11 implements DirectStorage, we’re likely to see the faster SSD speeds potentially making a huge difference in the way games and their load times will be able to take advantage of.

 

[Scott]

sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to things like this, I mis-understood you.

This is what I have now then, Is this what you meant? these are two m2 drives

1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) (Special Offer)

2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) (Special Offer)

I'm presuming when you say primary drive you mean the 1st drive? also I couldn't find 500gb one so I went with that one

thanks for the help too, I appreciate it

That looks spot on to me. If it's within budget then that's definitely the route I would recommend.

As @AgentCooper says as well, direct storage will be a thing sooner rather than later so you will have an advantage with such a storage drive for games

 

[MatteoMelidoni]

That looks spot on to me. If it's within budget then that's definitely the route I would recommend.

As @AgentCooper says as well, direct storage will be a thing sooner rather than later so you will have an advantage with such a storage drive for games

When you say faster about the direct storage are you meaning to get a non m.2 drive too? or will the windows update work with m.2 drives? sorry if Im asking stupid questions just wanting to make sure I get this right.

Thanks again 😊

 

[Scott]

When you say faster about the direct storage are you meaning to get a non m.2 drive too? or will the windows update work with m.2 drives? sorry if Im asking stupid questions just wanting to make sure I get this right.

Thanks again 😊

What you have selected is ideal. The update is in regards to accessing the drive directly into the GPU memory. The faster the drive the better, there is no drive interface faster than M2 so it's the perfect selection