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Time to upgrade?

A

alxlwson

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I have 2x PNY XLR8 120GB ssd's in RAID-0 for OS/Games drive. They are the first gen models. I have plenty of magnetic storage. Just wondering if its time for an upgrade. I'm OK on space, although more would be beneficial. Are the new m2 drives or pci-ssd or whatever worth an upgrade? I know these XLR8's are slower drives. Also, if I do upgrade, what should I be looking at? Anything worthwhile in the $200 range? If not, where does the pricepoint start to be meaningful? Storage is an area that I haven't paid hardly any attention to, however it seems silly to not be using the latest tech if it's awesome.

So, please, educate me! Quickly:) The window with the wife is closing rapidly.
Also, I seem to remember reading that using some new drive would take away pci-e lanes from my video card. Again, some education would be very helpful!

Thanks so much :)
 
Meeho said:
You won't see a benefit for OS/game use.
Click to expand...


My thought with performance increases... Diablo 3. Asset loading kills the game during higher GRs. I was thinking about having more throughput would help?
 
alxlwson said:
My thought with performance increases... Diablo 3. Asset loading kills the game during higher GRs. I was thinking about having more throughput would help?
Click to expand...

Maybe you would benefit from better 4KB random read of newer drives, but I don't expect the difference to be noticeable if your drives are in good condition (TRIMed and with sufficient free space). Your RAID0 is currently hurting your performance if anything.
 
You coudl always get a copy of MaxVeloSSD Pro for $20. That will let you cache your HDD with an SSD and up to 4GB of RAM.

After the first couple times of running a game, it loads way, way faster.

Disclaimer: I have been having trouble with Windows 10 with it. Elitebytes says it is working fine on Windows 10, and it does seem to work as is evidenced by the massive speed when testing with CrystalDiskMark, but after the initial setup I am unable to get back into the GUI to make any changes.
 
Meeho said:
Maybe you would benefit from better 4KB random read of newer drives, but I don't expect the difference to be noticeable if your drives are in good condition (TRIMed and with sufficient free space). Your RAID0 is currently hurting your performance if anything.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate?


cyclone3d said:
You coudl always get a copy of MaxVeloSSD Pro for $20. That will let you cache your HDD with an SSD and up to 4GB of RAM.

After the first couple times of running a game, it loads way, way faster.

Disclaimer: I have been having trouble with Windows 10 with it. Elitebytes says it is working fine on Windows 10, and it does seem to work as is evidenced by the massive speed when testing with CrystalDiskMark, but after the initial setup I am unable to get back into the GUI to make any changes.
Click to expand...


My games are on the ssd raid 0 array
 
alxlwson said:
Can you elaborate?
Click to expand...

At low queue depths which are prevalent in OS and games the added latency from RAID outweighs the none or small increase in throughput. Maybe it doesn't hurt noticeably but RAID doesn't help performance wise either in typical desktop use.
 
Meeho said:
At low queue depths which are prevalent in OS and games the added latency from RAID outweighs the none or small increase in throughput. Maybe it doesn't hurt noticeably but RAID doesn't help performance wise either in typical desktop use.
Click to expand...


In BF4, that is not the case. I measured an average five second difference comparing single disk vs raid-0, and compared both drives to each other.
 
So long as you have m2 slots or free pci3 x4 slots, I can tell you without a doubt, that nvme m2 drives WILL speed up your system overall.

I have 2 of the samsung 950evo's in my rig, and I get sequential reads & writes in the 1800-2300 range (even when used as boot drives), compared to my standard, sata III base ADATA 550 at 550-560.

Since I don't game, I can't say what improvements you would see in gaming, but increasing your overall system performance is NEVER a bad thing IMHO. Having said that however, only you can decide if the costs are worth it to you.....

the average price for 256gb evo's brand new was around $225 when I bought mine back in Feb of this year. I recently picked up a used one for $125, so now both of my m2 slots are occupied.

And yes, they do take away some of your sata ports, but since I had 8 to start with and only 2 other devices to connect, it's a non-issue for me :) Again only you can decide if this will work for you or not :)

Good luck on whatever you decide to do !
 
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