Drive and RAM Recommendations

[GamerMAD]

I am putting together a gaming rig based around an i7 6700K and I am in need of some recommendations. This build will use Windows 10 Profession for the OS if that matters.

RAM:
I am planning on using a Noctua ND-H15 for the CPU cooler. According to Noctua the NH-D15 in the standard configuration with both fans allows for 32mm clearance. Link The front fan can be mounted higher to allow for taller ram and the case I am planning on using allows for 200 mm CPU cooler clearance.

• Any idea on how shifting the fan up would affect cooling, as it might open up more possibilities with RAM?
• I am shooting for 2x 8Gb DIMMs running at least 2800 Mhz.
• What exactly is XMP overclocking and how hard is it to do?

Drive:
The primary storage for this will probably be some version of the Samsung 850 Pro, and I am planning on using a mechanical drive for less frequently accessed programs and data. I am wanting at least 1TB on the secondary drive. I have heard there are definite issues with the Seagate Barracudas so I am ruling those out.

• Any reason to not consider the 850 Pro?
• What exactly is M.2 and NVMe I keep seeing mentioned, and would it significantly improve performance for me? Remember this is for gaming, and I am coming from a system using a traditional HDD.
• What is a good secondary drive?
• I have heard that the Western Digital Black drives can be rather noisy. Is there any truth to this, and just how noisy are we talking?

 

[brontosaurus]

• What exactly is M.2 and NVMe I keep seeing mentioned, and would it significantly improve performance for me? Remember this is for gaming, and I am coming from a system using a traditional HDD.
• What is a good secondary drive?
• I have heard that the Western Digital Black drives can be rather noisy. Is there any truth to this, and just how noisy are we talking?

On a high level, M.2 is the form factor for SSDs, like 2.5" and mSATA form factor. M.2 has essentially replaced mSATA for SSD drives at this point.

Whereas the 2.5" SSDs all are SATA connection, M.2 connection can be either SATA or PCIe. NVMe is a specification for accessing SSDs attached through PCIe. PCIe has far more bandwidth than SATA. A high-end SATA SSD read/write speeds can be 550 mb/s and 500 mb/s respectively (ex. Samsung EVO 850), whereas a PCIe-based SSD (which also currently only has m.2 as its form factor) can be 2100 mb/s and 1500 mb/s (ex. Samsung SM951).

That said, though the performance on paper is quite a bit faster, you likely won't realize the difference unless you're doing extensive video editing/rendering or CAD work. Also, the M.2 NVMe are still quite new and the most well-known one (samsung sm951) is OEM and with little to no warranty support. Even with gaming, I think you'll be quite happy with a SATA SSD.

Do you really need to have a m.2 form factor ssd? The 2.5" SSDs are frequently on sale (i.e. samsung EVO 850) and black friday is coming. Samsung EVO 850 500 GB has been as low as $135, which is quite a deal!

So all in all, if you NEED the form factor, search for M.2 SATA SSD. Otherwise, I'd stick with 2.5" SATA SSD.

I use WD Black for secondary storage like music and movies; I've had good luck and warranty support from WD. All my Seagates have failed within 3 years.

 

[Tifosi248F1]

Look into Toshiba and HGST (Hitachi) HDDs. Lots of capacities to choose from. They may be slightly slower than WD Blacks, but if you're not constantly accessing the drive it likely won't make much difference. They're also a bit cheaper if that matters to you. Some models of Toshiba drives are simply rebranded Hitachis, so they're just as good.

 

[Cerb]

I am putting together a gaming rig based around an i7 6700K and I am in need of some recommendations. This build will use Windows 10 Profession for the OS if that matters.

RAM:
I am planning on using a Noctua ND-H15 for the CPU cooler. According to Noctua the NH-D15 in the standard configuration with both fans allows for 32mm clearance. Link The front fan can be mounted higher to allow for taller ram and the case I am planning on using allows for 200 mm CPU cooler clearance.

The NH-D14 and NH-U14S are very close to that performance level, and the U14S will make RAM clearance much less of an issue (possibly none at all, depending on board). Even so, just get RAM with no or very short heatspreaders.

I am shooting for 2x 8Gb DIMMs running at least 2800 Mhz.

Fine. Without substantial OCing, you'll probably get nothing over 2400MHz, though.

What exactly is XMP overclocking and how hard is it to do?

It's a set of timings that you can choose from, in addition to the automatic JEDEC ones, so you don't have to actually overclock. JEDEC finalizes specs for masses of product, and don't specify settings that must work over certain speeds, or under certain timings. It's a matter of clicking and choosing the one you want. Where and how varies by mobo firmware, but it'll be a kind of menu, and show you the speeds and timing sets available.

Any reason to not consider the 850 Pro?

Price, and that you can get a blazing fast Intel M.2, instead. OTOH, real-world improvements vary quite a bit, ATM, and will probably take another gen of controllers to get good enough to rule out SATA overall.

What exactly is M.2 and NVMe I keep seeing mentioned, and would it significantly improve performance for me?

M.2 is a form factor, made mostly for compact systems, like notebooks and tablets. There are both PCIe and SATA M.2 SSDs. NVMe is a new communications protocol, to use SSDs over PCIe directly. ATA is crufty (it's been gradually updated since the 80s, so...), and the command set is actually limiting SSD performance in some cases. With HDDs, and even earlier SSDs, the drives were slow enough to hide all the inefficiencies, but we're to the point where the drives are fast enough to make it a problem.

For your case, though, you'll not notice a difference, except when performing very large file copy operations, where PCIe drives can do >600MBps, and a SATA SSD will be limited to no more than about 550MBps combined read and write. IMO, just get a BX100, 850 Evo, or MX200, which all seem to be nice drives at good prices.

 

[tweakboy]

WD is pretty rock solid company in all facets. Support and so on.