New Build, using old Intel 510 SSD vs 860 EVO

[SkyBum]

Building a first gaming rig for my GF. Was planning to re-use an old Intel 510 SSD (120gb) for the boot drive in order to save a few bucks, but wondering if we'll regret not going with newer tech like the 850 or 860 EVO 512 (for reference that Intel 510 was released in 2011).

Been awhile since I've kept up with SSD tech, would that compromise be worth the $150 or so in savings or would we just be better off spending a bit more on the build?

Build Spec:
i5 8400
Z370 MB
GTX 1060 6GB
16 GB DDR4 3000
WD Black 1TB
SSD Boot Drive

THANKS....

 

[UsandThem]

That Intel drive would be significantly slower than about any modern drive. I'd personally spend the money and get a new SSD if I was facing your decision.

It's specs:

Random read: Up to 20K IOPS
Random write: Up to 8K IOPS
Sequential read: Up to 400MB/s (6Gbps)
Sequential write: Up to 210MB/s (6Gbps)

For reference, the current mid-range price/performance champ (Crucial MX500) 500 GB is rated at:

Random read: Up to 95,000 IOPS
Random write: Up to 90,000 IOPS
Sequential read: Up to 560MB/s
Sequential write: Up to 510MB/s

 

[razel]

If it still works and 120GB for an OS drive is plenty for her, then she won't notice any difference. Even if she did won't care... she might complain more about space than anything else.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah. It's fast enough, but small. If she's okay with small, then it's fine.

Did it pass health checks and whatnot?

Also, if she's gaming with this rig, 1TB is a bit cramped. (A lot of game installs are >30GB now.) Does she have any other hobbies? My housemate's got about 200GB of photos.

 

[aigomorla]

get her a 960 evo 200gb as a boot drive @ 119 if its for a z370 board.
The 500gb costs 200 dollars, however m.2 NVMe drive is worlds apart from the two sata drives you listed.

I feel its quite manditory to have a Boot NVMe drive now on most current gen systems.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-...e=UTF8&qid=1519195064&sr=8-2&keywords=960+evo

Make sure its the 960... not the 860 or 850.
Those are not NVMe's.

How fast are we talking?
Avg. Sequential Read Speed 2,197MB/s
Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed 1,195MB/s

The 960 is quite easily 4x if not 5x faster then the fastest sata drive, and when windows 10 is installed properly using UEFI, it has an insanely quick bootup time.

Reuse the 510 as a second drive to store other games, or what not....

Make sure when you install Windows 10 on the machine using a UFI instalation.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-windows-10-usb-bootable-media-uefi-support

Then watch you yourself get jelly at GF's machine because of how much faster it boots and is responsive then your machine which doesnt have UEFI M.2 NVMe :T

 

[SkyBum]

get her a 960 evo 200gb as a boot drive @ 119 if its for a z370 board.
The 500gb costs 200 dollars, however m.2 NVMe drive is worlds apart from the two sata drives you listed.

I feel its quite manditory to have a Boot NVMe drive now on most current gen systems.

Interesting. So maybe I've been looking at this all wrong but in terms of the SATA EVO was thinking of getting her just enough SATA SSD capacity to hold windows and several games which would benefit from the SSD load times, and an HDD for the rest of games and random storage. Food for thought....she's never been a gamer at all (hell, she barely even uses a PC at all) but has recently discovered BF1 and RUST lol, and at 38yo is looking at gaming through youtube like an archaeologist who has just discovered a brave new lost world so yeah, here we go gaming PC! Don't even know if she will stick with gaming but we can dream right?

So adding your suggestion, we have:

Original plan: SATA 512 EVO SSD for OS/ +handful of games and 1TB HDD to pick up the slack.
Plan B: I add $200 of my own $$$ to the kitty to cover an NVMe 500GB (if my money is on the table would rather not settle for 200gb... but should I? $119 is a lot easier to swallow), and she still buys the same 500gb SATA SSD we were considering? Or preferably she ups the stakes to the 1TB evo and no HDD??? she really doesnt need much for storage at all maybe that can wait and see?

God with the RAM and GPU prices, we already blew past our intended budget but it's not critical to hit that mark, dont mind spending some more money but trying to avoid spending stupid money....still trying to sort out that sweet spot for this usage case...appreciate your thoughts

 

[aigomorla]

If the machine is for budget, and gaming, you will not notice a difference between a 960 vs 860 vs 850 vs MX500 when gaming.

The 960 may offer you a bit faster load times, but it wont be something like "i can run half the map and get all the good vehicles" load times we used to have when SSD's were first introduced.

And by then, now there is a wait timer if your machine loads too fast.

So if were thinking budget here.... also keeping on track of the platform, i would:

200gb 960 Evo 119 as boot drive. + (whatever SSD for BF1 because it will help with map load times, or any other game which has loading screens) + a PMR HDD for everything else, because now typical AAA title games will easily run anywhere between 30-50gb... with some even massive like 75GB.

This way the machine has good boot times, bearly noticable load time in gaming, and plenty of storage for other games which doesnt require map load times.

A 1TB SSD will be full FAST on a gaming machine.
Infact i can tell you from first hand:

My current setup is:
2TB Micron 1100 - Steam Drive
1TB Mushikin - Origin Drive
1TB EVO - Uplay

Those are just gaming drives, and i worry sometimes on filling them up with new releases... especially that steam drive which underwent 2 upgrades: 500gb > 1TB -> 2TB.

So it is best to allocate what games go on which drives by needs.
If its a game which requires fast load times then the SSD.
If its a game which has no load times except at start then a PMR HDD is fine.

But boot drive as a 960 is definite... if its a new machine and you want to build it right, you can not skip out on the pci-e SSD.

 

[SkyBum]

get her a 960 evo 200gb as a boot drive @ 119 if its for a z370 board.
The 500gb costs 200 dollars, however m.2 NVMe drive is worlds apart from the two sata drives you listed.

I feel its quite manditory to have a Boot NVMe drive now on most current gen systems.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-...e=UTF8&qid=1519195064&sr=8-2&keywords=960+evo



Make sure when you install Windows 10 on the machine using a UFI instalation.
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-windows-10-usb-bootable-media-uefi-support

Thanks aigomorla! On your advice I chipped in some of my own money and bought her a 960 evo 500gb NVMe. Hell, might as well have no regrets right? The machine is built and ready for windows. Do you recommend purchasing a physical copy or digital copy? Does it make any difference with regard to the UFI install you detailed in your earlier post?

 

[aigomorla]

Digital copy is fine.
Windows 10 will basically memorize machine hardware id's.
That means even if you do a fresh install, the second time you will not have to install the key again, unless u have had major hardware change... (RMA Motherboard)

On the newer machines i highly recommend a UEFI install over a Legacy Install.

This video should be self explainitory on why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_JX6IitZGQ

Your GF will definitely enjoy the machine, and later on might complain to you on why other people have such a low system.
Which then you will give her that "you wut mate" face as she makes that comment.