My computer is ordered and Chillblast are getting the parts together. I was advised by a computer expert I should limit myself to one SSD as there are only two PCI-E gen 5 slots available.

He advised keeping one for a gen 5 compatible GPU when they become available at some point.

That leaves just one gen 5 slot for storage. I’ve ordered the Crucial T700 M.2 NVMe 4Tb drive.

Is it feasible to partition it in two - one half for C and the other as D for flightsim software?

Or does this cause problems and I should just stick with the full 4Tb?

Does your C Drive need to be on a gen 5 slot (ie will it make a noticeable difference in performance over your flightsim drive using a gen 5 slot?)

I used to create a separate system partition but stopped doing that as it seemed like either my d or c drive ended up being too small while the other had excess space.  Instead I now run a dedicated 500mb SSD drive for my system drive and have several other M2/SSD’s for my games.

If you’re not worried about running out of space then probably no harm in doing a partition.  Doing a 50% partition though is not likely a split you’ll be happy with down the road, that’s a lot of extra space on your system drive.

 Partitioning imo is a left over from the old days. I'd keep it as one. My thinking though is that you ALWAYS want your Windows drive on the fastest drive that you have as it is the backbone of your build. If Windows isn't running as fast as your system allows, then nothing else on your system will either.
  You more than likely will have multiple Gen4 slots that you can use as well. The load times from the Gen 5 drives are going to be marginally faster so you probably wont notice the difference unless you use a stopwatch every time you fire up the sim.

Edited September 12, 20232 yr by Dave_YVR

For storage your not going to notice much difference PCIE 4 or 5, you could still fit another M2 drive gen 4, I have three Samsung 2TB M2 pro drives and 2 SSD drives .

PS remember you will not get the full 4TB if you patrician the drive.

Edited September 12, 20232 yr by G-RFRY

12 minutes ago, regis9 said:

Does your C Drive need to be on a gen 5 slot (ie will it make a noticeable difference in performance over your flightsim drive using a gen 5 slot?)

I think it’s important the OS is on the fastest drive. This crucial SSD is amongst the fastest available. gen 5 is considerably faster than gen 4.

It’s unlikely I’ll use all the space available given I’ll probably stick to P3D. I do agree that getting the space for the two partitions can be tricky. I only suggested it as it helps keep software separate on different drive letters.

14 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 Partitioning imo is a left over from the old days. I'd keep it as one. My thinking is that you ALWAYS want your Windows drive on the fastest drive that you have as it is the backbone of your build. 
  You more than likely will have multiple Gen4 slots that you can use as well. The load times from the Gen 5 drives are going to be marginally faster so you probably wont notice the difference unless you use a stopwatch every time you fire up the sim.

Agreed it’s not something you see discussed much now. Should I ever run short of space a gen 4 SSD will fit but will be much slower than gen 5. By then gen 6 will be out and it all starts again! 🤣

1 minute ago, G-RFRY said:

For storage your not going to notice much difference PCIE 4 or 5,

Really? If they weren’t significantly faster than gen 4 how could they justify the price?

A review here suggests they’re extremely fast…

https://uk.pcmag.com/ssds/147079/crucial-t700

 

43 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Should I ever run short of space a gen 4 SSD will fit but will be much slower than gen 5.

 Theoretically much faster yes, but in practical use you really will need a stopwatch to notice. Benchmarks are nice and all but you don't sim with a benchmark. 

52 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 Theoretically much faster yes, but in practical use you really will need a stopwatch to notice. Benchmarks are nice and all but you don't sim with a benchmark. 

I took the advice of an expert. Maybe I should have just trusted my own judgement. Ho hum.

Hi Ray, Glad you got the computer ordered. As far as the drives go, its up to you, but personally I would add another 1TB HD for the OS. You can leave the 4TB alone or split it in half if you decide to try P3d v6 or MSFS later on. Its an easy change in disk management. I did this for awhile too. But now I have 5 separate HDs. One for the OS, P3d, MSFS, all other games, and a backup drive.

7 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Or does this cause problems and I should just stick with the full 4Tb?

If you partition your SSD you might lose performance due to the increase of the number of i/o operations that SSD has to perform. The more additional partitions you create, the more i/o operations that the SSD will have to perform. Smaller partitions will give you lower performance than larger ones. I hope it helps. 

 

8 hours ago, TurboKen said:

As far as the drives go, its up to you, but personally I would add another 1TB HD for the OS.

That was my original plan but was told that one connection would be on the slower gen 4 socket. Reviews tell you gen 4 is a lot slower than gen 5 but in reality is it noticeable?

The alternative would be to have two M.2 drives both connected to the gen 5 sockets but that would mean I couldn’t connect a future gen 5 GPU. It would take something special to make the 4090 worth replacing.

One thing is for sure. It will take some effort to get close to filling 4Tb.

For backups I have a Synology NAS box. Well worth considering.

On 9/12/2023 at 6:32 PM, Ray Proudfoot said:

Really? If they weren’t significantly faster than gen 4 how could they justify the price?

A review here suggests they’re extremely fast…

https://uk.pcmag.com/ssds/147079/crucial-t700

 

Loading will be faster but it will not make games run faster.

20 minutes ago, G-RFRY said:

Loading will be faster but it will not make games run faster.

I realise that. 😉 Loading time of P3D needs to be quicker. I’m not as young as I used to be. Time matters. 😁

I would keep it as one big partition...I don't see any need to partition it out.  You still using Acronis or Macrium Reflect?

I concur with the others regarding practical, in-app speed, i.e. you don't sim a benchmark.  I will add the important point that your PC builder is wise, as it's always possible the bandwidth may come in handy in the future in a more practical way.

Great minds think alike, I too have a Crucial M.2 drive.  Well, your mind is great.  Mine is somewhat addled.

I continue to use my BenQ PD3200U.

8 hours ago, Mace said:

I would keep it as one big partition...I don't see any need to partition it out.  You still using Acronis or Macrium Reflect?

That’s the general consensus. No, never used either of those. I use AOMEI Backupper and they have a free Partition program. I’ve used it to reclaim space on USB sticks but never partitioned a HDD or SSD.

I too continue to use the 3200U. Brilliant monitor. 👍