I would like to update my system components, so.......

[Navy Chief]

These are my current specs:

MB MSI Z370-A PRO, with available M.2 slot
Primary HD 1 TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD -- Read: 550MB/s
Data HD 1 TB Hard Drive -- 32MB Cache, 7200RPM, 6.0Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ASUS TURBO 11GB
CPU i7-8700K 6 x 3.70GHz


Crucial recommends replacing my 16gb of DRAM with 4 sticks of 16gb each of Crucial 16GB DDR4-3200 UDIMM DRAM (CT16G4DFD832A) = 64gb total. Cost through them is $347
As for SSD drives that are compatible with my system, they recommend for my M.2. slot, their P5 2TB 3D NAND NVMe Internal SSD, up to 3400MB/s - CT2000P5SSD8.
To replace my current internal SSD drive, they recommend:
Crucial MX500 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 inch 7mm


My questions are:


1.) Should I go with the type of SSD that installs in the M.2. slot or just replace my current internal SSD?
2.) Would replacing/adding more DRAM significantly improve my system's capability?

Thanks, NC

[Penzoil3]

Check your mother board manual carefully. With some mobo, when you add an M-2 drive you lose a sata connection. Try 2 sticks of 16 gb, that is 32 gb first. I find that's plenty for me. You can always add 2 more later. The CPU is your bottleneck though, at 3.7 gb.

Out of curiosity why did you ask Crucial ?

Sue

[Navy Chief]

Check your mother board manual carefully. With some mobo, when you add an M-2 drive you lose a sata connection. Try 2 sticks of 16 gb, that is 32 gb first. I find that's plenty for me. You can always add 2 more later. The CPU is your bottleneck though, at 3.7 gb.

Out of curiosity why did you ask Crucial ?

Sue

Thanks Sue. I had their drives before, and was quite satisfied, but I am not dead set on buying their brand. Definitely open to suggestions. As for the possibility of losing a SATA connection, I guess I need to do more research. Oh, and I would appreciate ideas for more RAM, as in what brand? Thanks, Pete

[Priller]

M2 SSD's are a lot faster than SATA SSD's, that's an easy one.

Adding more RAM is always a good idea. Your CPU is recent enough and runs at 4.7 Gb in turbo.

Cheers,

Priller

[Dimus]

My M2 slot would also cost me 2 SATA slots if I used it. I did not want that so I used a PCI-Express adapter. It has worked great so far. It occupies a PCI-Express slot but I do not need it, just one GFX is enough. This is what the adaptor looks like:

https://www.ebay.com/i/283386153796?...saAjU0EALw_wcB

[Navy Chief]

M2 SSD's are a lot faster than SATA SSD's, that's an easy one.

Adding more RAM is always a good idea. Your CPU is recent enough and runs at 4.7 Gb in turbo.

Cheers,

Priller

Thanks Priller,
Although I guess it is easy enough to increase the speed of my CPU, I have always been afraid of messing things up. Pete

[Priller]

Thanks Priller,
Although I guess it is easy enough to increase the speed of my CPU, I have always been afraid of messing things up. Pete

Chief,

That Turbo speed of your CPU is standard. It will run at that speed as soon as it feels it is necessary. It might be that the speed is locked at the standard 3.7 Ghz in the BIOS, but you can unlock that at no risk whatsoever. The CPU was built to run at that speed when needed!

In other words, you don't even need to overclock.

Cheers,

Priller

[Navy Chief]

Chief,

That Turbo speed of your CPU is standard. It will run at that speed as soon as it feels it is necessary. It might be that the speed is locked at the standard 3.7 Ghz in the BIOS, but you can unlock that at no risk whatsoever. The CPU was built to run at that speed when needed!

In other words, you don't even need to overclock.

Cheers,

Priller

Hmm, well, I did go ahead and unlock & raised the speed to 4.5, along with increasing the voltage to 1.2. All seems to be running quite smoothly. Next, I am still thinking about getting a
M2 SSD, but just not sure what exactly to look for (brand or model). NC

[Navy Chief]

My M2 slot would also cost me 2 SATA slots if I used it. I did not want that so I used a PCI-Express adapter. It has worked great so far. It occupies a PCI-Express slot but I do not need it, just one GFX is enough. This is what the adaptor looks like:

https://www.ebay.com/i/283386153796?...saAjU0EALw_wcB

Well, I DID buy a PCI-Express adapter, but haven't installed it yet. I am waiting on a 500gb WD M.2. SSD to arrive, and I plan to use THAT in the adapter.
2TB

Meanwhile I received a 2TB WD M.2. SSD that I installed in the available M.2. slot on my MSI Z370 A Pro motherboard. So far, all I have been able to accomplish is formatting the new SSD, using the Win 10 Disk Manager. Then using Macrium Reflect, I cloned my existing Primary disc in C: drive (Samsung 860 EVO SSD) to the new WD NVMe M.2. SSD, but apparently there are more steps that must be done before cloning (or maybe afterwards?) that I do not understand how to do.

For now, I have a 2TB M.2. SSD occupying space on my motherboard, but it isn't doing anything else. What I want to do is replace the existing SSD in C:, and make the M.2. SSD the new Primary drive.

I began attempting all of this yesterday afternoon, and I am throwing in the towel for now! NC

[Priller]

Hi Chief,

Disconnect the Samsung 860 EVO SSD and reboot. Normally it should boot from the new M2 SSD.

After that, reboot again and reconnect the samsung and format it.

Priller

[wombat666]

Or go into the Bios and select the M2 as your first boot preference.
QED.

[Navy Chief]

Or go into the Bios and select the M2 as your first boot preference.
QED.

That's part of my problem, because it is not listed in the bios. Nc

[Priller]

Chief,

It's in the manual of your motherboard, starting at page 44. Basically in the "system status" part of the BIOS, you'll see SATA PortX/ M2_X. Check wether your M2 drive is recognized/listed as installed.

In the "advanced" part of the BIOS, check wether the M.2/Optane Genie is enabled.

BTW, if the genie is enabled, you should only reboot with the samsung disconnected, or the system will be confused.

Cheers,

Priller

[Navy Chief]

Chief,

It's in the manual of your motherboard, starting at page 44. Basically in the "system status" part of the BIOS, you'll see SATA PortX/ M2_X. Check wether your M2 drive is recognized/listed as installed.

In the "advanced" part of the BIOS, check wether the M.2/Optane Genie is enabled.

BTW, if the genie is enabled, you should only reboot with the samsung disconnected, or the system will be confused.

Cheers,

Priller

I am really hesitant to enable Optane Genie. The possibility of creating problems is too great for me!! Pete

[Priller]

I am really hesitant to enable Optane Genie. The possibility of creating problems is too great for me!! Pete

I'm not really familiar with that particular functionality, it was what the manual of your motherboard said.

But is your M.2 recognized in the "system status" part of your BIOS? And when the system has booted, do you see the disk in the disk management in the control panel?

Also, don't forget that, when windows is installed on a disk, it creates different partitions on that disk. In order for your system to be able to boot from the M.2 disk, all the partitions present on your samsung, need to be cloned to your M.2, otherwise the system will not boot from it.

Cheers,

Priller