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What's your boot drive? (Any recommendations?)
- Thread starter Palindrome
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| System Name | KHR-1 |
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| Motherboard | ASRock B550 PG Velocita (UEFI-BIOS P3.40) |
| Memory | 64 GB G.Skill RipJaws V F4-3200C16D-64GVK |
| Video Card(s) | Sparkle Titan Arc A770 16 GB |
| Storage | Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB NVMe SSD |
| Display(s) | Alienware AW3423DWF OLED-ASRock PG27Q15R2A (backup) |
| Case | Corsair 275R |
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| Power Supply | eVGA Supernova G3 750W |
| Mouse | Logitech G Pro (Hero) |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro x64 23H2 |
I've heard excellent things about Optane, but those are hard to come by now, IIRC.
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Crucial P5 Plus.
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| System Name | Still not a thread ripper but pretty good. |
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| Processor | Ryzen 9 7950x, Thermal Grizzly AM5 Offset Mounting Kit, Thermal Grizzly Extreme Paste |
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| Memory | Micron DDR5-5600 ECC Unbuffered Memory (2 sticks, 64GB, MTC20C2085S1EC56BD1) + JONSBO NF-1 |
| Video Card(s) | XFX Radeon RX 5700 & EK-Quantum Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT & Backplate |
| Storage | Samsung 4TB 980 PRO, 2 x Optane 905p 1.5TB (striped), AMD Radeon RAMDisk |
| Display(s) | 2 x 4K LG 27UL600-W (and HUANUO Dual Monitor Mount) |
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905P is available in decent capacity at newegg. If you get the 1.5TB version you want to get a PCIe adaptor or NVMe adaptor as it doesn't come with any adaptor.
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| System Name | Gamer |
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| Motherboard | Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite WIFI |
| Cooling | Apogee XL, MCR360, MCP655, Micro-rez |
| Memory | 2x16GB G.Skill DDR4-3600 CL16 |
| Video Card(s) | RX 9070 XT Hellstone OC |
| Storage | WD SN850 1TB & SN750 1TB |
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I see the Optane drive to be much like the Betamax of the VHS world or HD-DVD of the Blu Ray world. Doesn't matter if it was better in some areas, it lost to the overall competition.
My boot drive is a WD SN850 1TB & I've been happy with its performance.
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Samsung 970 Pro 1TB for me.
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personally this isn't shabby for their inhouse SOC powering this NVME but it has some serious idle/sleep issues. T500 and T505 was better overall.
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| System Name | KHR-1 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Ryzen 9 5900X |
| Motherboard | ASRock B550 PG Velocita (UEFI-BIOS P3.40) |
| Memory | 64 GB G.Skill RipJaws V F4-3200C16D-64GVK |
| Video Card(s) | Sparkle Titan Arc A770 16 GB |
| Storage | Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB NVMe SSD |
| Display(s) | Alienware AW3423DWF OLED-ASRock PG27Q15R2A (backup) |
| Case | Corsair 275R |
| Audio Device(s) | Technics SA-EX140 receiver with Polk VT60 speakers |
| Power Supply | eVGA Supernova G3 750W |
| Mouse | Logitech G Pro (Hero) |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro x64 23H2 |
That's the same SSD my daily driver has.
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I have a WD SN580 2TB for my Dell and a WD SN350 for my Lenovo T14
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Samsung 980 Pro (without heatsink) 500GB is fast and affordable as well.
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| System Name | Meh |
|---|---|
| Processor | 7800X3D |
| Motherboard | MSI X670E Tomahawk |
| Cooling | Thermalright Phantom Spirit |
| Memory | 32GB G.Skill @ 6000/CL30 |
| Video Card(s) | Gainward RTX 4090 Phantom / Undervolt + OC |
| Storage | Samsung 990 Pro 2TB + WD SN850X 1TB + 64TB NAS/Server |
| Display(s) | 27" 1440p IPS @ 360 Hz + 32" 4K/UHD QD-OLED @ 240 Hz + 77" 4K/UHD QD-OLED @ 144 Hz VRR |
| Case | Fractal Design North XL |
| Audio Device(s) | FiiO DAC |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM1000x / Native 12VHPWR |
| Mouse | Logitech G Pro Wireless Superlight + Razer Deathadder V3 Pro |
| Keyboard | Corsair K60 Pro / MX Low Profile Speed |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
I personally like 970 Evo / 990 Pro and SN850 / SN850X. Overkill for most people I guess. Never had issues with Samsung and WD.
Not really bothered with PCIe 5.0 SSDs yet and probably won't be, considering they don't deliver anything for me in terms of loading times, but gets hot and needs active cooling in most cases.
Not really bothered with PCIe 5.0 SSDs yet and probably won't be, considering they don't deliver anything for me in terms of loading times, but gets hot and needs active cooling in most cases.
INSTG8R
Vanguard Beta Tester
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| System Name | Hellbox 5.1(same case new guts) |
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| Processor | Ryzen 7 5800X3D |
| Motherboard | MSI X570S MAG Torpedo Max |
| Cooling | TT Kandalf L.C.S.(Water/Air)EK Velocity CPU Block/Noctua EK Quantum DDC Pump/Res |
| Memory | 2x16GB Gskill Trident Neo Z 3600 CL16 |
| Video Card(s) | Powercolor Hellhound 7900XTX |
| Storage | 970 Evo Plus 500GB 2xSamsung 850 Evo 500GB RAID 0 1TB WD Blue Corsair MP600 Core 2TB |
| Display(s) | Alienware QD-OLED 34” 3440x1440 144hz 10Bit VESA HDR 400 |
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| Audio Device(s) | Soundblaster ZX/Logitech Z906 5.1 |
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| Software | Win 11 Pro x64 |
Running the EVO Plus in 512GB flavour as my boot drive. I’m on my desktop in under 20sec. I don’t see any reason to switch to anything else. My games NVME is Gen 4 where it might make a difference.
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| System Name | PC on since March 2025, upgraded from 5900X |
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| Processor | Ryzen 7 9700X (March 2025), 150W PPT limit, 85C temp limit, CO -25, +100MHz (up to 5.65GHz) |
| Motherboard | Asrock X870E NOVA, BIOS v3.2, AGESA PI 1.2.0.3a Patch A |
| Cooling | Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420mm Rev7 (Jan 2024) with off-center mount for Ryzen, TIM: Kryosheet |
| Memory | 2x32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB (March2025) 6200MT/s 1.42V CL30-36-36-36-28-64 1T, tRFC:500, Hynix A-D |
| Video Card(s) | Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900XTX (Dec 2023) 314~467W (370W current) PowerLimit, 1060mV, Adrenalin v25.3.1 |
| Storage | NVMe: 990Pro 2TB(OS 25), 980Pro 1TB(22), 970Pro 512(19) / S-III: 850Pro 1TB(15) 860Evo 1TB(20) |
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| Software | Windows 11 Home 64bit (v24H2, OSBuild 26100.3775), Install March 2025 |
NVMe 980Pro 1TB PCI-E 4.0Would be great to hear what y'all are using
Previously I had as a boot drive the NVMe 970Pro 512GB PCI-E 3.0. Slightly worst speeds and slightly better endurance (MLC vs TLC)
Both drives are on the system right now but 980Pro is the boot one
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2.5 Sata 500GB PNY
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| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5700X |
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| Cooling | Noctua NH-U12S Redux |
| Memory | 4x8G Teamgroup Vulcan Z DDR4; 3600MHz @ CL18 |
| Video Card(s) | MSI Ventus 2X GeForce RTX 3060 12GB |
| Storage | WD_Black SN770, Leven JPS600, Toshiba DT01ACA |
| Display(s) | Samsung ViewFinity S6 |
| Case | Fractal Design Pop Air TG |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX750M |
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Twas a WD_Black SN770 where my install of Win10 lives, but now I typically run my tasks off an eensy Linux Mint partition on my secondary drive, a Leven JPS600. Uh, don't buy the latter. I can't attest to their reliability, especially since the first drive they sent me was non-functional and didn't even have the heat spreader pre-applied like the working replacement did.
If you just want a plain and simple option to stick in there and fuhgeddaboutit, A Western Digital Blue SN580 or a Crucial P3 Plus/P310 is enough. The WD_Black SN770 and Crucial P5 Plus are good midgrade options, while the SK Hynix Platinum P41/WD_Black SN850X are some of the best gen 4 drives at the moment. Gen 5 is still not all that cost-effective and runs rather hot without active cooling, so avoid that for the time being. Samsung's 980 Pro and 990 Pro are also nice, but IIRC are not well-priced at all and as such are superceded by other options.
If you just want a plain and simple option to stick in there and fuhgeddaboutit, A Western Digital Blue SN580 or a Crucial P3 Plus/P310 is enough. The WD_Black SN770 and Crucial P5 Plus are good midgrade options, while the SK Hynix Platinum P41/WD_Black SN850X are some of the best gen 4 drives at the moment. Gen 5 is still not all that cost-effective and runs rather hot without active cooling, so avoid that for the time being. Samsung's 980 Pro and 990 Pro are also nice, but IIRC are not well-priced at all and as such are superceded by other options.
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| Motherboard | Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite Ax DDR5 |
| Cooling | ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 + P12 Max Fans |
| Memory | 32GB Kingston Fury Beast @ 6000 |
| Video Card(s) | Asus Tuf 4090 24GB |
| Storage | 4TB sn850x, 2TB sn850x, 2TB Netac Nv7000 + 2TB p5 plus, 4TB MX500 * 2 = 18TB. Plus dvd burner. |
| Display(s) | Dell 23.5" 1440P IPS panel |
| Case | Lian Li LANCOOL II MESH Performance Mid-Tower |
| Audio Device(s) | Logitech Z623 |
| Power Supply | Gigabyte ud850gm pg5 |
| Keyboard | msi gk30 |
I'm using my 2TB sn850x right now. I was using the Netac nv7000 2TB before but I was thinking with so many ssds I might as well rotate the boot drive around, so the writes get distributed more evenly. That makes sense, right?
TheLostSwede
News Editor
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| System Name | Overlord Mk MLI |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets |
| Memory | 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68 |
| Video Card(s) | Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS |
| Storage | 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000 |
| Display(s) | Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz |
| Case | Fractal Design Torrent Compact |
| Audio Device(s) | Corsair Virtuoso SE |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W |
| Mouse | Logitech G502 Lightspeed |
| Keyboard | Corsair K70 Max |
| Software | Windows 10 Pro |
| Benchmark Scores | https://valid.x86.fr/yfsd9w |
Solidigm P44 Pro.
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| System Name | Laptop ASUS TUF F15 | Desktop 1 | Desktop 2 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-11800H | Intel Core i5-14600K@135W | Intel Core i3-10100 |
| Motherboard | ASUS FX506HC | Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 | MSI MAG B560M Bazooka |
| Cooling | Laptop built-in cooling lol | Thermalright Assassin Spirit w/ BeQuiet Shadow Wings fan| Stock Copper |
| Memory | 24 GB @ 3200 | 32 GB @ 3733 | 16 GB @ 3200 |
| Video Card(s) | Nvidia RTX 3050 Mobile 4GB | Nvidia GTX 1650 | Nvidia GTX 960 2 GB |
| Storage | Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB | Samsung M2 SSD 256 GB & 1 TB 2.5" HDD @ 7200| SSD 250 GB & SSD 240 GB |
| Display(s) | Laptop built-in 144 Hz FHD screen | Dell 27" WQHD @ 75 Hz & 49" TV FHD | Samsung 32" TV FHD |
| Case | It's a laptop, it doesn't need case lmfao | Deepcool Mattrexx 55 MESH | Aerocool Cylon PRO |
| Audio Device(s) | laptop built in audio | Logitech 2.1 speakers | Logitech stereo speakers |
| Power Supply | ASUS 180W PSU | SeaSonic Focus GX-550 | SeaSonic M12II EVO 520W |
| Mouse | Logitech G604 | Corsair Harpoon wired mouse| Logitech G305 |
| Keyboard | Laptop built-in keyboard |Razer Blackwidow | Steelseries APEX 7 TKL |
| VR HMD | Quest 2 sold out and don't need VR anymore lol |
| Software | Windows 10 Enterprise 20H2 | Windows 10 Enterprise 20H2 & Ubuntu Mate 24.04.2| Windows 11 24H2 LTSC |
| Benchmark Scores | good enough |
I'll repeat: I was happy with WD Black SN770. Have been using 970 Evo too. Both are perfect. Also, I like ADATA XPG 8200 Pro. Steal for it's price.