Questions about CPU and Storage

robbie127

Member
Hi everyone.

As the title says I have a couple of questions to ask about my first desktop PC build.
I'm looking to spend around £2000. Will be using it for 1440 and VR gaming. Will also be using it for a lot of coding and game development.
Monitor will likely be a Gigabyte G27Q, and is not included in the budget.

My first question is regarding the CPU. The Ryzen 9 5900X is only around another £50 on top of the 5800X that is currently in the spec. It seems like a small price increase for 4 more cores and double the L3 cache. Will the Ryzen 9 be more worth it?

Secondly is about the storage. I currently have a 2TB Seagate SSD in. I have also looked at the 500GB Seagate Firecuda 520 M.2, paired with the 1TB version of the Seagate Barracuda, which comes to almost the same price, but for 500GB less space. Will I notice much difference from having an M.2 drive, or am I better off sticking with the single larger SSD?

Any other comments regarding this spec would be very much appreciated

Many thanks!
Rob


Case
THERMALTAKE V200 2.0 TEMPERED GLASS RGB EDITION GAMING CASE
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AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
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ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
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8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
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2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
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robbie127

Member
Boot and program/game loading times with an M.2 are way faster
Thank you for your reply.
I think I'm currently leaning towards including an M.2 drive, but have done less research into the options.
Do you know if the Seagate Firecuda is a good option, or am I better off going with another brand?
 

Ash_

Master Poster
Thank you for your reply.
I think I'm currently leaning towards including an M.2 drive, but have done less research into the options.
Do you know if the Seagate Firecuda is a good option, or am I better off going with another brand?
My understanding is... Samsung
 

Harag

Gold Level Poster
SAMSUNG 980 PRO-- the 500gb one is what was recommended to me by several members here (and in other peoples builds) when I put in a build for my new beast, so I'd go with that. 500gb for all your software / windows installs and then use the SSD for your games / programs (unless the MoBO can have 2x M.2 inserted then get a 2nd M.2 for your games) :)

EDIT: Sorry Just checked my Order - go with this if you can, something like this:

1st M.2 SSD Drive500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
The samsungs come highly rated if you can get them in your budget especially the 980, however if budget is tight and you still considering putting an M.2 in then the PCS ones are very good value (I've got 3, 2 in PC and 1 in laptop)
Thank you for your reply.
I think I'm currently leaning towards including an M.2 drive, but have done less research into the options.
Do you know if the Seagate Firecuda is a good option, or am I better off going with another brand?
 

robbie127

Member
Thank you for your replies everyone.
The Samsung 980 definitely seems highly rated so I've put it in, alongside the 1TB Seagate Barracude 120 SSD, as my budget doesn't quite stretch to a second M.2 at this stage, but I'll definitely look at adding one as an upgrade in the near future if I find myself running out of space.
Thank you again it's been very helpful!
 
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