M.2 SSD Drive Options

Kev123

Member
Hi, Im speccing up a PC with an i9-10980XE processor and an ASUS PRIMe X299-A II board. For some reason I cannot choose a Seagate Firecdua 530 GEN 4 as the 1st M.2 SSD Drive but I can select it as the second M.2 SSD Drive. I only want one M.2 SSD Drive and would prefer it to be the faster Firecuda that the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS.

Does anyone know why? Can I leave the 1st drive as none and just select the Firecuda as the 2nd? Does it matter?
 
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Kev123

Member
Looking into this further, has it got something to with the Firtecuda requiring PCIe 4.0 hardware? Does the motherboard or processor need to support it? So confused!
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hi, Im speccing up a PC with I9-10980XE abnd an ASUS PRIMe X299-A II board. For some reason I cannot choose a Seagate Firecdua 530 GEN 4 as the 1st M.2 SSD Drive but I can as the second M.2 SSD Drive. I only want one M.2 SSD Drive and would prefer it to be the faster Firecuda that the Samsung 970 EVO PLUS.

Does anyone know why>?
Neither the X299 chipset or 10th gen Intel support PCIE 4.0, which the Firecuda 530 is, meaning it'd run at gen 3 speeds. I'd imagine it's a mistake on PCS' part to offer those drives as options on that configurator.

That said, X299 is a terrible choice to make in 2021, the Chipset is now 4 years old and Intel 10th gen is not a great generation of CPU anyway. You'd get far better value for money from a Ryzen system or far more performance from a Threadripper system. I'd highly recommend a read of the thread below for more info.


The only reason I'd be going Intel for this level of performance currently is if you use software that's physically incompatible with any AMD system. That said if that is the case, 12th gen Intel is due out later this year and from the rumours it looks to be promising so I'd suggest holding off if that's the case.
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Thank you. Is there a way of finding out if a piece of software is incompatible with AMD?
What's the piece of software? The vast majority of software does support AMD these days and it's a very select few that don't. Generally a quick Google search should give you the answer
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
What's the piece of software? The vast majority of software does support AMD these days and it's a very select few that don't. Generally a quick Google search should give you the answer
Well written modern software will always query the CPU on which it's running to establish its capabilities, to ensure that it's not trying to use features that the executing CPU doesn't posses. There are capability differences even between different models of Intel CPUs for example. Whilst it IS possible to write an application that will only run on Intel CPUs, or even only run on specific models of Intel CPUs, any application that does so should IMO be avoided. It's fair to claim that all commercial Windows software designed to run on 64-bit Windows will run without problems regardless of the CPU manufacturer or CPU model. It might well run faster or more efficiently on some models of CPU than on others, but it will run.
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Well written modern software will always query the CPU on which it's running to establish its capabilities, to ensure that it's not trying to use features that the executing CPU doesn't posses. There are capability differences even between different models of Intel CPUs for example. Whilst it IS possible to write an application that will only run on Intel CPUs, or even only run on specific models of Intel CPUs, any application that does so should IMO be avoided. It's fair to claim that all commercial Windows software designed to run on 64-bit Windows will run without problems regardless of the CPU manufacturer or CPU model. It might well run faster or more efficiently on some models of CPU than on others, but it will run.
Brilliant! Thanks for that explanation👍
 

Kev123

Member
The software is Faro Scene 5.3. Thats from 2015. Its obviously been updated but its very expensive to get the latest update and not necessary for what I use it for.

With AMD processors I can only spec up to 64GB RAM. I had my mind set on 128GB. Does this swing things back into the i9 court? At the end of the day I need as fast as I can afford (£3k budget). Scene uses alot of CPU processing and will utilise cores. Write speed to hard disk is important too.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
The software is Faro Scene 5.3. Thats from 2015. Its obviously been updated but its very expensive to get the latest update and not necessary for what I use it for.

With AMD processors I can only spec up to 64GB RAM. I had my mind set on 128GB. Does this swing things back into the i9 court? At the end of the day I need as fast as I can afford (£3k budget). Scene uses alot of CPU processing and will utilise cores. Write speed to hard disk is important too.
You're comparing Intel HEDT (high end desktop) CPU's with AMD desktop CPU's.

Desktop CPU's aren't designed for high RAM scenarios. If you require big RAM, then you'd go for an AMD Threadripper build which is their HEDT range which can go up to 256Gb RAM.

But performance wise, AMD desktop CPU's outperform Intel HEDT CPU's.

The equivalent cost AMD HEDT processor to the Intel 10980XE is the 3955WX Threadripper Pro which is 16 cores. Performance wise it's literally like having 2 of the Intel processors.

Here for Threadripper pro: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-wrx80-pc/
Here for normal Threadrippers: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-trx40-pc/

They're both X86 Architecture CPU's.

From the forums, they're all suggesting the 3960X or 3970X for a workstation build stating that over 32 cores isn't addressable by the software, but those 2 would be a higher budget level. It appears more GPU based processing.


In the hardware requirements for the 2015 version of Scene which is v5.5, it only states it requires a 64bit processor which all are these days, it doesn't state any requirement as to AMD or Intel, it's any x86 architecture.

 
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Kev123

Member
Thank you so much for looking into Scene and even trawling the Laser Scanning Forum of which I know really well!

I am leaning towards the Threadripper Pro now, the only thing that put me off was that the marketing looks like its more geared towards gaming and intel looks more professional (from my lay man's point of view!). The thing is I've also been surfing the web and looking at the intel 12th gen new 'Alder Lake' CPU's rumoured out very soon and rumoured to support DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5 (SSD write speeds of 14GB/m). ARGGHHH!

The thing is a low spec PC on here would be faster than what I got I just would like to know I can get the biggest bang for my buck, who doesn't it?

The other problem I have is that I am 8 days into Pre-production on the intel i9 PC build. Need to have a nice chat with the PC specialists tomorrow morning to review my options, I may be stuck with the i9.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Thank you so much for looking into Scene and even trawling the Laser Scanning Forum of which I know really well!

I am leaning towards the Threadripper Pro now, the only thing that put me off was that the marketing looks like its more geared towards gaming and intel looks more professional (from my lay man's point of view!). The thing is I've also been surfing the web and looking at the intel 12th gen new 'Alder Lake' CPU's rumoured out very soon and rumoured to support DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5 (SSD write speeds of 14GB/m). ARGGHHH!

The thing is a low spec PC on here would be faster than what I got I just would like to know I can get the biggest bang for my buck, who doesn't it?

The other problem I have is that I am 8 days into Pre-production on the intel i9 PC build. Need to have a nice chat with the PC specialists tomorrow morning to review my options, I may be stuck with the i9.
The i9 is really really poor, not just in performance, but it's riddled with security flaws, a lot of which can't be patched. It also suck a stupid level of power which is quite frankly ludicrous.

HEDT wouldn't be used for gaming. People do if they're primarily workstation focussed but ALSO game, but no one would spec one just for gaming as they have lower single core performance to desktop processors, they're purely aimed at multithreaded workloads, which is a different workload to gaming.

PCS will likely swap over to an AMD platform without issue if you phone and ask, but in the worst case, given the option of sticking with the Intel or starting over, in my mind, there's no question over it, you'd start over. Losing a week over sacrificing substantial performance for out of date architecture is just madness. This is a long term investment, and not something you could upgrade as the Intel platform is officially dead already.




Notice in the main, they'll compare the Intel HEDT chip with AMD's 3950x desktop chip, it's literally because Intel's HEDT are desktop CPU's in performance, they're that poor.
 
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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
This may all be moot though anyway, With 128Gb RAM, even before I've added a GPU, it's coming over the £3000 budget, and this software appears to be mostly GPU based.

Do you already have your own GPU to add, or is there another factor that we need to know?
 

Kev123

Member
Thank you once again for your replies. Yes Pro's are too much money. I think just the 24 core Threadripper will do nicely. This is what I am thinking of going with now.

It's coming out as £3606 Inc VAT which is on budget (I was budgeting 3k PLUS vat,) sorry didn't mention before VAT earlier.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB540 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24 Core CPU (3.8GHz - 4.5GHz, 142MB CACHE)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX TRX40-E GAMING (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (8 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00005]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
 

Kev123

Member
What's your opinion on the motherboard? I totally haven't got a clue, it doesn't need WiFi and more USB ports the better really.

In terms of GPU my current one I'd rubbish so I'm settling for this 8GB rtx 3060ti. From reading the forums I don't think GPU is that critical. I don't do 3d modelling but I do use AutoCAD and Recap so there is some graphics to be handled but it's not video or rendering etc.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Ah, it appears it's the new TRX80 motherboards on the Pro Threadrippers which is what bumps up the cost so much, it's quite rediculous.

Thank you once again for your replies. Yes Pro's are too much money. I think just the 24 core Threadripper will do nicely. This is what I am thinking of going with now.

It's coming out as £3606 Inc VAT which is on budget (I was budgeting 3k PLUS vat,) sorry didn't mention before VAT earlier.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB540 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24 Core CPU (3.8GHz - 4.5GHz, 142MB CACHE)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX TRX40-E GAMING (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (8 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00005]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Looks good.

Couple of pointers:

I would drop bullguard, it's known to cause issues with networking, high CPU usage and BSODS. Windows defender is better anyway and free.

I would also drop down to windows 10 for any production machine. I have no doubt windows 11 will be better but currently it's got bugs that need to be addressed. The upgrade to windows 11 is free anyway so wouldn't be an issue from that regard.

I would also suggest a higher warranty. Silver is only £5 but a machine of this value, I'd be looking at gold to be safe.

With Threadripper, you really want a decent PSU. While you may have the 3060ti currently, you're planning for the future. As such, I'd suggest the 1000w RMX.

What's your opinion on the motherboard? I totally haven't got a clue, it doesn't need WiFi and more USB ports the better really.

In terms of GPU my current one I'd rubbish so I'm settling for this 8GB rtx 3060ti. From reading the forums I don't think GPU is that critical. I don't do 3d modelling but I do use AutoCAD and Recap so there is some graphics to be handled but it's not video or rendering etc.
The Strix boards are very good, built of high end components and reliable. For Asus it's their 2nd from the top tier. It has really solid VRM layout which is ultimately important for Threadripper:



With any kind of hardware accelerated application (where it converts GPU into processing power), the application will use whatever you throw at it, it will act just like a CPU and lower the time taken for the same job. So you want the highest you can possibly get. Both Autocad and Recap benefit from hardware acceleration, and it appears Faro is primarily GPU bound, the idea is to have a multi GPU setup.

3060ti is a strong card, it's a great card and very good to start off on, but you may find you want to upgrade to a higher tier card in the future. The sky is the limit with hardware acceleration, you just strap in GPU after GPU for multi GPU setups that increase performance far more than the CPU ever could.
 

Kev123

Member
Hi, I've hit a stumbling block on GPU's. As you can see below I started off with an 8GB NVIDIA 3060 Ti but then swapped to an AMD Radeon Po W5700 as I was lead to believe its more suitable for CAD which is what the PC is mainly going to be used for. I am told the W5700 is out of stock and was due in on 02.11 but did not arrive and they dont know when it will arrive. Can anyone help me choose another card please


Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24 Core CPU (3.8GHz - 4.5GHz, 142MB CACHE)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX TRX40-E GAMING (DDR4, Wi-Fi 6, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
128GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (8 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
Change to [AMD RADEON™ PRO W5500 WORKSTATION - 8GB, 1408 Streams, 4 x mDP] from [8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR]
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00005]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-trx40-pc/7sT7hDMP2s/
 
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Kev123

Member
Hi, the last post was created as a new thread because it is a separate issue to this topic. I was starting a topic on GPU's for CAD Workstations. Why was it merged then?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hi, the last post was created as a new thread because it is a separate issue to this topic. I was starting a topic on GPU's for CAD Workstations. Why was it merged then?
It's for the same build, it's easier to s e the history and see what it relates to, nothing unusual about it.
 

Kev123

Member
Oh OK. If it doesn't garner any interest can I set up a new thread just asking generally what one looks for in GPU for CAD workstations, would that be OK?
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Oh OK. If it doesn't garner any interest can I set up a new thread just asking generally what one looks for in GPU for CAD workstations, would that be OK?
No. If your questions relate to the same build then keep them in the same thread please.
 
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