New build issues

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
Hi again, so I've got the desktop today, everything seems to be in order, but I've plugged in my old Crucial SSD and neither BIOS nor Windows seem to detect it.
System is fully up to date, cables are brand new and the drive worked flawlessly in my old desktop.
I went into BIOS and SATA settings are AHCI instead of RAID. I didn't check or change anything else as I wouldn't even know where to begin with advanced settings for a modern BIOS, nor whether or not any BIOS tweaks would be required.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hi again, so I've got the desktop today, everything seems to be in order, but I've plugged in my old Crucial SSD and neither BIOS nor Windows seem to detect it.
System is fully up to date, cables are brand new and the drive worked flawlessly in my old desktop.
I went into BIOS and SATA settings are AHCI instead of RAID. I didn't check or change anything else as I wouldn't even know where to begin with advanced settings for a modern BIOS, nor whether or not any BIOS tweaks would be required.
AHCI is correct, you don't want to set it as RAID.
Have you plugged in both the SATA power and data cables?
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
I did, I even tried 2 more SATA connectors on the mobo, still no dice. Not sure if I can try another power cable, since getting to the PSU is pretty much impossible given how the desktop was assembled.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I did, I even tried 2 more SATA connectors on the mobo, still no dice. Not sure if I can try another power cable, since getting to the PSU is pretty much impossible given how the desktop was assembled.
What do you mean about the PSU?
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
I meant the chain of SATA connectors that you plug into the PSU with a 6 pin. Can't try that since 24 pin is in the way, as well as I/O cables.
Anyway, after google didn't lead me anywhere, I went to ASUS support, and their FAQs state that it could either be CSM, whatever that is, or 1-2 of the SATA ports being blocked because M2 slots are in use.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I meant the chain of SATA connectors that you plug into the PSU with a 6 pin. Can't try that since 24 pin is in the way, as well as I/O cables.
Anyway, after google didn't lead me anywhere, I went to ASUS support, and their FAQs state that it could either be CSM, whatever that is, or 1-2 of the SATA ports being blocked because M2 slots are in use.
It's more likely the M2 slots blocking some SATA ports. What number SATA port do you have it in? It needs to be in the low numbered ones.

What mobo do you have?
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
Mobo is ASUS TUF B550 PLUS, no idea about ports, there's 6 of them, 3 on top, 3 on bottom, but the quick reference sheet I was given by PCS doesn't have an index so no idea which ones to try.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Mobo is ASUS TUF B550 PLUS, no idea about ports, there's 6 of them, 3 on top, 3 on bottom, but the quick reference sheet I was given by PCS doesn't have an index so no idea which ones to try.
They're numbered 1 to 6, you need it in the first 4 as the last 2 (5 and 6) are disabled on that board with the second M2 populated.

It will show on the board the numbering, or you can look in the mobo manual

 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
Hi again.
I've got some questions about temps, fans, software etc. Anything in quotes is pulled from the order summany PDF.

Firstly, M2 SSD temps. The system drive seems to be running somewhat hot, but there are 2 readouts from HWinfo:
Temp 1 - Min: 38C - Current: 44C - Max: 45C
Temp 2 - Min: 51C - Current: 53C - Max: 56C

SSD is question is "500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVM". Second drive is "1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD", but it runs much cooler, at around 29C.

TLDR: are the temps for Samsung something to be worried about?

Next up: mobo ["ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready"]
Mobo itself runs fairly cool as well, at around 29C, but the chipset currently runs at 47C. Again, is this a cause for concern?

Next up: GPU fans.
They don't run at all. Literally at 0 RPM. The other day, I was playing a game and the GPU went as high as 56C at 70% activity and the fans remained at 0 RPM.
Should I be worrying y/n?

Next up: Corsair iCUE software. Is it absolutely necessary to have it installed? Reason I'm asking, and you're free to tell me off here, is because it uses almost 700MB of RAM and takes up nearly 3GBs of disk space. I disabled non-system LEDs through BIOS [onboard devices -> ROG effects] as I don't need them, but I'm wondering if the software controls anything crucial in the system.

Next up: SSD data retention. I came across this thing briefly but I'm not sure I understand how it works. Is it something to do with how long until a section of SSD's memory becomes corrupt because it wasn't re-/over-written in some time? Or is it something completely different?

I know this is a fair few questions, most of them very likely basic, but please do go into moderate amount of detail when replying, thanks in advance.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
SSD is question is "500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVM". Second drive is "1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD", but it runs much cooler, at around 29C.
The 500gb is your OS drive, it's being constantly read and written to which is why it's a lot higher. The secondary drive is your data drive so probably isn't being accessed at all. But there's nothing wrong with those temps


Next up: mobo ["ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready"]
Mobo itself runs fairly cool as well, at around 29C, but the chipset currently runs at 47C. Again, is this a cause for concern?
Those are positively cold temps.


Next up: GPU fans.
They don't run at all. Literally at 0 RPM. The other day, I was playing a game and the GPU went as high as 56C at 70% activity and the fans remained at 0 RPM.
Should I be worrying y/n?
No, GPU fans usually don't kick in until about 60c, so that's running extremely cool


Next up: Corsair iCUE software. Is it absolutely necessary to have it installed? Reason I'm asking, and you're free to tell me off here, is because it uses almost 700MB of RAM and takes up nearly 3GBs of disk space. I disabled non-system LEDs through BIOS [onboard devices -> ROG effects] as I don't need them, but I'm wondering if the software controls anything crucial in the system.
Common misconception. RAM not in use is wasted RAM. 700mb is tiny by today's standards. You don't need to worry about this in the slightest.


Next up: SSD data retention. I came across this thing briefly but I'm not sure I understand how it works. Is it something to do with how long until a section of SSD's memory becomes corrupt because it wasn't re-/over-written in some time? Or is it something completely different?
This is called IOPS (in and out processes), modern SSDs have far higher IOPS capacity than you'll ever reach during the lifetime of the build.

I think you're searching for issues that don't exist, much like when you were waiting for the PC by swapping cases and game compatibility.

Is there anything wrong with the pc that's making you ask these questions?
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
I've been out of the loop in terms of hardware that seeing things like 45/55C on an SSD, or GPU not using fans until necessary is just new to me. I'm not trying to bother any of you, this isn't trolling or time-wasting, I genuinely don't know what constitutes "safe operational parameters" as far as modern components are concerned, hence the salvo of questions, rather than running to PCS support just to waste their time with non-issues.
Again, I do apologise if I come across as needlessly paranoid, but this is a first desktop purchase since 2010, and while I do understand a lot has changed in 12 years, I am simply not aware of it all. Take M2 SSDs for example; until I started looking at components mid-may, I had no idea this was even a thing.
So again, sorry for all this drama. I very much appreciate everyone helping me and I'm not doing this deliberately to get on anyone's nerves.
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
Oh I'm absolutely loving this system and PCS delivered for 3rd consecutive time. Hardware runs super quiet, boots and runs fast, very responsive, no more lag or stutter when playing 720/1080p youtube videos. Yes, those actually lagged a bit on my older system...
Solid performance, though I need to figure out how stop older uncapped games from running at 2000fps, but that's for later. Windows 10 is a bit of a learning curve, but the internals aren't much different from 7 so it's not all alien. Updates aren't as annoying as people always claimed they are and it's better to be protected from threats/exploits and/or get new drivers and enjoy better performance.

Overall, there's a tonne of things I simply need to unlearn as far as tech is concerned. It's still work in progress due to aforementioned 12 years, but I'll get there. So thanks again to anyone who contributed and helped, you're all stars (y)
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Oh I'm absolutely loving this system and PCS delivered for 3rd consecutive time. Hardware runs super quiet, boots and runs fast, very responsive, no more lag or stutter when playing 720/1080p youtube videos. Yes, those actually lagged a bit on my older system...
Solid performance, though I need to figure out how stop older uncapped games from running at 2000fps, but that's for later. Windows 10 is a bit of a learning curve, but the internals aren't much different from 7 so it's not all alien. Updates aren't as annoying as people always claimed they are and it's better to be protected from threats/exploits and/or get new drivers and enjoy better performance.

Overall, there's a tonne of things I simply need to unlearn as far as tech is concerned. It's still work in progress due to aforementioned 12 years, but I'll get there. So thanks again to anyone who contributed and helped, you're all stars (y)
I didn't mean to come across that it's not ok to ask questions, my apologies, that was me misinterpreting why you were asking them, do of course ask away @JustARandomPerson very correctly says. This site is all about passing on knowledge.
 

FOX76255

Bronze Level Poster
You certainly didn't. You were simply curious as to where I'm coming from with all the concerns and I took no offense there.
And to answer the question once and for all - it's due to lack of up to date knowledge and personal bias/habits. But hey, every day is school day.

While I'm here, I got just one more question: can I contact PCS and ask them to upload every driver and piece of software they used for my build just like they did with an install image of Windows 10? Just so I can download them and store them on a drive somewhere in case I ever need to reinstall something without spending too much time sifting through 20 motherboard editions for example.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
You certainly didn't. You were simply curious as to where I'm coming from with all the concerns and I took no offense there.
And to answer the question once and for all - it's due to lack of up to date knowledge and personal bias/habits. But hey, every day is school day.

While I'm here, I got just one more question: can I contact PCS and ask them to upload every and piece of software they used for my build just like they did with an install image of Windows 10? Just so I can download them and store them on a drive somewhere in case I ever need to reinstall something without spending too much time sifting through 20 motherboard editions for example.
The speed at which general IT hardware has moved on even in the last 5 years is quite frankly frightening.

When I got my current laptop and desktop in 2014, we'd just moved from SATA SSD's to MSATA SSDs which were essentially the birth of M2 drives in card format but still at normal SATA speeds. From then we went to M2 SATA, then finally M2 NVME, and countless different versions and speeds of that. But that's a hell of lot of movement in quite frankly a remarkably short space of time.

maxresdefault.jpg


And that's just drives.

We've been through PCIe 3 up to 5 now in the space of 3 years!!!! That's insane! Normally we'd be on a PCIe revision for a good 10 years or so.

Same with RAM, going from DDR3 to now DDR5


It's just everything has shot up so fast. The only reason I've remained slightly current is this forum, but I'm still finding a lot of my feedback is out of date now, it's just so hard to keep up.
 
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