Win10 / Steam Library / Client App Drive install Options - What Should Go Where?

[Pitboy64]

Building a new rig (sans GPU ... of course) and I'm stuck with a conceptual issue as I migrate tasks ... what storage drive should hold what?
Windows / Steam and other Game Client Apps / Steam Library ... What is best in my scenario?

 

PLEASE read, asking very specific questions. Thanks.

Mod: Not sure if there is a better sub to put this in ... its gaming, its storage and its general tech. If it belongs elsewhere, leme know, I'll move it ... or you can.
 

Old Rig:

C:/ - 1TB Nvme M.2 SSD holds the Win10 OS, Photoshop (Elements install not CC), other Apps AND Steam software and most other game clients.

D:/ - 1TB 2.5 SATA SSD holds Steam library and some mission critical personal files and win config backup files.

E:/ - Another 1TB 2.5 SATA SSD holds a slew of tech testing apps I dont want taking up room on either the others, and music is in there too (dont use it much).

- Actual photo files have kinda spread amongst the above over time, and I dont like that.  I do/will not use Lightroom, so lets not drag the convo that way.
- I have about 15 odd games in the library, will have up to 20, but I'm fine with deleting old games I finished and not interested in anymore.

- There's also a NAS in raid 5 with 24TB doing long term storage duty, photo RAW storage and working photo backup, and a portable 4TB deep-six mission critical backup occasionally plugged into the NAS, and a cloud backup of that so I have 3-2-1, but none of that is involved in this question.
 

New Rig:
- A new 2TB 980 Pro Nvme M.2 PCIe3
and the above mentioned;
- existing 1TB Nvme M.2
- and existing 2x 1TB SATA 2.5 SSD's - but I will probably keep the testing apps and music on one, and use the other for all working photos.
 

Question:

I am bouncing between:
 

1)
- C:/ keeping the OS on the old 1TB Nvme M.2, and thats it on that one (as well as use as a daily driver temp doc, pdf and online and my doc and desktop file dump I can lose with an OS drive fail or corruption),
- D:/ for apps and libraries on the new 2TB Nvme M.2 - put the Ps app (no photos), Game installs, game clients AND steam libraries on it,
- E and F:/ and use one 2.5 SSD's for tech apps and music and the other one dedicated to just working photo holding during edit.

OR
 

2)
- C:/ Cloning the OS, and all Ps, game clients, etc - on the 2TB Nvme M.2,
- D:/ steam library ONLY to fill the old 1TB Nvme M.2. 
- E and F:/ and use one 2.5 SSD's for tech apps and music and the other one dedicated to just working photo holding during edit.

There are pos and neg ... both ways.

 

The obvious benefit to 1 is safety and long term Win10(11) health that a fail wont affect much else.
The obvious benefit to 2 is by giving the steam library to its own Nvme drive, I can very easily upgrade the size one day to 2 or 4TB, and nothing else is disturbed.
 

Is there a performance difference either way, or is it smarter to take any performance hit, but keep the OS segregated from all the apps?
Of course I am open to alternate options.

 

What may matter:
* I DONT INSTALL A LOT, so no real concern about running out of room on C:/ drive either way.
* New mobo is an Asus Hero Z490, so I know I lose the m.2 16x speed and both M.2's will run at 8X ... and that sucks, but I can still add 4x2.5 ssd's (room for 2 more). 
* I wont put in a 3rd M.2 as I will lose those two sata slots. Yes ... I thought about it for just apps and game clients, but I will be maxed out for any other future potential drive. 
* Also I'm running an i9-10850 (big dip 10 minute Newegg price; $300 Canadian ... hallo) and 64Gig 3600 (i know ... overkill ... future protecting till my next new build in a world of affordable PCIe5 and DDR6), so I dont expect any lag or game studder between 2 fast Nvme drives (ie: Win - client - library). 
* Waiting for an Asus Strix 3080, I'll continue with my 1080ti till then.

 

Long I know, sorry ... but I have to figure this out, looking for help for anything I didnt think about.
Thanks for reading this far, any thoughts?

[Electronics Wizardy]

26 minutes ago, Pitboy64 said:

* New mobo is an Asus Hero Z490, so I know I lose the m.2 16x speed and both M.2's will run at 8X ...

Huh, m.2 all run at x4 max, and it won't affect the gpu here as they all run from the chipset.

 

Id do a fresh install and option 1 here, but with a fresh windows install. But it really won't matter performance wise.  These drives are fast enough for all of the tasks listed, and none of these uses needs much io performance.

 

 

Also I woudln't order a 980 pro here, get the 970 evo as you can't use gen 4, there is basically no performance.