Drive for fastest boot

[LED_Guy]

I need help with selecting a boot drive.  I want the shortest boot time and fastest all around performance.  I will be using the drive in a system with a 5960X, ASUS X99 Deluxe, and 64GB DDR4 2800 MHz (yes I need that much RAM).

 

I will be running Windows 7 ultimate or Windows 8.1 Professional.

 

I am trying to decide between Samsung XP941 512GB for boot and Samsung 850 Pro 1TB for applications and Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe either 960GB or 1920GB for combined boot/applications.  Dark horse would be a pair of 850 Pros in RAID0.

 

The system will be used mostly for numerical simulation/modeling and optical design/ray trace.  It will also be a gaming computer in the evening.  Budget for the entire system is $7,500 - $8,000 so price is not a major concern.

[Guest]

Couple of 1Tb Samsung 850 Pro's In raid 0.

Then maybe 2x (3TB WD Black Drives)

[LED_Guy]

That would beat the Scorpion at ~2,000 MB/sec read/write or the XP941 at >1,000 MB/sec read/write?

[Guest]

That would beat the Scorpion at ~2,000 MB/sec read/write or the XP941 at >1,000 MB/sec read/write?

Defiantly not, but im taking into account the fact that you still have a budget.

Maybe add a 240Gb Scorpion drive for the OS and the applications you use.. 3DS Max/Maya/Other.

[LED_Guy]

No offense, but I asked about performance and you answered with a budget in mind.

 

I have quite a healthy budget.  Even at the low end $7,500 is not a budget build.  Currently I am looking at a combination of an XP941 512GB and a Samsung 850 Pro 1TB.  Combined that comes in at ~$1,200.  I want information on performance, not budget.  If I am even considering a 1920 GB Scorpion Deluxe, then that should tell you something. 

 

Here is the full build I am contemplating (totals to ~$7,150), so I have up to $850 left in my budget.  Please answer accordingly.

 

CPU:                        i7 5960X (overclocked)

CPU Cooler:            NZXT Kraken X61

Mobo:                      ASUS X99 Deluxe

GPU:                       2x GALAX GTX 980 HOF (SLI)

RAM:                       64 GB DDR4 2800 MHz (G.Skill Ripjaws 4)

Boot Drive:              Samsung XP941 512GB

Apps/Game Drive:   Samsung 850 Pro 1TB

Data/backup:           2x Western Digital Caviar Black 4TB (RAID1)

Case:                       Thermaltake Core v51

PSU:                        Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W

Display:                   3x Samsung S27D590C

[IdeaStormer]

64 GB of RAM will slow or delay your BIOS boot time, not a ton but will slow it down unless you disable the check RAM function. Since you're using Windows disabling unused services and programs that are attempting to startup at boot time will affect you more than a particular SSD vs another.

[LED_Guy]

I need the RAM for ray trace analysis of optical designs.  That isn't an option.  I do appreciate the advice/information though.  Very useful.  That being said . . .

 

The base question remains.  Given what I have stated about my system, what hardware (drive) options will give me the fastest boot time?

[sweenytodd]

Enable fast boot in BIOS.

[LED_Guy]

Hardware answers please . . .

 

Everyone is telling me changes that I can do irrespective of my hardware set.  Again the information is greatly appreciated, but the answers aren't directed to the correct target.

[WoodenMarker]

Why is boot time such an important issue?

[Guest]

Hardware answers please . . .

 

Everyone is telling me changes that I can do irrespective of my hardware set.  Again the information is greatly appreciated, but the answers aren't directed to the correct target.

 

Why is boot time such an important issue?

Also the scorpion PCI-E drive and others of the same type don't boot much faster than a high-end SSD as it takes time to load the LSI optrom and initialize everything when booting from an OS, even in a PCI-E X16 slot,

[LED_Guy]

Ummm, it's important because I am spending enough on drives to build a computer.  If I'm going to spend $7,500 on a computer then I want certain performance characteristics.  Would you spend that much on a computer and want to wait 5 minutes for it to boot?

 

It's my build.  Does it really matter?

[LED_Guy]

@Pearsonia - Thanks you ! ! !  That's the kind of answer I have been looking for.

 

So I that takes care of the Mushkin.  Would there be much of a difference between the XP941 and the 850 Pro?  One is obviously a better deal, but one has a form factor that helps to keep my case tidy.

[Metrize]

Why are you spending that much on a computer in the first place, anyway, just get a regular SSD, they're not that different

[LED_Guy]

Because for the last year I have been working on a stock laptop with an i7 2640M and 8GB RAM (maxed out there).  It takes be 2+ weeks to complete a numerical study and less than a day to write up the results and submit for publication or to complete a report.  Tell me that's efficient.  Any game work playing runs at <15 fps, so why I don't bother.

 

I take pride in my work and get paid rather well for what I do. I see no reason not to take pride in my computer.

 

If you had the option, what would you build?

 

This is also an opportunity to provide input for what a lot of people would consider a dream/ultimate build.  I have already spent over $3,000 for parts and I haven't purchase my CPU, DDR4, mobo or SSDs yet.  I will be purchasing the remaining parts before the end of the month.

[Columbo]

Ummm, it's important because I am spending enough on drives to build a computer.  If I'm going to spend $7,500 on a computer then I want certain performance characteristics.  Would you spend that much on a computer and want to wait 5 minutes for it to boot?

 

It's my build.  Does it really matter?

Then you probably want a motherboard with at least a dozen or more SATA 3.0 ports. You can run a 4 SSD RAID 0 and back it up with a 4TB or more two disk HDD RAID with hybrid drives in a RAID 0 Array. Then a 6TB single drive to backup your RAID 0 arrays. You said you are spending $7,500. I would recommend the R9 295X2 for a graphics card as well. The 5820K is the best choice with DDR4 because you can easily upgrade your computer when Broadwell comes out. With a 212+ or water you can do quite well with that CPU. I would recommend just 16GB of Ram to start until DDR4 prices come down. 

[LED_Guy]

Thanks, great information/suggestions on the storage.  5820K isn't an option because of the complexity of the simulations I run.  Run time in hours is 750/CPU GFLOPS rating.  A stock 5820K has a theoretical speed of 288 GFLOPS.  5930K = 336 GFLOPS and 5960X = 384 GFLOPS.  Based on what I could find about typical overclock results I should be able to get a 5960X up above 500 GFLOPS.

 

I originally looked at a dual Xeon route, but the $/GFLOPS just didn't work out.

 

As for the DDR4, 16GB would cripple me for ray trace analysis.  Quality of design scales directly with # of rays which scales directly with RAM.  Speed of analysis also goes back to the CPU speed issue.

 

I'm not quite in the realm of needing a workstation class computer, but I'm close and I might be there by next year. . .

[WoodenMarker]

Ummm, it's important because I am spending enough on drives to build a computer. If I'm going to spend $7,500 on a computer then I want certain performance characteristics. Would you spend that much on a computer and want to wait 5 minutes for it to boot?

It's my build. Does it really matter?

If you're booting into Windows, the difference in boot times would be less than a few seconds and not minutes.

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[IdeaStormer]

Thanks, great information/suggestions on the storage.  5820K isn't an option because of the complexity of the simulations I run.  Run time in hours is 750/CPU GFLOPS rating.  A stock 5820K has a theoretical speed of 288 GFLOPS.  5930K = 336 GFLOPS and 5960X = 384 GFLOPS.  Based on what I could find about typical overclock results I should be able to get a 5960X up above 500 GFLOPS.

 

I originally looked at a dual Xeon route, but the $/GFLOPS just didn't work out.

 

As for the DDR4, 16GB would cripple me for ray trace analysis.  Quality of design scales directly with # of rays which scales directly with RAM.  Speed of analysis also goes back to the CPU speed issue.

 

I'm not quite in the realm of needing a workstation class computer, but I'm close and I might be there by next year. . .

 

If you're spending $7.5K on a computer and you main concern is boot time, you are either spending way too much money to fix a problem you never will or are not using it for real work as you state. If you are using it for real work the chances you actually shut it down are never.

 

What you are taking about is a workstation class computer and as has been my experience those computer are never shut down unless there's a power outage. They are up and running 24/7 to do work, even work initiated remotely even if you are not in front of it. If you plan on turning a workstation class computer down regularly you are in for some surprises.

[LarsReviews]

In my opinion any SSD like the EVO 840 or even the Pro3 from Sanddisk would do just fine. Going any faster is just gone show in benchmarks. I don't believe you will notice any 1ms difference. 

 

Windows 8 for speed and Windows 7 for better software support. 

[LED_Guy]

If readers think this thread is the only one I have posted concerning this build then I suggest they give me a little credit for being able to think through a problem in pieces.

 

I have been told by quite a few that I don't need a 5960X, much less one that I overclock.  Despite the fact that I can max out my i7 2640M for weeks at a time.  Do the math on CPU capability and see if it is justified yourself.  Oh, wait I posted that earlier on this thread.  Guess some people missed that.

 

I have also been told by people who have never run ray trace for optical design that there is no way I need 64GB of RAM.  Ray tracing takes an enormous amount of RAM to do a good job.  With 8GB (the max my laptop will accept) I can run 1-2 million rays.  A really good design requires 20-30 million rays.  My OS and software take up 4GB by themselves, leaving 4GB for a ray trace.  With my current resources I can use my background and training to make some highly educated guesses/approximations.  I can also save the output as an .IES file (a kind of summary), re-run the simulation a dozen or more times with a different seed for the random number generator and then manually merge/average the .IES files.  Not exactly a lot of fun.  Do the math, at 2GB for 1 million rays, 64GB will do quite nicely.

 

Oh yeah, I work at home, so I want a computer that I can play decent games on.  I will admit my choice of GPUs (a pair of GALAX GTX 980 HOFs) is a bit of overkill, but later software updates on my ray trace package might be able to take advantage of the VXGI capabilities that Nvidia put into their new Maxwell chip.  More likely some of the other lighting/illumination design software I use will take advantage of the capability.

 

I have also received a lot of input/advice/suggestions for how to best run my cabling (for air flow) and also cooling options for the CPU.

 

Please give me a little more credit for being concerned about more than boot time.  My current lap top takes way too much time.  It was a fantastic computer 4 years ago, but . . .

 

I didn't realize this forum was so snarky and petty.  Is this Jr High?  Since the forum is "Storage Solutions", I thought I would stick to the topic.  If you are going to judge and not answer the question, what's the point of posting a response?

[Doughnutnator]

Hey i've heard bad things about RAID, so I wouldn't recommend RAID in a workstation PC, you can lose all your info and it's very hard to recover it.

Better safe than sorry

[bbrooking18]

Hey i've heard bad things about RAID, so I wouldn't recommend RAID in a workstation PC, you can lose all your info and it's very hard to recover it.

Better safe than sorry

RAID 0 can be a nightmare to recover, which is why RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 exist

[Doughnutnator]

RAID 0 can be a nightmare to recover, which is why RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 exist

Oh yeah I forgot the 0, thanks

[bbrooking18]

Oh yeah I forgot the 0, thanks

No problem