Couple of NVME / SSD questions

RossoCarne · January 20, 2017

I don't really have much experience at all with using an SSD (gasp) so I wanted to test the waters here. I am planning to build a desktop for audio recording and music / video editing. My current box crashes when recording audio and fails miserably when editing video. Many plugins editing audio bogs the system as well.

I obviously want an SSD for improvement. Is getting an NVME M.2 like the 960 EVO worth it for these applications? Is it worth it to boot from the SSD and take up that space if I'm planning on running the computer most of the time? What programs actually benefit from being on the SSD?

For actual editing, is it a healthy practice to keep current projects on the SSD and move them to another HDD after editing is done to free up SSD space?

And what about caching? I feel like it was talked about a lot in older articles but nothing recent. Does anyone still do it, and would it be helpful in these applications?

Droidbot · January 20, 2017

2 minutes ago, RossoCarne said:

I don't really have much experience at all with using an SSD (gasp) so I wanted to test the waters here. I am planning to build a desktop for audio recording and music / video editing. My current box crashes when recording audio and fails miserably when editing video. Many plugins editing audio bogs the system as well.

I obviously want an SSD for improvement. Is getting an NVME M.2 like the 960 EVO worth it for these applications? Is it worth it to boot from the SSD and take up that space if I'm planning on running the computer most of the time? What programs actually benefit from being on the SSD?

For actual editing, is it a healthy practice to keep current projects on the SSD and move them to another HDD after editing is done to free up SSD space?

And what about caching? I feel like it was talked about a lot in older articles but nothing recent. Does anyone still do it, and would it be helpful in these applications?

M.2 is fast as you can get when it comes to SSDs. If it isn't that much more expensive, then go for it. NVME caps out (with current SSDs) at around 2GBps, whereas SATA caps at 600MBps.

yes, that is very common.

caching hasn't been really used in years, and it's not very common at all. it was used back when SSDs were small and expensive but with the prices going down and capacities going up, it's becoming unused

ARikozuM · January 20, 2017

4 minutes ago, RossoCarne said:

I don't really have much experience at all with using an SSD (gasp) so I wanted to test the waters here.

Water and electronics don't mix.

4 minutes ago, RossoCarne said:

I obviously want an SSD for improvement. Is getting an NVME M.2 like the 960 EVO worth it for these applications? Is it worth it to boot from the SSD and take up that space if I'm planning on running the computer most of the time? What programs actually benefit from being on the SSD?

What are the specs of your system?

4 minutes ago, RossoCarne said:

For actual editing, is it a healthy practice to keep current projects on the SSD and move them to another HDD after editing is done to free up SSD space?

I have my wife's system set with a read SSD, a write SSD, and a storage HDD. She has an NVMe 960 PRO 512GB for the read and a 850 PRO for write.

RossoCarne · January 21, 2017

23 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

What are the specs of your system?

I have my wife's system set with a read SSD, a write SSD, and a storage HDD. She has an NVMe 960 PRO 512GB for the read and a 850 PRO for write.

This will be a new build with i7-7700k, planning on 16 GB of 3200 MHz RAM an using a 1050Ti, at least at the beginning.

At this point I'm seriously considering using a 500/525 GB NVMe drive and skipping out on an HDD for a few months, and just archiving everything on a large external HDD I already have on my home network (if most programs would benefit from being on the SSD itself).

ARikozuM · January 21, 2017

2 minutes ago, RossoCarne said:

This will be a new build with i7-7700k, planning on 16 GB of 3200 MHz RAM an using a 1050Ti, at least at the beginning.

(if most programs would benefit from being on the SSD itself).

Most programs will benefit from lower latency and speed up to a point.

RossoCarne · January 21, 2017

56 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Most programs will benefit from lower latency and speed up to a point.

For audio recording, would a faster drive reduce latency for playback/monitoring, or is that more based on memory and processor power, etc?

ARikozuM · January 21, 2017

1 minute ago, RossoCarne said:

For audio recording, would a faster drive reduce latency for playback/monitoring, or is that more based on memory and processor power, etc?

I would ask your program's support or forum since I have no experience with audio programs.