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Question

Optane?

Jul 10, 2017 9:03PM PDT

Building a computer. Curious to know opinions on if a "hard drive accelerated with M.2 Intel Optane Memory 16GB" is worth it versus, say, a regular hard drive.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Disk cache
Jul 10, 2017 11:57PM PDT

It will certainly be faster than a hdd alone.

I played with a 32GB disk cache setup in the past.

Nice bump in perf.

The problem is once the cache fills you drop back to hdd speed.

I finally just moved on to a ssd.

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Answer
There are reviews out
Jul 11, 2017 6:26AM PDT

But as folk move to SSD the gains are slim when paired with SSD so your choice where to put the dollars.

Here I'd skip Optane and buy the SSD with the dollars on Optane and HDD.

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Cash.
Jul 11, 2017 9:06AM PDT

I dig the SSD route, but for as much as I read how much their prices are falling, they still seem cost prohibitive vs. HDD. The 256 are obviously more affordable but who wants that small? 512 and up it skyrockets.

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Here 500GB seems to be the sweet spot.
Jul 11, 2017 9:28AM PDT

And plenty of space for everyday use plus games. My choice is to skip Optane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO_fh450u6Y kicks it around. It's 50 bucks. That's a good percentage of what I paid for my fairly high end Samsung EVO M2 512GB stick. The neat part is that I also had a 1TB HDD to slip into the laptop for copies of what I want to keep close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka1mfkJOOsw kicks it around again but prices out to 77 bucks. That is over half what I paid for my SSD.

I'm not buying.

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Storage
Jul 11, 2017 9:46AM PDT

How much storage space do you want/need?

Optane and a hdd are designed to be easy to use.

Plug it in, load the software, let it fly.

You are correct that if you want a TB of storage a ssd is pricey.

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Answer
SATA is quickly becoming a thing of the past
Jul 12, 2017 8:11AM PDT

I would move your OS and most frequently used programs to a SSD or better yet, M.2 drive and have a large SATA drive for storage purposes only.

Brian, iTecs Support
(tagline edited by moderator.)

Post was last edited on July 12, 2017 8:20 AM PDT

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Answer
Presumed better...
Jul 12, 2017 8:56AM PDT

If your new PC is Optane capable, then it will be a worthwhile option. Check pricing if you get a better deal during initial PC purchase or buy later. I suggest, though you check 1st exactly what you're getting as Optane is not fully supported by all new PC mtrbds. Of course Intel based mtrbds. should have an edge.

tada -----Willy Happy