I built this PC a while ago and now that I'm developing games, my 256GB Lexar SSD used as the C: drive is running out of space. Windows updates, NVIDIA drivers, and Visual Studio installations are all failing or becoming difficult because of the limited capacity.
The system has a Ryzen 5 3600, an ASUS PRIME B450M-A motherboard, 32GB of RAM, an RTX 2060 SUPER, and these drives:
- Lexar 256GB SATA SSD as C:
- Seagate ST200DM008 hard drive as D:
- WD Black SN850X 2TB NVMe SSD as G:
The motherboard has only one M.2 slot, and the SN850X is already installed there. I'm considering replacing the Lexar with a 4TB 2.5-inch SATA SSD, such as the Team Group QX, Crucial BX500, or Team Group T-Force Vulcan Z. I believe my existing cables support SATA III.
My budget is under $500 before tax and shipping. Would replacing the C: drive with a large SATA SSD be a sensible upgrade, or should I reorganize the existing SN850X and move Windows onto it? If moving Windows is the better option, how difficult is it to transfer the operating system and installed programs?
2 Answers
Your motherboard only has one M.2 slot, so an additional NVMe drive would require a PCIe adapter card. However, that may not be necessary. The SN850X can serve as the Windows drive, while the existing SATA SSD and hard drive can be used for less demanding storage. You could also buy a larger SATA SSD and use it for projects, applications, or general storage while keeping the SN850X dedicated to active development work.
The SATA cables are standardized, so a 2.5-inch SATA SSD should connect using a SATA data cable and a power cable from the power supply. Just remember that the advertised SATA III speeds are far below what the SN850X can provide, although they are still perfectly adequate for bulk storage and many applications.
The WD Black SN850X is already the fastest drive in the system, so it would make more sense for it to be your main drive if you can free up enough space. SATA SSDs will work fine, but modern budget SATA models tend to be much slower and less consistent than a good NVMe drive. Before buying anything, clean up old game projects, build files, installers, and other data from the SN850X. You could also keep less frequently used files on the hard drive or an external backup drive.
If you decide to move Windows, you can clone the current system partition to the SN850X with disk-cloning software, or perform a clean Windows installation and reinstall your programs. Cloning is usually easier, but it is important to back up anything valuable first and ensure the destination has enough free space. Since the SN850X is already being used for games and development files, you would need to reorganize or remove that data before cloning.
The SN850X is currently where I keep my games and development projects, and it’s getting pretty full. I should probably clean it up anyway, since I’m holding onto a lot of old files I no longer use. If necessary, I’ll move Windows there and make it the primary drive.