I'm upgrading a PC in a HYTE Y70 with an ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi motherboard, Ryzen 9 7900, Gigabyte RTX 5070, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a 1200W Platinum power supply, and a Thermalright 360mm AIO. I also have Lian Li case fans, including reverse-blade models.
My two drives are a 2TB Samsung 9100 PRO PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD and a 1TB AGI PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD. I want the Samsung drive in the first M.2 slot as my Windows boot drive, but I'm unsure whether the AGI drive should go in M.2_4 or M.2_5. I'd like to avoid reducing the available PCIe bandwidth for my RTX 5070, so which two M.2 slots are the best choices?
I'd also appreciate advice on airflow in the HYTE Y70. Where should I use intake and exhaust fans for the bottom, side, top-mounted 360mm radiator, and rear positions? I'd like good temperatures while keeping the attractive side of the Lian Li fans visible through the glass, so guidance on where to install the reverse-blade fans would help too.
This is my first major case and component rearrangement, so I'd like to confirm the layout before powering everything on. If the existing Windows installation is on the AGI SSD, can I transfer or clone it to the Samsung drive, or would I need to reinstall Windows?
1 Answer
Use M.2_1 for the Samsung 9100 PRO so it gets the motherboard’s full PCIe 5.0 x4 connection. The second and third M.2 slots share resources with the graphics slot, so I’d avoid those when possible. Install the AGI Gen4 drive in either M.2_4 or M.2_5; those slots don’t take lanes away from the GPU.
For airflow, a solid starting layout is bottom intake, side intake, and exhaust through the top radiator and rear fan. Reverse-blade fans work well on the bottom and side because they can bring air into the case while showing their nicer side through the glass. The top radiator should normally exhaust warm air, with the rear fan exhausting as well.
Thanks! If Windows is currently installed on the AGI drive, can I clone that drive to the Samsung and boot from the Samsung, or would I need to install Windows again?