Purchasing a EVOC P870DM3 from HIDevolution....Help me spec it please

Hi guys,

I am planning to pull the trigger on the EVOC P870DM3 (specs below). I will be primarily using it for gaming and coding. But, I can't for the life of me decide between the 850 EVO and the 960 EVO. I understand that the read and write through puts are almost 6 times faster with the NVMe ssd in synthetic benchmarks . But, I am only worried about the boot time, game load time and a snappier OS response. I also plan to add a similar SSD in RAID0 sometime later. In this scenario, will a 850 evo be enough or is the 960 evo the way to go?

LCD Panel
17.3" 3K QHD (2560x1440) AUO 120Hz - 5ms - LED Matte Type Display - with nVIDIA® G-SYNC™ Technology
Video Card
DUAL NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 X (Desktop version), 200W - NVIDIA G-Sync Enabled w/ Unlocked Prema vBIOS - Latest Updated Version once available - Contact us for details - $1,075.00
Prema Custom BIOS
Prema Custom BIOS - Latest Updated Version once available - Contact us for details
Processor
HIDevolution Delidded - Unlocked and Overclockable 6th Generation Intel Core i7-6700K Quad Core Processor, 4.0 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 4.2GHz), 8MB Smart Cache (Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra Included) - $232.00
Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra + IC Diamond for Delidded CPU
Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra 100% Metal Thermal Interface + IC Diamond on CPU, IC Diamond on GPU
Memory
16GB (2 x 8GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series Dual Channel DDR4/3000MHz - $125.00
RAID Options
no RAID (1st drive as primary boot drive, 2nd drive as storage drive)
M.2 SSD Slot 1 (supports PCIe or SATA)
250GB Samsung 850 EVO (3D VNAND TECH) M.2 SATA SSD
(OR)
M.2 SSD Slot 1 (supports PCIe or SATA)
250GB Samsung 960 EVO M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D-VNAND SSD
M.2 SSD Slot 2 (supports PCIe and SATA)
None
1st 2.5" HDD/SSD Bay
1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
2nd 2.5" HDD/SSD Bay
Empty HDD bay (with caddy/adapter)
Wireless Cards
Killer™ Wireless-AC N1535 ac/a/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 4.1
Operating System
NONE - No Operating System Installed
Office Software
None
Power Adapter
2x 330W with Converter Box (660W Total) AC Power Adapters (support 100-240V)
Audio
Foster Audio Speakers x 2
Back-lit Gaming Keyboard
Anti-Ghosting, Custom Macro Back-lit Gaming Keyboard
Keyboard Language
U.S. English
Branding
EVOC Logo on LCD Cover and Bezel
Warranty and Service
1 Year HIDevolution Limited U.S. Warranty + LIFETIME HIDevolution Technical Support

 

Here are my thoughts on your order

1) Great choice on the 3K Screen, as you saw in my review, it's one of the best screens out there. You can run @ 100% DPI scaling and still be able to read text just fine, whilst having a bigger screen real estate. This smoothness and fluidity of this screen are simply, out of this world.

2) Regarding the SSD, other than synthetic benchmarks, you won't feel the difference as a normal or even power user. I'd get the 850 EVO non NVMe, that would make your boot time actually faster since NVMe SSDs need a few seconds before they are initialized during a boot process3)

3) I wouldn't RAID SSDs unless you want the added / combined storage of them both but you have to read this before you RAID them =

Spoiler: Samsung SSD Whitepaper

Excerpts from the Samsung SSD Whitepaper:


Quote:

"... Fast sequential speeds allow for quick file copies and smoother performance when working with large files, like videos. However, it is random performance, measured in Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) that is, perhaps, the most important performance metric for SSDs.

A large portion of storage activity is made up of 4K random writes, a metric that measures how well a drive will perform when writing small chunks of random data (e.g. changing a small piece of a Word or text file and then saving the changes). Users spend a majority of their time not copying large files or installing applications, but multitasking (e.g. email, web-surfing, listening to music, etc.) and working with various work and media files - tasks influenced by IOPS. An SSD can offer up to a 200x improvement in IOPS over a traditional HDD (results may vary based on HDD model).

For this reason, Samsung put a heavy focus on random performance when designing its SSD lineup, offering users industry leading Random Performance of up to 100,000 IOPS. This is performance for the real world; performance you will notice and appreciate every day ..."



"... most consumer workloads will be similar to 4KB data at QD 1 ..."



"... While the majority of client PC workloads will not exceed a QD of 1, some usage scenarios may generate a QD of 2-6 or even up to 10 (in limited applications). Data center applications, on the other hand, may generate massive numbers of Input/Output (I/O) requests, creating a QD of 32, 64, or even 128 in some cases (depending on the number of access requests per second) ..."



"... For the vast majority of users, the most meaningful Iometer scores will be those of 4K random Read and Write performance at a Queue Depth of 1-32 ..."



"... The most common queue depths to test are a Queue Depth of 1, which is typical of light consumer workloads, and a Queue Depth of 32, which is representative of a heavy workload as might be seen on a on a server (e.g. web server, database server, etc.) ..."



"... peak speeds are not a good indication of everyday performance. Users are typically not installing applications or copying massive files on a regular basis. Many manufacturers like to brag about peak performance ..."

RAID 0 only adds more latency and yes, higher sequential numbers but what you needs to care about are the faster 4K Random Read/Write speeds which are better in a single driver setup

Unless you are a person who needs to convert a lot of big files or access huge database files, then these high sequential marketing/bragging numbers mean nothing in the real world

4) I would strongly advise you to get the OS from HIDevolution, this way, they install the OS for you and send you the system configured and tested. I've seen a few users here who order it with no OS to save a few bucks then face issues because of user error or wrong driver installations (either wrong order of installing them or outdated versions)

@tilleroftheearth What do you think about my thoughts on the SSD RAID?

 

"But, I am only worried about the boot time, game load time and a snappier OS response"

SATA then. NVMe is still a waste of money for all of those.

Eh depends. No OS was easy for my machine. I've done 3 of em so far with no OS (two from HID) and none had any issues at all. Was up and running in like an hour.

I bought the drives on my own too. SSD prices may be about to rise again, but it was pretty easy finding good deals over the course of a month while waiting. I picked up a 1TB X400 for 160 and a 1TB MX300 for 130 this year. If you don't mind doing that yourself you can save decent money, but I'm a good hunter so YMMV.

@Phoenix I've used a 165Hz 1440p. Shooting for 240Hz on a 1080p soon. (HEY ASUS HURRY UP WITH YOUR 4K 144HZ) Shooters felt so easy lol.

 

@Phoenix Amazing, I had just asked Donald the exact same thing. I guess this answers the question then. Actually, I have a spare Windows 10 installation that I haven't used yet. I have changed my order to include the OS.

 

you did the right thing, a few more bucks won't drain your pocket but trust me, if anything goes wrong, you know it's not you

This way, the system is stress tested and shipped to you in perfect working order

I was helping a guy the other day who received a system with no OS, and all the issues he had was due to him installing a bogus Windows installation and other software (not saying you would do this but better play it by the books IMO). Peace of mind FTW

 

I really wish more people understood this about SSDs/RAID. The 850 Evo is a fantastic drive and overlooking it for an NVMe is a tragic waste.

 

Marketing man......marketing.......it's very tempting for customers to see.......oh wait.....and this laptop has 2x or 4x RAID for a max speed of 3500 MB/S! Then the customers who don't know the reality will think wow! this is the fastest laptop and / or drive in the world, only to realize, that it boots slower, and is not actually faster in day to day operations, be it gaming, or any other tasks that the average joe or even power users perform

 

Not that its going to change my mind, will the current Z170 chipset/Skylake support Intel's Optane SSDs when they come out?

 

I thought these were large desktop SSDs not m.2 PCIe SSDs that can fit in a laptop

 

@nevermore93

1) These are desktop SSDs, nothing yet about m.2 format for laptops
2) they come only in 16 GB and 32 GB sizes and cost so much
3) SSDs these days like the 950 PRO and 960 PRO or even the SATA non NVMe based 850 EVO are so fast you won't be able to tell the difference in speed other than in synthetic benchmarks

Save your money and time and don't waste your time waiting for these small expensive SSDs


See: https://www.extremetech.com/computi...hardware-could-be-coming-to-consumer-desktops

and also: http://www.computerworld.com/articl...p-for-optane-ssds-with-1000x-performance.html

On a side note:

Brighten Beach will be released sometime in the first quarter of 2017 and will represent a lower-end product line using a PCIe 3.0 x2 (two I/O lanes) configuration.

After Brighten Beach, Carson Beach will introduce a PCI 3.0 x4 with the M.2 card,
M.2 is a long way off, and who cares anyway

 

Agreed, there is no point in waiting. That's why I ordered mine yesterday .
Ordered an EVOC P870DM3 from HIDevolution

 

When they'll be really practical there will be some other impractical expensive tech that people will want instead.