What's the best solution for the OS disk ?

[malarz]

Hi everyone,

 

I am starting a build a new audio PC (player) and would like to know (before buying the new MoBo)

what is the best solution for the OS DISK ?

 

- using USB (with an USB stick or a SSD disk thru SATA-USB adaptor)

- SD card

- SATA (SSD)

- m-SATA

- M.2

- ...?

 

I don't consider to use the storage disk.

The OS will be Windows (WS12R2 or W10)

 

Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

[zerung]

I have bought M.2 for my CAS server and still waiting for this to be implemented. My thoughts was simply the understanding that the drive was the bottleneck as far as speed was concerned - generally and not based on any sonic consideration I have read or know about. Of course my M.2 implementation is via PCI and not directly on the motherboard.

At the same time I am also keen to explore some PCI board that can be powered directly. Not via the Mobo.

I will be keen to see if this works out well?

[tranz]

I have an almost new Samsung 850 Pro 256GB M.2 that I tried for a day but it did not play nice with some of my cards due to sharing PCIe bandwidth, if anyone is interested. Just pm me.

[malarz]

Hi,

 

Why

 

...

Of course my M.2 implementation is via PCI and not directly on the motherboard.

...

 

is there some special reasons ?

[Paul R]

Just my $0.02, but using a Sata SSD, M-Sata, etc. for the OS is a no brainer. It will really make almost any machine quite a bit faster. I am not sure it really matters exactly which variety you choose. And pretty much an inexpensive 128g model will load and run any of our OS's comfortably. MacOS, Windows, or Linux.

[zerung]

Hi,

 

Why

 

 

 

is there some special reasons ?

 

Yes.

M.2 drives mounted in the mobo use SATA controller so they are the same speed as a SATA SSD . PCI bus is substantially faster.

[malarz]

Thanks a much everybody.

 

My main concern is not really the speed but rather which solution ( & connection - SATA, PCI, USB,...) is less harmfull to the sound quality.

[whoozwah]

I can't imagine that the type of drive you use will make any difference on the sound, especially if you are going to be hosting the music on a different drive (and I imagine you are since you specify this as the OS drive). So really the only determining factor is, what can your motherboard take and what can your wallet take?

 

 

M.2 NVMe is the king of speed if you have resources in your PCI-E bus architecture to allow for it.

SATA Express I believe comes next.

SATA III after that. All SSD by the way.

 

 

Personally, anything above SATA III is into the realm of diminishing returns big time as the cost goes up but the speed increase is almost imperceptible since the drives are already so fast.

 

I said all that to really say just get a cheap, small SATA III SSD and call it good. You aren't going to do perceptibly better and you can move on with the project and get to the end faster where you can actually listen to your music.

[malarz]

Thanks a much for your advices.

 

So you all seem to say that the OS drive technology (connection) is not so important for the final sound quality.

 

My initial question was there because I have seen very often written that e.g. SATA connection is harmfull for SQ (that's better to put it off in BIOS), that e.g. Flash Memory card are better, etc. ...

 

So as I am just planning the building of new PC, I can buy what could be the better choice as MoBo & OS drive.

[Paul R]

Thanks a much everybody.

 

My main concern is not really the speed but rather which solution ( & connection - SATA, PCI, USB,...) is less harmfull to the sound quality.

 

This is very debatable, and an issue that you can only decide for yourself.

 

I was surprised when I found a machine running on all SSD (via a Thunderbolt 2 connection) and a boot drive of Apple Flash (PCI connected) sounded better than one with spinning drives.

 

Or more accurately, I thought it did. I never checked that with a well thought out blind test, as all SSD is just too expensive to store my music library on. Rather informal blind tests revealed I could not tell the difference when the playback was perfectly matched volume wise, so I never seriously pursued it.

 

I believe I got the same improvement with just mounting the physical media files over the network. (i.e. - using a fileserver machine or a NAS). I can reliably tell the difference between local and network mounted storage on an Intel NUC with a Celeron processor. I think I can with much higher performance and better built Macs, including a Mac Mini, but I won't swear to that. (Grin)

 

My suggestion is to read about and build one of the CAPs machines described here on CA. Chris documented everything he choose to build them, right down to the RAM. No way you can go wrong!

 

Computer Audiophile - C.A.P.S.

[malarz]

Thanks a lot.

I will take a look at CAPS again.

I remember, when I have had the CAPS v3 LAGOON, Chris has written regarding the CAPS LAGOON, that it was preferable to use SSD drive than the m-SATA one that was available on the Intel DN2800MT Marshalltown Mini-ITX Mobo.

[jabbr]

For "ultimate" sound quality consider a diskless build i.e. mount your OS disk over the network using iSCSI.

[malarz]

Yeah, thanks.

I have seen this idea sometime ago.

Is it working well, I mean without too much hassle ?

[Paul R]

Yeah, thanks.

I have seen this idea sometime ago.

Is it working well, I mean without too much hassle ?

 

Oh Jabbr is right, and t works exceedingly well. However, it requires good networking and ambit of fiddling around. In other words it is complex.

 

There is only a small amount of improvement over using a SSD thogh. And - it can be significantly more expensive.

[malarz]

Thanks a much.

 

That's important infos for me (complex, expensive, small mount of improvement).