New SSD for dedicated FS2024 install?

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DaveKDEN

Charter Member
I have a 1TB Western Digital SSD as my primary (Windows install) drive, that also has my FS2020 install on it. I also have a secondary 1TB ADATA SSD that I was thinking about installing FS2024 on. However, the ADATA SSD is significantly slower than the WD, with a R/W up to 560/520 MB/s.
I'm thinking about replacing the ADATA SSD with a new 2TB Crucial T700 SSD that's significantly faster than both, at a R/W of up to 12,400/11,800MB/s, specifically to install FS2024 on. However, I'm just wondering if that's overkill, considering the new cloud based architecture of FS2024. Just looking for some input from our more knowledgeable members here...

My current primary WD SSD:
My current secondary SSD:
The Crucial SSD I'm considering:
 
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I was planning on getting a new M2 drive for 2024 but then I noticed that I have 170gb of room on one of my SSDs. Since they are saying that the install size is only 30 gigs, I changed my plans to utilize the SSD. If it starts to grow like 2020 did, I may fall back to my original plan. I'm not expecting it to grow as much since this one is cloud based. It may mean that more of my future purchases will be through the marketplace to utilize their cloud. Just kind of taking a wait and see attitude.

LouP
 
I purchased a 4 TB M2 to replace the 2TB M2 I was using. Besides MSFS 2020 I also have DCS and mucho addons. I figure that you can't have too much storage space. For the same reason I went from 32 GB to 64 GB of RAM. RAM is currently rather inexpensive, so why not prepare for the future.
 
jmig said:
I purchased a 4 TB M2 to replace the 2TB M2 I was using. Besides MSFS 2020 I also have DCS and mucho addons. I figure that you can't have too much storage space. For the same reason I went from 32 GB to 64 GB of RAM. RAM is currently rather inexpensive, so why not prepare for the future.
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That's what I'm thinking. My C drive is currently just over 90% full, but I have everything on it, with the exception of backup files that I've stored on my D drive. Much of what's on my C drive is FS2020 related. I figure since the base install of FS2024 is so much smaller vs. FS2020, a new 2TB SSD that's dedicated to FS2024 should last me many years into the future. I'm also thinking I'll upgrade from 32GB RAM to 64GB.
My primary concern with my current D drive is it's relatively slow overall R/W speeds. However, I'm just not sure how much that matters with MSFS...
 
I remember when .... My first IBM XT 8088 came with a full capacity 20-megabyte Hard drive.
 
Well, after talking with a neighbor who's a computer guru, I'm not going to add another drive. There's something about how many channels are dedicated to your primary drive vs. other components, to include your video card and additional SSDs. He said if you add another drive it will "steal" channels from your video card to use for the new drive. As such, you'll end up impacting your video card's performance. Basically, just because you have the slot for another SSD doesn't mean you get to use it for free. So, I'm now debating on either sticking with my current primary SSD and uninstalling FS2024, or buying a 2TB SSD and mirroring my current SSD on it. Then I'll have space for both FS2020 (until I decide to uninstall it) and FS2024. Decisions decisions. In the meantime, I'm going to upgrade from 32GB RAM to 64GB RAM. The price of RAM is so cheap that I figured why not. I have seen a comparison video of the Alpha release with 32GB vs. 64GB, and the difference was pretty incredible. My guess is that even those of us who aren't doing a bunch of background things when running FS2024 will see a benefit with more RAM.
 
DaveKDEN said:
There's something about how many channels are dedicated to your primary drive vs. other components, to include your video card and additional SSDs.
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I wish I'd known that before I installed three SSD's! A 2TB nvme, a 2TB SSD and a 1TB SSD. Mind you, I've just upgraded my CPU to an i9-11900k and my RAM to 32gb DDR4 3200 and I'm currently getting higher FPS than ever - maybe more RAM is the fix.
 
tiger1962 said:
I wish I'd known that before I installed three SSD's! A 2TB nvme, a 2TB SSD and a 1TB SSD. Mind you, I've just upgraded my CPU to an i9-11900k and my RAM to 32gb DDR4 3200 and I'm currently getting higher FPS than ever - maybe more RAM is the fix.
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The way he explained it is, those components that are effectively "below" your primary SSD. To be honest, I had kind of a glassy eyed look as he was explaining it to me. :rolleyes: However, it did make sense at the time. I'd be curious if we have some more technically savvy members here who could weigh in...
 
If the drives are identical, they may be combined in RAID0 for more speed and temperature efficiency as they appear as a single drive.

Food for thought, but of course, YMMV.

 
DaveKDEN said:
Well, after talking with a neighbor who's a computer guru, I'm not going to add another drive. There's something about how many channels are dedicated to your primary drive vs. other components, to include your video card and additional SSDs. He said if you add another drive it will "steal" channels from your video card to use for the new drive. As such, you'll end up impacting your video card's performance. Basically, just because you have the slot for another SSD doesn't mean you get to use it for free. So, I'm now debating on either sticking with my current primary SSD and uninstalling FS2024, or buying a 2TB SSD and mirroring my current SSD on it. Then I'll have space for both FS2020 (until I decide to uninstall it) and FS2024. Decisions decisions. In the meantime, I'm going to upgrade from 32GB RAM to 64GB RAM. The price of RAM is so cheap that I figured why not. I have seen a comparison video of the Alpha release with 32GB vs. 64GB, and the difference was pretty incredible. My guess is that even those of us who aren't doing a bunch of background things when running FS2024 will see a benefit with more RAM.
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Sadly, time to get a new guru. Your friend’s understanding is incorrect.

I have four m.2 SSDs and a pair of old SATA SSDs in my rig and all run at full speed. (I had 3 and added a fourth for FS24.)

There are cases with some motherboards where adding a Gen5 SSD can steal channels from your video card. But Gen5 SSDs are currently blazing hot and super pricey. And even in those cases, current video cards still have enough bandwidth at x8 vs x16.

What’s your motherboard model? Let me know and I can confirm what you can add without affecting performance.
 
DennyA said:
Sadly, time to get a new guru. Your friend’s understanding is incorrect.

I have four m.2 SSDs and a pair of old SATA SSDs in my rig and all run at full speed. (I had 3 and added a fourth for FS24.)

There are cases with some motherboards where adding a Gen5 SSD can steal channels from your video card. But Gen5 SSDs are currently blazing hot and super pricey. And even in those cases, current video cards still have enough bandwidth at x8 vs x16.

What’s your motherboard model? Let me know and I can confirm what you can add without affecting performance.
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Its' an ASUSTek PRIME Z490-P.

I have one of these on the way...

BTW, this has got to be my favorite forum of all time. Someone is always willing to help here.
 
DaveKDEN said:
Its' an ASUSTek PRIME Z490-P.

I have one of these on the way...

BTW, this has got to be my favorite forum of all time. Someone is always willing to help here.
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Happy to help, Dave!

So the good news is that the only slot on your motherboard that shares bandwidth is the M.2_1 slot (the bottom M.2 SSD slot), which shares bandwidth with the SATA6G_2 slot (the lower-right SATA hard drive slot.) So unless you have four SATA hard drives, it's no issue, just make sure any SATA cables you have are plugged into the other three SATA ports and that port won't steal any bandwidth from the SSD. The other SSD slot isn't shared at all.

1730146443771.png

The SN850 is a great SSD. I have a pair of those in my own rig.

If you have any issue with the second SSD being recognized by the computer, you might need to go into the BIOS and ensure that the M.2 slots aren't set to SATA mode. However, they should be set by default to AUTO mode, so this shouldn't be necessary.

After it's installed and you boot up, just load Disk Management (hit Windows+X and choose "Disk Management") and partition and format the drive and you'll be good to go!

Assuming FS2024 lets you select an install folder for the additional files it downloads, like FS2020 does, I'd suggest creating a folder on the new drive called FS2024 or similar and having it put its data files in there, vs the default directory. Helps save hassles with permissions and long folder names.

Cheers,
Denny
 
DennyA said:
Happy to help, Dave!

So the good news is that the only slot on your motherboard that shares bandwidth is the M.2_1 slot (the bottom M.2 SSD slot), which shares bandwidth with the SATA6G_2 slot (the lower-right SATA hard drive slot.) So unless you have four SATA hard drives, it's no issue, just make sure any SATA cables you have are plugged into the other three SATA ports and that port won't steal any bandwidth from the SSD. The other SSD slot isn't shared at all.

View attachment 157406

The SN850 is a great SSD. I have a pair of those in my own rig.

If you have any issue with the second SSD being recognized by the computer, you might need to go into the BIOS and ensure that the M.2 slots aren't set to SATA mode. However, they should be set by default to AUTO mode, so this shouldn't be necessary.

After it's installed and you boot up, just load Disk Management (hit Windows+X and choose "Disk Management") and partition and format the drive and you'll be good to go!

Assuming FS2024 lets you select an install folder for the additional files it downloads, like FS2020 does, I'd suggest creating a folder on the new drive called FS2024 or similar and having it put its data files in there, vs the default directory. Helps save hassles with permissions and long folder names.

Cheers,
Denny
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Thank you very much Denny!
PS: Would you happen to know which size spacer and screw I need to mount the new SSD? I downloaded the manual for the motherboard, but it doesn't seem to specify.
I'm guessing I'll need this...
 
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Yep, that looks like a standard M.2 screw/spacer setup, so it should cover you!

If you kept the stuff that came with your motherboard, though, there might be an extra set there.
 
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