The timing of this upgrade is really bad: good SSDs are very expensive, high-capacity RAM modules are practically unaffordable, and everything else is more expensive and harder to find than ever before.
So my main goal is to consolidate my existing components as much as possible so I only have to buy a few expensive parts. Since I practically collect hardware, I’m lucky to have quite a bit on hand. In hindsight, a 2 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus for ~€160 back then seems like a steal, even though it was briefly available for a bit less at one point. That model isn’t even manufactured anymore (it was my favorite NVMe SSD for PCIe 3.0 x4 interfaces).
It quickly became clear that the 2 TB NVMe SSDs would be removed from the TR server, effectively taking it offline for the time being: buying new ones when you have such good ones in perfect condition just doesn’t make any sense. Of course, it still stings a bit, since the TR server was built the way it is mainly because of the many PCIe 3.0 lanes that are now lying around unused. If NVMe SSDs become more affordable again, we can at least rebuild it 1:1. Proxmox is installed there on an enterprise SSD with a SATA interface from Samsung (an SM863a with 480 GB) and will remain in the system.
This leaves two Samsung 970 Evo Plus drives, each with 2 TB, and two Fastro MS200 drives from MEGA Electronics, also each with 2 TB of storage. Both nearly max out PCIe 3.0 x4 on read speeds, and the write speeds are similarly high.
⧉ MEGA Electronics
⧉ SamsungSo NVMe is clear, but what about SATA?
I’ve had four Samsung 870 Evo drives, each with 2 TB of storage, in stock for some time now (I bought them used at a “bargain” price before the sharp price hike – about €110 each). Why 2 TB? Exactly, the MBR limit. This capacity will always be useful for retro projects, and in my opinion, these Samsung SSDs are among the best you can buy for SATA-III. Solid-state drives today come in the M.2 form factor and communicate via PCIe/NVMe, so SATA storage is used less and less. It’s rather unlikely that even better SATA SSDs will hit the consumer market.
In my workstation (Floh-PC), I have a 4 TB 870 Evo installed as a SATA SSD for games, which isn’t even a third full (all games are now on NVMe). I’m replacing this with a 2 TB one. So now I have SATA SSDs with one 4 TB and three 2 TB drives available.
The most expensive – RAM?
I’ve installed quite a bit of DDR4 in devices and have a few modules in storage, both as DIMMs and SO-DIMMs. So it’s 100% certain that the mini PC(s) will need to run on DDR4. I don’t currently own any DDR5, and it wouldn’t be an option for cost reasons anyway.
So, using the modules I already have, I’ll reconfigure everything I own so that it all works out in the end and I don’t have to buy anything extra.
First, i need to choose a model from the many available options; that’s what the next post is about.