Need assistance improving the outdated setup
Need assistance improving the outdated setup
I have been moving around the Far East since September 2023 and have now returned to the UK. My daughter had been operating my PC, but something went wrong as it was unplugged when I arrived. To sum it up briefly, here are the details:
CPU: i9-10900 s1200
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E
RAM: 32GB (4x8Gb) at 2666mhz
GPU: RTX 1080 Ti
SSD1: 2TB Samsung EVO 850
SSD2: 1TB Samsung EVO 850 (for games)
SSD3: 3TB WD Black SATA (BIOS shows 0GB, likely faulty. I’ve tried plugging and unplugging many times without success. I can’t recall what’s inside)
SSD4: 6TB WD Black SATA (used for storing backup images of the C driver created by Acronis Backup software)
CDWriter
EVGA GTX 1080Ti GPU (previously in SLi; now second GPU is not receiving power)
Power Supply: EVGA SupaNova 1000 watts
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
When I reconnected the machine, it attempted self-repair repeatedly, which appears to be linked to the faulty SSD3. After disabling it in BIOS, I faced several issues in Windows. This device is mainly used for gaming; I completed "Robocop Rogue City" before departure. Recently, I started playing "The Last of Us II," but it keeps freezing into a black screen. I need to close the game via Task Manager, yet it remains stuck in "stopping" mode in Steam.
Instead of making a full upgrade, I’m considering replacing the storage with an NVMe drive. The motherboard only supports PCIe 3. I’m unsure whether switching to PCIe 4 or PCIe5 would improve performance.
Q1: Should I opt for a PCIe 4 or PCIe5 NVMe? I understand they are backward compatible, but I have no idea how this will affect speed.
Q2: It seems I might need to upgrade my Windows to Win11 Pro 25h2 version. I know I can get a very affordable license, but I’m unsure about removing or disabling AI and telemetry features. The machine I used during travel was Win11 Pro 25h2, which was released in the early days of that version—back then it was much simpler to bypass telemetry and AI tracking.
Thank you very much for your assistance ahead.
The speeds are restricted to the slot you insert into the drive. For example, a PCIe5.0x4 drive in a PCIe3.0x4 slot will operate at PCIe3.0x4 rates.
Obtain PCIE 3.0 slot. It will reduce heating and you won't be able to use PCIE 4.0/5.0 anyway.
Samsung 970 evo is a good option.
No need for a new license.
Upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 remains free.
Remove the second graphics card from your system. It's unnecessary with unplugged power.
In my view, a decent PCIe4 SSD in a PCIe3 slot will work better than a mediocre PCIe3 SSD. Actively searching for PCIe3 SSDs might be pointless, unnecessary, and could end up costing more. Eventually, you’ll need to upgrade and use the SSD as intended. There are many YouTube videos about optimizing Windows 11 (some even recommended earlier suggestions). So it should not be a major issue.
In reality, you won't notice any performance change when using the newest SSD drives.
Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA
If your operating system is retail, upgrading to W11 should be smooth without problems.
You can obtain W11 directly from Microsoft for free, provided you don't require customization or Microsoft services.
There are choices available to upgrade the processor or GPU, depending on what's holding things back.