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Peter ByeFlag for United States of America

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Hard drive / SSD Config for Dell 5810 Workstation

This is about hard drive configuration for a new Dell Precision Workstation 5810 computer.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-t5810-workstation/pd?ref=PD_OC

The PC will run Windows 10 64-bit Pro. It will probably have 64GB RAM.

If I'm reading the specs right, the 5810 can accommodate:
* up to 4 internal m.2 PCIe SSDs of up to 1TB each using a Dell Ultra-Speed drive Quad (FH/FL,x16) adaptor card
* up to 4  2.5” SATA/SAS drives

I am contemplating:
Boot drive (C:) m.2 512GB PCIe SSD
Data drive m.2 512GB or 1TB PCIe SSD
Auxiliary infrequently-accessed data: 1TB or 2TB 2.5" SATA 6 Gbps

My questions:

1. Do I need a third SSD for the Windows 10 swap file? Or given the m.2 speed is it OK to use C: or the data drive?

2. Is it accurate to assume that an internal SATA drive working off the integrated controller will be fine alongside the m.2 drives?

3. I am thinking of buying the data m.2 SSD separately and installing myself, to save money. Is this practical? Is Intel the best brand? Any particular product recommendation?

4. Do the m.2 cards plug into PCIe expansion slots, the Dell Ultra-Speed Drive Quad card, or something else?

5. What brand or brands do you recommend for the 2.5" internal SATA 1-2TB? In past I've used Seagate and Western Digital drives.

6. Is anyone sufficiently familiar with the 5810 configuration options to tell me which of Dell's numerous options I need? The full list is in the attached .PNG copy from the Dell website and is also available through the link above and clicking to configure the system. Or should I go to the Dell ordering people for this?

7. Anything else I should consider or change regarding the SSD/HDD options?

In case it isn't already obvious, I know very little about m.2 drives. If there is any more information or attachments I can provide that will make it easier to answer these questions please let me know.

Thanks,
Pete
Dell-Precision-T5810-HDD-Config-Opti.png
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Gary Case
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do you need a powerful video card?  for what  use is this system intended ?
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Gary - thanks for these inputs about the drive configurations.  I will also investigate the Samsung drives.

Nobus - I do need a good graphics card - I will put in a separate question about that, probably within a few hours. I wanted to give sufficient opportunity for inputs from various experts and still reward people's inputs so I decided to post separate questions for each aspect of the system. Per your suggestion on my Windows version question when the graphics card question goes live I'll add a link here.

The primary unique aspect of how the system will get used that calls for higher performance is image editing. I find my current six year old Dell T7500 using  Xeon E5530 2.4GHz processors (four cores) and Intel 530 series SSDs gives very slow response with software such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and Affinity Photo. I also do some light video editing although much less than still images.

Pete
My separate question about a graphics card for this computer is now posted at:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28996768/Graphics-card-for-a-new-Dell-5810-workstation.html

I am leaving this question open for another day or so in case others have more thoughts about hard drive / SSD configuration.

Pete
Gary - thanks again for your response. You explained the options and areas of uncertainty to explore, and helped establish my  direction to seek 2 m.2 drives and perhaps one internal SATA drive (for infrequently-accessed data.)

Pete