Best RAM and Storage combos for $400?

[cbn]

What do you think the best RAM and storage combos are for a budget of $400?

Rules:

1. Storage volume must be 2TB minimum.

2.. Assume Intel B360, H370, Z370 (using eighth generation Core i3 or better) or AMD B450, X470 motherboards (using Ryzen 3 2200G or better)....therefore Intel Optane software and AMD StoreMI are available at no added cost.

3. No third party sellers on Newegg, Amazon, or ebay used for pricing with the exception of the 2TB Micron 1100 SATA 2.5" SSD for $296 shipped deal we all know and love --> https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/mini-review-on-the-micron-1100-ssd.2536625/

For example does someone go with 8GB RAM and 2TB SSD (2 x 4GB DDR4 2400 CAS 15 for $81 shipped + 2TB Micron 1100 2.5" SATA SSD for $296 shipped = $377) or greater amounts of RAM + HDD (using either Optane or NAND SSD as cache or auto-tier)?

 

[cbn]

Assume general usage with some photo and video editing.

 

[whm1974]

I would spend a little more and go with both the 2TB Micron 1100 SSD and 16GB of memory.

 

[cbn]

Here are three retail 2TB 3.5" HDDs from Newegg (price $59 Seagte Barracuda, $61 WD Blue, $64.50 Toshiba P300):

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...3,22-235-013^22-235-013,22-149-632^22-149-632

Two NVMe 250/256GB M.2 SSDs ($94 Intel 760p and $108 Samsung 970 EVO):

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...6|20-167-447^20-167-447,20-147-689^20-147-689

Intel Optane ($59 for 32GB, $109 for 58GB, $200 for 118GB):

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...7,20-167-452^20-167-452,20-167-453^20-167-453

 

[cbn]

16GB CAS 15 DDR4 3000 RAM = $155
58GB Intel 800p = $109
250GB Crucial MX500 2.5" SATA SSD = $70
2TB Seagate Barracuda = $59

This comes out to be $393 and if used with AMD StoreMI would yield a 308GB "C" drive (58GB + 250GB fuzed together for 308GB single volume)....with the 2TB Seagate Barracuda serving as separate volume data drive.

Then, of course, here are the two obvious combinations:

16GB CAS 15 DDR4 3000 RAM = $155
256GB Intel 760p NVMe SSD =$94
2TB Seagate Barracuda = $59

This comes out to be $309 and if used with AMD StoreMI would yield a 2256GB "C" drive (256GB + 2TB fuzed together for 2256GB single volume).

16GB CAS 15 DDR4 3000 RAM = $155
58GB Intel 800p = $109
2TB Seagate Barracuda = $59

This comes out to be $323 and if used with AMD StoreMI would yield a 2058GB "C" drive (58GB + 2TB fuzed together for 2058GB single volume). If used with Intel Optane software the volume would be 2TB.

 

[cbn]

16GB CAS15 DDR4 2400 RAM= $140
4 x 1TB 3.5" HDD ($43.64 shipped for the Seagate Bararcuda) in RAID-5.
Primocache software $29.95
$54 budget for 120GB or 240GB SSD to be used as read/write Level-2 cache. Another option would be 16GB Optane for read only Level-2 cache (write cache could also be used but the sequential write (of 16GB Optane) would be slower than the sequential write of the HDDs. With that noted, the Seagate drives do use a media cache on the outermost part of the platter that helps the small writes be faster than expected....so not using the 16GB Optane for 4K writes is not as bad as a person would think.

Total : ~$380 to $400 (depending on SSD chosen) and the user would get 3TB single volume.

NOTE: Although the power consumption would be greatest of all the choices so far mentioned in this thread reliability (with 16GB Optane as read only Level-2 cache) would be highest.