SFF Haswell build critique

[etherealfocus]

Purpose: Adobe CC (PS, AI, Premiere mostly), web dev/design, Excel, some fileserving on Win8 Pro64. Will be used with dual 1080p HDMI monitors.

I have limited desk space and no need for a mess of accessories so SFF seems like the way to go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116898
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128615 (wanted the dual HDMI to avoid a vid card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148663
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147247

I'm a little fuzzy on the case. Thinking something like the Antec ISK 300-150 or CM Elite120. Just need decent construction, fairly quiet operation, a solid PSU, and up-front USB3 and audio ports. Aside from that, the smaller the better.

Was able to cheap out a bit on the SSD since I dump things on the server when I'm done with them. I'm running an 80GB Intel drive at the moment (contrary to my sig) and it's a little cramped but not too bad. Just a little slower than I'd like for heavy IO work.

 

[Jaydip]

Looks solid.From what I recall the adobe stuffs you mentioned are kinda heavy on cpu, I would advise to get the 4770 instead.If you are looking for robust drives for file server you can opt for WD RE4.

 

[lehtv]

You'll need to answer these so we can help you better

 

[etherealfocus]

Jaydip - The fileserver right now is just 2x500GB drives in RAID1. Pretty lightweight. Just gonna let one of em die and then throw an SSD or two in it. Hard drives are dead to me. 🙂

Looked at the 4770 but not sure I can justify it. I'm not doing anything horribly intense and honestly even the dinky laptop in my sig does acceptably well 80% of the time. If I did go for the 4770, it'd be primarily to reduce video compression times which are currently quite the annoyance. Luckily I only do video work maybe once a week average.

lehtv - as you wish.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
See above. Adobe CC PS/AI/PR, web dev/design, Excel. Nothing above mid-level complexity - I get acceptable if not great performance off the laptop in my sig.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread.
$800 max, but the lower the better.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Nope.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I have a Samsung 830 128GB I might use instead of the 840 EVO. How much benefit can I realistically expect from the EVO?

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
No overclocking.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
2x1080p over HDMI

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
1-2 weeks unless there's some big reason to delay. I can be flexible if needed.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
Win8 Pro. Already got Adobe CC and Office 2013 licenses.

 

[Zap]

If you're okay with the performance of the 2.4GHz Core i3 notebook in your sig, then a true quad core desktop would be crazy fast in comparison.

DVI can be converted into HDMI with a cheap adapter. The extra cost of Z87 chipset over H87 (or even B85) is many times that of the adapter.

Keep your Samsung 830. Zero benefit from switching to an 840.

 

[lehtv]

Is there a Microcenter near you? They have the best CPU/mobo combos.

Regarding the 4770, you have the budget for it, but for your needs a 4570 would probably be just fine as well. Alternatively, if you're using Adobe versions that benefit from OpenCL GPU acceleration, you could entertain the idea of an i5 or a Xeon with a low-midrange discrete GPU.

 

[Nec_V20]

For the case, take a look at the SilverStone Sugo Series SG10B
http://http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163237

 

[etherealfocus]

Zap - agreed, I could grab a 4770 but just not convinced it'd actually be useful in anything but saving me a bit of video encoding time maybe once a week. As your sig says, best way to future proof is to save money. 🙂

B85 would be fine if it came with dual HDMI, agreed. My monitors have a 1/1/1 VGA/DVI/HDMI input configuration so I wouldn't even need a dongle... I just really hate clunky DVI cables. And assymmetry sets off my OCD like crazy. Basically I'm spending 60 bucks on a quality of life upgrade. lol

No advantage to an 840 EVO over an 830? That's disappointing. The write speed and IOPS show a pretty huge improvement on paper, and my 830 stutters obnoxiously even with the latest firmware and overprovisioning enabled in Win8. Please tell me they at least improved in that respect - the stuttering on the 830 is bad enough that the Intel 320 80GB I'm using now feels like an upgrade. It's slower, but it rarely if ever stutters.

lehtv - the nearest Microcenter is about an hour drive in crappy DFW traffic. I'll give em a shot if I'm in the area anyway for some reason, but I'd probably blow most of my savings in gas money and the rest on two hours of driving.

I'm using Adobe CC so I could certainly benefit from GPU acceleration, but I don't think I need it for the same reason I don't need a 4770. My needs just aren't that great - but I could certainly add one down the road if my workload changes. That'd probably be a much more sensible use of 100 bucks than a 4770.

Nec - Sweet case, exactly what I'm looking for... but $140 shipped without a PSU seems a bit steep. Seems like an Elite120 would still meet my needs for $55 shipped. Although I'm a little worried about the PSU placement directly above the CPU fan. :/

 

[lehtv]

Agreed, the case is nice but expensive. Can get away with much less.

Here are my recommendations

Case Fractal Design Node 304 mini-ITX $55 + 140mm grille $5 (to protect the fan from wires)
CPU + Cooler i5-4570 + Corsair H90 $265 (replace case fan; reduces clutter compared to heatsink based cooling, and keeps CPU very cool)
Mobo Asrock H87M-ITX $94 + DVI to HDMI cable $8 (to doze your OCD; alternatively, an adapter; I prefer the cable though)
RAM G.Skill 8GB 1600 $54 x 2 = $108
GPU Integrated HD4600
SSD Reuse Samsung 830 128GB
HDD Refurbished WD Blue 1TB WD10EZEX $37 AP (worth it, new drive costs $70; 3 month warranty)
PSU Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W $95 (SFX form factor and fully modular - reduces clutter within the small case; high efficiency guarantees quiet and cool operation)

= $667 AP + shipping

Prices may change if you wait 1-2 weeks... for better or worse. The refurb WD Blue deal ends tomorrow.

The case does not have a slot for a DVD drive. If you need to use a DVD drive, buy an external USB 3.0 drive. I suggest installing Windows with a flash memory USB drive.

 

[mfenn]

HDD Refurbished WD Blue 1TB WD10EZEX $37 AP (worth it, new drive costs $70; 3 month warranty)

Agree. At that price, you can buy two and keep the other as a hot spare, no RMA required.

 

[mfenn]

No advantage to an 840 EVO over an 830? That's disappointing. The write speed and IOPS show a pretty huge improvement on paper, and my 830 stutters obnoxiously even with the latest firmware and overprovisioning enabled in Win8. Please tell me they at least improved in that respect - the stuttering on the 830 is bad enough that the Intel 320 80GB I'm using now feels like an upgrade. It's slower, but it rarely if ever stutters.

Stuttering sounds like the drive has backed itself into a corner due to being run in harsh environment. "Harsh" for an SSD means lots of random writes while the drive is full (or thinks its full due to lack of TRIM). Do a secure erase to restore it to like-new condition.

 

[Zap]

Is there a Microcenter near you? They have the best CPU/mobo combos.

Combo discount got cut. Right now Ivy Bridge combos are around $20 off and Haswell combos are $30 (or more). Not bad, but not as good as recent past.

 

[etherealfocus]

Thanks guys! The above sounds pretty sensible and I'm digging the Fractal case and SFX PSU. Def adding those to the build. Comments:

-I generally like to pay a little more for low profile memory. Eliminates a lot of annoyances in tight quarters, especially when mucking with over-the-mobo drive mounts and vid cards.

-Why downgrade to the 4570? 4670 isn't much extra.

-Watercooling is great but maybe overkill considering my simple build, quality case, and relatively light workload. I haven't heard any complaints about the Intel HSF in a stock system, especially since AS5 paste is a given (unless there's some better paste now?).

-I s'pose I can suck up the HDMI issue and just use the stupid adapter cable. *twitch twitch*

-Sure the 840 EVO's more than doubled write speed and write IOPS won't make a diff when I'm pushing simultaneous heavy writes (say, copying a bunch of jpgs from the network while exporting a Premiere video)? I've been kinda toying with the idea of grabbing a second 830 on eBay and putting them in RAID-0... thoughts on that?

-Why the HDDs? Sure they're cheap, but so are floppies. Like I said, when the fileserver drives die I'm just throwing a couple RAID-1 SSDs in it.

-What are these DVDs you speak of? Some ancient floppy-like physical media, perhaps? I've been optical free since well before Apple. Got a 64gig USB3 pen drive for all my installation needs. 🙂

-I'll try the secure erase and see what happens. I had TRIM enabled but the drive was certainly near-full beyond the overprovisioning. My Intel 320 80GB currently has ~800MB free and exhibits very little stutter though - is Intel just immune to such things? lol

 

[lehtv]

-I generally like to pay a little more for low profile memory. Eliminates a lot of annoyances in tight quarters, especially when mucking with over-the-mobo drive mounts and vid cards.

The RAM is standard profile, it will not interfere with anything.

It looks like the G.Skill RAM I recommended has gone up to $68 per module (thanks to that Hynix factory accident). Let's switch to Kingston HyperX 8GB $53 each. Lower profile memory would cost $17 more per module, doesn't make sense to me.

-Why downgrade to the 4570? 4670 isn't much extra.

The 4670 is up to 6% faster but 10% more expensive. You will never see any noticeable difference between the two; the 4570 is better bang for buck but if you want the 4670, go ahead. Here's the combo.

-Watercooling is great but maybe overkill considering my simple build, quality case, and relatively light workload. I haven't heard any complaints about the Intel HSF in a stock system, especially since AS5 paste is a given (unless there's some better paste now?).

The stock heatsink is not quiet, especially on Ivy bridge / Haswell where Intel decided to not solder on the IHS, unlike on Sandy Bridge. You said you want quiet operation, that automatically means aftermarket cooling. The H90 is IMO the best choice given the combo price and the tight case. Here's how it looks in push-pull with the original fan: http://cdn.overclock.net/8/8a/900x900px-LL-8a6446f8_2013-03-1717.38.37.jpeg

-Sure the 840 EVO's more than doubled write speed and write IOPS won't make a diff when I'm pushing simultaneous heavy writes (say, copying a bunch of jpgs from the network while exporting a Premiere video)? I've been kinda toying with the idea of grabbing a second 830 on eBay and putting them in RAID-0... thoughts on that?

The 830 is already fast enough that extra speed has no practical meaning with your workload. Neither does additional space - the 128GB can fit your OS and all programs, that's what really matters.

-Why the HDDs? Sure they're cheap, but so are floppies. Like I said, when the fileserver drives die I'm just throwing a couple RAID-1 SSDs in it.

Sorry, I didn't realize you don't need an internal hard drive. The $30 off promo expired too, so let's scratch that.

-What are these DVDs you speak of? Some ancient floppy-like physical media, perhaps? I've been optical free since well before Apple. Got a 64gig USB3 pen drive for all my installation needs. 🙂

Awesome 🙂

EDIT: the case also comes with two 92mm intake fans - you may want grilles for them as well, though they are in a fairly safe position above the PSU.

 

[Zap]

I haven't heard any complaints about the Intel HSF in a stock system, especially since AS5 paste is a given (unless there's some better paste now?).

If running stock speeds and using stock cooler, just use the thermal compound that is already on the stock cooler (unless re-mounting). Just make sure you get the push pins in all the way, and enable a fan profile in BIOS.

-Sure the 840 EVO's more than doubled write speed and write IOPS won't make a diff

Samsung 830 128GB
read 520 MB/s
write 320 MB/s
read 80,000 IOPS
write 30,000 IOPS

Samsung 840 Evo 120GB
read 540 MB/s
write 410 MB/s
read 94,000 IOPS
write 35,000 IOPS

Hardly double. Also, the Evo "fakes" the higher speeds with what they call TurboWrite, which is setting aside a portion of the TLC NAND to "act" as faster NAND. See the AnandTech review of the 840 Evo.

You can see that if your writes exceeds the TurboWrite capacity (3GB on a 120GB drive) your write performance will drop to around 130 MB/s.

Also, latest Samsung Magician software has "RAPID" which uses up to 1GB RAM to cache the SSD. Anand talked about it and included some numbers. The IOPS and transfer rates with RAPID disabled (or not installed) is pretty poor, plus RAPID increases CPU utilization.

Basically Samsung uses TurboWrite and RAPID to emulate higher performance. It works, and works well, up to a certain degree and thus can post numbers slightly above your old model 830. Your old model 830, however, really does have that performance without any trickery.

My Intel 320 80GB currently has ~800MB free and exhibits very little stutter though - is Intel just immune to such things? lol

Intel drives that use Intel controllers seem to be rated extremely conservative, and I suspect (no proof) have their speeds "capped" to be super consistent.

The stock heatsink is not quiet, especially on Ivy bridge / Haswell where Intel decided to not solder on the IHS, unlike on Sandy Bridge.

It can be quiet when the CPU is not fully loaded and a fan profile is set in BIOS. I use the stock cooler on my two HTPCs and the faster one is a Core i5-3570K stock speeds with fan profile (Micro Center combo deal, back when pricing was good). Some fluid bearing 120mm fans in the case running at full 1200RPM were crazy noisy compared to the CPU fan.

 

[etherealfocus]

-Ok, I'm sold on the RAM. The H90 certainly does leave a lot of room around the CPU... and the Ballistix Sport combo went up to $150 anyway.

-I never really agreed with the x% perf for y% cost method. In abstract sure it makes sense, but in reality it's $20 for an extra 200mhz that may not be very noticeable but still save me time. Given that I get paid over 20/hr, the question to me is how long it'll take to recover a full hour to show some ROI. Even if I don't notice the difference, it still adds up.

I don't spend a lot of time waiting for the machine so it's not cut and dry, but that does seem like a better metric than straight price/perf. Sound reasonable?

-Ok, the H90 does look pretty damn slick in that pic. The push-pull is sweet, but my chances of adding a vid card anytime soon are near zero and my storage is just a single SSD, so the only significant heat production is my CPU. Even the PSU isn't likely to work very hard supplying an ITX mobo, an 84W CPU, a ~1W SSD, a few fans, and a water pump. $70 is a bit hard to justify there (cost went up $5), but I might swing for it anyway. AS5 should save a few degrees on the retail cooler and I've already got some sitting here - might as well use it. I'm on the fence.

-Ahh, yep. For some reason I was remembering the 830 write speed as 180 instead of 320. Nevermind - I'm sold on it. Will just have to keep my free space in better shape I guess. 128GB is enough for OS, apps, and my active work files - just gotta keep my music on the server and good to go.

-The case is in a fairly sterile work environment (BYOD) so not too worried about dust, but I'll spring for em anyway just to be on the safe side.

Zap: I agree that Intel is likely capping speeds, but that's not what I was referring to. On the 830, I'd get hang times up to around 10s especially when opening folders or saving files. I click a directory or open the Save dialog, and everything hangs for 5-10s. Directory contents don't display, can't click buttons... annoying as hell. High transfer speeds are great and all, but avoiding those hangtimes is way more important to me. The Intel 320 is definitely slower, but without the hangs it doesn't disrupt my workflow. If keeping space free will avoid the hangtimes, I'm sold on it. How much do I have to keep free to be in the clear? I already had OP enabled in Magician and that didn't prevent hanging.

 

[etherealfocus]

Two quick thoughts:

1. Why do ITX mobos not use SODIMMs? Seems like a great way to save board space, simplify installation, and enable compatibility with more common/increasingly cheaper laptop RAM. I can kinda see full DIMMs on Z-series boards with overclocking in mind, but on the H and B series? Seems like a waste and contrary to the SFF goal. Also, a free mSATA/NGFF slot would be sweet for avoiding the cabling hassle of a SATA drive.

2. OT, I was just thinking how sweet it'd be if instead of buying thumb drives with a set amount of memory, we could just buy USB MicroSD readers in the same form factor. Add your own SD card and then you've suddenly got compatibility with phones and cameras and such. Maybe performance would suffer if USB3 drives are using >1 channel?

 

[lehtv]

If you're getting paid per hour then wouldn't it make sense to have a slow CPU? :sneaky:

Just kidding.

The grilles I posted aren't for dust filtering, they just protect the fan blades from wires and other things, and vice versa.

1. No idea, it'd be nice to have both types available though

 

[etherealfocus]

If I was limited by amount of work rather than amount of time I'm willing to spend working, I'd be looking up a Pentium 90 on ebay "Oh sure these old boxes take longer, but they do it right. None of that acceleration nonsense, nosiree!" 😉

Really too bad about the lack of mPCIe availability. There are only two ITX 1150 boards on Newegg with a free mPCIe... one is the $165 Z87E-ITX and the other is the $230 MAXIMUS IV IMPACT OMG THIS IS SO UBER EVEN THE TITLE IS ALL CAPS. I'd spend a bit extra for the streamlining of an mPCIe drive, but 165 is a bit much. That premium is almost enough to buy another SSD. :/

 

[lehtv]

mPCIe? Do you mean mSATA?

 

[etherealfocus]

Ahh yep... none of them have mSATA unless you count the NUC. I don't get it - this seems like it should be a major up-and-coming thing for SFF builders. Is everyone just waiting for NGFF or what?

 

[Zap]

AS5 should save a few degrees on the retail cooler and I've already got some sitting here - might as well use it.

Read this first.
Intel Stock Thermal Compound Review

On the 830, I'd get hang times up to around 10s especially when opening folders or saving files. I click a directory or open the Save dialog, and everything hangs for 5-10s. Directory contents don't display, can't click buttons... annoying as hell. High transfer speeds are great and all, but avoiding those hangtimes is way more important to me. The Intel 320 is definitely slower, but without the hangs it doesn't disrupt my workflow.

Those hang times are not normal behavior of a properly functioning system with a decent SSD. Re-read what mfenn wrote above, about secure erasing it. I would suggest backing up your data, secure erase, then a fresh install of Windows.

1. Why do ITX mobos not use SODIMMs?

Some do, most don't. I think it is a perception thing, and motherboard manufacturers are afraid to (or don't think to) use SODIMMs for motherboards aimed at the enthusiast or DIY system builder. SODIMMs are more common on motherboards aimed at the embedded and industrial crowd.

2. OT, I was just thinking how sweet it'd be if instead of buying thumb drives with a set amount of memory, we could just buy USB MicroSD readers in the same form factor. Add your own SD card and then you've suddenly got compatibility with phones and cameras and such. Maybe performance would suffer if USB3 drives are using >1 channel?

I've been doing that for years. Where have you been? 😛 Couple years ago I bought a 4GB Kingston micro SDHC that came with a tiny USB reader. I loved it! Still use it to this day. It isn't that fast though, since it is only USB 2.0. I have a USB 3.0 adapter by Transcend, but it is a bit bigger. With a Class 10/UHS1 micro SDXC it is crazy fast!

This USB 3.0 reader is what I bought. Seems like they all are "side saddle" with the chip poking out the side, or at least all that I've seen.

The Kingston readers I have (have multiple) are like this one and this one. I like the first one better because it seems more secure in the USB port, but the second one is smaller/thinner.

Is everyone just waiting for NGFF or what?

Maybe. I think it will become more common eventually. It is a chicken/egg thing. No drives on the open market as only a handful of the latest Ultrabooks (and one Asus motherboard?) are the only ones that have the slot. As systems with it becomes more common, then we will start seeing drives in the aftermarket for upgrades. After that, we will start seeing more motherboards with it.

 

[AkumaX]

Two quick thoughts:

1. Why do ITX mobos not use SODIMMs? Seems like a great way to save board space, simplify installation, and enable compatibility with more common/increasingly cheaper laptop RAM. I can kinda see full DIMMs on Z-series boards with overclocking in mind, but on the H and B series? Seems like a waste and contrary to the SFF goal. Also, a free mSATA/NGFF slot would be sweet for avoiding the cabling hassle of a SATA drive.

2. OT, I was just thinking how sweet it'd be if instead of buying thumb drives with a set amount of memory, we could just buy USB MicroSD readers in the same form factor. Add your own SD card and then you've suddenly got compatibility with phones and cameras and such. Maybe performance would suffer if USB3 drives are using >1 channel?

1) There's a new type of motherboard called Thin-Mini-ITX, which uses SODIMM's and mSATA/mPCI-e. I guess you figure that the cooler in a Mini-ITX is going to be taller than regular DD3-DIMM's, so they don't care much (unlike Thin-Mini-ITX, where there is a slim low-profile cooler to keep the entire system "thin")

2) USB 3.0 card reader w/ USB 3.0 port w/ fast UHS-I SD cards = heaven

Lastly, consider a motherboard that has DisplayPort. Since you're doing video/photo work, you might be interested in those cheap 2560x1440p panels sometime down the line, and most of the time the on-board DVI is only Single-Link, so the only choice would be getting DP.

 

[etherealfocus]

1. I sit corrected on thermal paste. Now I just have to decide whether I want to spend $70ish on fancypants cooling or just ignore a little noise. Hmm, the clean case fiend in my is leaning toward the former...

2. I shall nuke it when my system comes in and go from there. Suppose I'll just upgrade if I feel the need.

3. On Z87 sure, but H87/B85? I don't think most of the B85 guys are buying fancy RAM.

4. Awesome! I'll be adding one of those to my order.

5. Too bad. It'd be nice to sell the 830 and just have an NGFF drive on board.

6. Thin Mini looks sweet... too bad there aren't any Haswell options I can find, because this seems like the kind of application Haswell was made for. You'd think all ITX boards would go slim, really.

7. Looking forward to getting the new USB drive and passing off my current 32GB! Anything in particular I should look for to optimize transfer speeds beyond USB3 and SDXC Class 10?

8. Agreed - HDMI+DP will be the way to go. I have indeed been eyeballing the 1440/1600p displays, but it'll pry be another year before I pounce. Just got my dual 1080p displays a few months ago.

 

[AkumaX]

1. I sit corrected on thermal paste. Now I just have to decide whether I want to spend $70ish on fancypants cooling or just ignore a little noise. Hmm, the clean case fiend in my is leaning toward the former...

2. I shall nuke it when my system comes in and go from there. Suppose I'll just upgrade if I feel the need.

3. On Z87 sure, but H87/B85? I don't think most of the B85 guys are buying fancy RAM.

4. Awesome! I'll be adding one of those to my order.

5. Too bad. It'd be nice to sell the 830 and just have an NGFF drive on board.

6. Thin Mini looks sweet... too bad there aren't any Haswell options I can find, because this seems like the kind of application Haswell was made for. You'd think all ITX boards would go slim, really.

7. Looking forward to getting the new USB drive and passing off my current 32GB! Anything in particular I should look for to optimize transfer speeds beyond USB3 and SDXC Class 10?

8. Agreed - HDMI+DP will be the way to go. I have indeed been eyeballing the 1440/1600p displays, but it'll pry be another year before I pounce. Just got my dual 1080p displays a few months ago.

6) Yeah, not right now, but soon! One of the caveats is that the PCI-E lane is only 4x (because the official cooler for thin-ITX is this side-loaded cooler - http://www.buildablade.com/bb-itx84.htm) the heatpipes go off to the side of the motherboard

7) SDXC = 64GB and up.
Class 10 = minimum 10MB/s write
So re: speeds... there is no standard for UHS-I (which offers 45MB/s, but it could be read or write!)
Example 1: 32GB SDHC/64GB SDXC Class 10 UHS-I cards... actual performance of 80MB/s read but only 12-14MB/s write.
- in this scenario, they meet the requirements for C10 (minimum 10MB/s) and UHS-I 45MB/s or higher, read or write. I'm sure if you got this card expecting fast write speeds, you'd be disappointed..
Example 2: 32GB SDHC/64GB SDXC Class 10 UHS-I cards... actual performance of 80MB/s read and 45MB/s write
- in this scenario, the manufacturer made a claim that they will over a write speed higher than Class 10 (since C10 is only a minimum of 10MB/s write, but anything after is "free").

So anyways, read specs, read reviews, read benchmarks if you decide on a card!

Also, a small table of particular combinations of USB 2.0/3.0 card readers ports, with max bus speeds (assuming that, for sake of example, you have a capable SD card that can do 100MB/s read AND write)

USB 2.0 reader + USB 2.0 port:
- 20MB/s read | 20MB/s write
USB 2.0 reader + USB 3.0 port:
- 20MB/s read | 20MB/s write
USB 3.0 reader + USB 2.0 port:
- 35MB/s read | 30MB/s write
USB 3.0 reader + USB 3.0 port:
- 100MB/s read | 100MB/s write

Examples of cards that have fast read and/or write speeds (note you need USB 3.0 reader and USB 3.0 port, otherwise see above)

- Sony 94MB/s UHS-I (80MB/s read, 45MB/s write)
- SanDisk Extreme 80MB/s (80MB/s read, 40MB/s write)
- SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s (90MB/s read, 80MB/s write)
- Sony 40MB/s UHS-I (70MB/s read, 20MB/s write)
- SanDisk Extreme 45MB/s (45MB/s read, 45MB/s write)

9) FYI note that the 2560x1440p/1600p monitors require DisplayPort (full speed) or Dual-Link DVI. there is currently no adapter on the market that can convert HDMI 1.3/1.4 to Full Speed DP or DL-DVI for 1440p/1600p (somebody prove me wrong, i need this adapter!)