Thanks OM,

A useful video on optimising Windows, though I'm primarily interested in what the best tradeoffs are for the hardware.

A refurb is unlikely in my case as I'm planning this for a new very-short 2U rackmount, so I'd end up throwing quite a bit of a refurb machine away. I want as far as possible to avoid high dissipation, to help keep the fans (etc.) quiet. I'd like also, of course, to keep good value for money.

In particular I was interested in the real performance tradeoffs between RAMs, M.2 SSD and SATA SSD. In an ideal world I'd have as much and as fast RAM and M2 PCIE as was possible, but that can make for some very large budget numbers indeed. My gut still tells me that the best place to put the bulk of the money is into the RAM.

Having been looking at that, though, I'm starting to recognise that there are really too many factors to inform a simple choice. I end up also trying to account for DDR4 and DDR5 differences and how many memory slots. Even my default strategy of buying a a modest way below the top is now looking fragile. :-/

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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