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Aurora R12, adding a WDSN850 SSD
Hi,
I have an Aurora R12 with a small SSD (256 gb) and a HDD (1TB). And I was thinking to add an additional SSD gen4 pcie, M.2 2280 from Western Digital (SN850), so that I can install games on the new SSD. I have several questions about that:
1) is it possible to add a 3rd drive without having to remove one of the two already present?
2) Is it possible to plug directly this type of SSD without the need of an adapter? and do I need to buy a heatsink to avoid overheating?
3) Would I benefit from the speed of the pcie4 on my aurora12 (or said otherwise, is the Bios still limiting the speed of pcie4)
I'm pretty novice at adding components to a computer, so I definitely need your input on this.
Thank you,
Jonathan
Vanadiel
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July 13th, 2022 10:00
I use a regular SSD for gaming and see no benefit using an M2 unless it requires an abnormal amount of data loading. I don't think you will notice a practical difference between loading from an M2 or SATA SSD.
Adaptors that might work are hit and miss between BIOS revisions, or just hit and miss overall. There are a few thread son here discussing them. Since they are not officially supported by Alienware, you have to rely on other user experiences with them to determine if they will work.
To replace the existing M2 with a new M2, one way of doing this is using Acronis. This is often but not always supplied by a drive manufacturer. Macrium Reflect is another popular option.
Macrium Reflect
Vanadiel
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July 13th, 2022 09:00
The R12 only supports 1 M2 SSD slot, which I assume is already occupied by the 256 Gb SSD the system came with.
So adding a second M2 drive is not possible without using an adaptor card, however that comes with it's own issues as not all adaptors are supported well on these systems.
To make it easy and virtually hassle free, I would simply add a 2.5" SATA SSD and use that as extra storage. There are 2 2.5" SSD caddy's provided and if I am not mistaken they are tool less.
redxps630
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July 13th, 2022 10:00
Re: do I need to buy a heatsink to avoid overheating?
recommended given poor air flow in R12.
Re: Would I benefit from the speed of the pcie4 on my aurora12 (or said otherwise, is the Bios still limiting the speed of pcie4)
R12 chipset is Z490. it has PCI Express Revision 3.0
Head02hunterz
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July 13th, 2022 10:00
Thanks for your quick answer!
Would a SATA SSD provide a comfortable gaming experience though, as the reading speed is way slower than a M2 SSD?
Also do you know an adaptor which would work with this system or does this depend of the other components I have?
And what would I be required to do if I replace my 256 by a new 1TB SSD M2? Or how can I move the systems to the new SSD?
Head02hunterz
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July 13th, 2022 11:00
Thank you so much to both of you! You were super helpful! I'll go for a SATA SSD then.
ProfessorW00d
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July 13th, 2022 13:00
If you decide to go with M.2 NVMe this PCIe adapter will work.
RLKirkland
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October 15th, 2023 19:31
@ProfessorW00d sorry to revive dead thread. But when you install this adapter do you need to set the bios to raid or will it simply read the new card as a storage device?
Vanadiel
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October 15th, 2023 23:14
@RLKirkland No need to set BIOS to RAID. RAID for a consumer system is not the best option.
RLKirkland
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October 16th, 2023 04:19
@Vanadiel awesome. Thanks bro