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Installing SSD Alienware X-51 R2
Hello,
I installed a 500GB Samsung 840 Series SSD into my Alienware X51 R2, using a SATA 3.0 data cable. I then installed a fresh copy of WIndows 8 into the SSD and made my 2TB Seagate my secondary drive just for storage. Everything seems to be working fine but I get really low speeds from the SSD according to Samsung's Magician software. The software is telling me to activate AHCI in my BIOS, but the X-51's R2 BIOS doesn't give me options to do so or even change much actually. Gives no access to drive settings (RAID, etc) It's a very limited BIOS. I have BIOS version A01. ? I have not for the life of me been able to figure out how to activate AHCI or improve my SSD's performance after thorough googling and forum reading. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to?
Thank you!
Carlos
Tesla1856
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July 21st, 2013 12:00
Provide numbers from Performance Benchmark.
animaus
6 Posts
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July 21st, 2013 17:00
Benchmarks vary but this is my latest. If I put the computer to sleep and come back and use it later I get faster benchmarks which is odd.
Tesla1856
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July 21st, 2013 23:00
Not terrible numbers by any means, but it looks more like SATA2-300 port. What makes you think it has a SATA3-600 port?
And those expected "up to" IOPS it lists ... never seen anything like those... even on SATA3-600.
Windows 8.1 is beta. Try on released OS. Are you running Intel RST? (don't load it if haven't already).
morblore
2.4K Posts
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July 22nd, 2013 00:00
Does look like sata2 speeds but the tech specs says it has 3 sata3's inside.
Internal Chassis Connections
(3x) SATA 6.0Gb/s Ports
animaus
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July 22nd, 2013 00:00
Yep, I did have intel RST installed but I removed it, without removing the drivers. Any suggestions about AHCI?
morblore
2.4K Posts
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July 22nd, 2013 01:00
Once you install RST the drivers can not be removed, even if you uninstalled the RST software. It is so hard to do that a OS install is recommended if you want to go back to the Windows driver.
Have you tried using a different sata port in the PC yet? Anywho, gonna let Tesla help you with this one, he's better at it then me
Tesla1856
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July 22nd, 2013 01:00
mav711
245 Posts
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July 22nd, 2013 11:00
IRST is fixed in BIOS. This enables X51 R2 systems to use IRST if someone wants to without issues but also will function with drives even if they dont use IRST. Will check with the engineering guys on this one.
x51R2
1 Message
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August 29th, 2013 21:00
Has anybody figured out the bios settings to use with non-factory SSD upgrade?
skiingmouse
1 Message
1
September 21st, 2013 01:00
Gentle bump on this one - it is really a pain that we are limited to Intel RST on the X51 R2 (see various comments above asking for this). On a $1500 computer I expect to have all the usual options open to me. Any chance of an updated BIOS that unlocks the possibility to use AHCI?
MLPN2
38 Posts
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October 25th, 2013 13:00
Roll your own puter , Dell is just to much hell .
albertss
6 Posts
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February 7th, 2016 02:00
I am having the same problem. cant do anything in bios. I installed a IDE\DiskSamsung_SSD_850_EVO_500GB in Alienware M18x R2/Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 2048MB/16gb ram/A10 bios/ now searching for modded bios to unlock the option settings in the bios menu so that I would be able to boot in AHCI as Samsung Magician is telling me to do
animaus
6 Posts
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February 7th, 2016 05:00
Yeah I never had any luck. Just gave up on trying to please Samsung magician. I actually don't use it anymore. My SSD still works like a charm. Just upgraded my factory gtx with a 970 and my Alienware X51 R2 is still kicking.