Do both of the XPS 8910 M.2 slots support NVMe SSDs

What is the performance on your two M.2 SSDs in the XPS 8910?  Are they both at 4X?

Thanks.

marctronixx,

What is the performance of your two M.2 SSDs in your XPS 8910?  Are they both at 4X? NVMe?

Thanks.

This is very confusing, lots of comments and not a lot of exact empirical data from Dell or other users.

@marctronixx , you are saying that you are getting x4 speeds from the x4 pcie lane slot 3.  Could you please define this location more precisely?  Slot 3 as referred to in the 8910 MB diagram refers to the PCIE 1x card slot, #14 in the MB diagram.  Are you using a 3rd party card in this slot to achieve SSD x4 speeds?  

When you say "a 950 m.2 half terabyte on the other M.2 slot", which # on the MB diagram are your referring to?  Item #8?  Is this the "other m2 slot" ?  

From what I hear from Dell in Feb 2017, on the 8910 (not the 8900) Item #8 M.2 connector is supposed to be x4 speed now (all 4 lanes) without resorting to using a PCIE slot with a 3rd party card.

Can you please clarify?

Thx DD

I have a samsung 850 m.2 card in the m2 slot thats open. The other m2 slot is for the wireless card.

I have a samsung 950 pro ssd with a pcie card that allows the ssd to be installed in the pcie slot thats designed for x4 lanes.

DD,

I think there was a window of time where the 8910 was just released and we did not have info that in addition to the new case design, it also included a newly designed  MoBo ( specs linked above ).

Then as these were arriving, users reported one of the 8910 M.2 slots had full performance of PCIe x4.

This was an improvement over the 8900 MoBo where the M.2 slot was only built for SATA III speed.

Another area of confusion is around the second M.2 slot, typically for a WiFi card.  I'll be honest I have not followed this closely enough to comment if an SSD will or will not work in this slot and if so at what speed.

hope this helps.

Perhaps a new thread with how you intend to upgrade your system would get cleaner answers based on current knowledge in the community.

good luck,

Dan

Thx @marctronixx for the clarity.  I think I understand now. With the one m.2 slot which is open and with the pcie card you have both SSD's operating at x4?

Thx @Dan-H.  I think I get it now. I just bought a new 8910 (not here yet) and ordered it with the m.2 card, which I suspect is in the unused m.2 slot and was just trying to ensure that it will operate at x4.  Also saw the comparison chart you posted in another thread.  

I guess I need to plan out if Sata III will be ok for the other two HDD's I have now.  One for data and one for backups.  They are sata, not sure if they are sata III?

I'm thinking it might be nice to have no HDD's in there but I am going to have to pony up some $$$ to replace them with SSD's.  Data drive is 1TB, about 3/4 full and backup is 2TB also about 3/4 full. I can cleanup the backup and maybe keep it under 1TB.  I might add the PCIe card and put a new SSD on it so it will also operate at x4 and use for data.  Maybe not add an internal backup and go back to an external network drive for backup. Thoughts?

Is the M.2 slot faster than the pcie slot? Using M.2 do I need a SATA cable or does the M.2 ssd just plug into the slot? Do I need a bracket? Obvious noob. Thanks.

Anybody got pics or video installing M. 2 ssd in 8910 M.2 slot?

Oh I forgot to ask do I need to change something in bios for m.2 card to boot?

I'm still waiting on my new 8910, due next week sometime.  On the 8910, it has two M.2 slots.  One comes with a wireless AC network card/BT (in some versions). The other is for an SSD, which is equal to the PCIE 4x speed now.  Was not on the 8900.  The proper SSD is like this:

www.amazon.com/.../B00TGIW1XG

No cables or other required for this SSD card, if going into the M.2 slot on the MB.  But check out the Samsung 950 and 960 Pro which run faster.  

Yes, you will likely have to change the bios to boot off the M.2 slot if your system was built with a main HDD.

You can also put an SSD on the PCIe 4x slot with an inexpensive PCI card and similar M.2 SSD card  which will run at max PCIe speed as well. There are posts here which indicate the proper "keying" for that M.2 slot and same may apply for the PCIe card option. I haven't figured that out yet.  There are some posts above which touch on this.  Hope this help!

DD

I didnt make any bios changes and i have a samsung 850 ssd on the m2 slot and a samsung 950 pro on the PCIEx4 card.