161 Posts
1
3941
M.2 PCIe NVMe as Boot Drive Inspiron 660S
Hey guys, hoping speedstep or someone that knows about this stuff will help me. I asked this very question a while back and was told that I could not do this because I have a Third Gen Intel CPU, and needed a Fourth Gen? But I was just reading what speedstep was saying about being mostly dependent on UEFI, which my machine has. It came with 8 on it, but I installed Windows 7 Pro. I'm planning on Clean Installing Windows 8 or 10 soon and thought I might utilize m.2 technology if possible, via an Adapter. It looks as though I do have a PCIe x16 slot available but will need to look physically I guess. And from what I've read that may not work as it is for a video card.
I can certainly go the easy route and get a SATA SSD and call it quits, but will some one tell me for sure if this is possible. I read the Dell official Docs on this but it's still a little unclear to me. It seems I need
Or at least what can I do with that slot to make my computer better, faster or just give myself a little more storage. I was thinking maybe a USB Port with 3.0 capability.
frankr2994
49 Posts
1
January 21st, 2020 16:00
I just posted to this thread today.
https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/7010-PCIe-M-2-bootable-drives-via-adapter/td-p/7290579/page/2
Check some links out and do some reading. It can be done. However older PC regardless of what you want to use it for works alot better with just a sata SSD. I prefer Intel drives because I haven't had a failure and I've had a couple strange installs of Samsung and crucial drives in older systems.
User1190
161 Posts
0
January 21st, 2020 16:00
Just got an email from DELL-Cares asking for my Service Tag but the address is a "noreply" address, so what do I do, Post it here, don't really want to do that?
Inspiron 660s SFF
User1190
161 Posts
0
January 21st, 2020 17:00
Thanks Frank, I will stop this thought now. I looked over some of those links. I don't really want work arounds and such, this is my main desktop. I have another Haswell machine that I may or may not do this at some point. And at some point I would love a new pc.
I wonder what I can use that x16 PCIe Slot for? I don't really need better Graphics as I'm not a gamer, and don't really want my computer making more heat in my small room. Extra USB 3.0 Ports? I think there is an extra x1 PCIe also, would that be good for USB 3.0 Adapter?
Thanks
frankr2994
49 Posts
0
January 21st, 2020 18:00
try to think what you might need usb 3.0 ports for. I believe you have 2 of them already. keyboards and stuff like that don't need hardly any resources. I have hard drive docks that I need usb 3.0 to get any sort of decent speed when using ssd drives in them. but other than that you may add in a flash drive and usually I'm not sticking 4 flash drives in any computer at one time. I'd leave well enough alone. Lots of people out there rocking there machine without anything in a pcie slot. If you need wifi I always liked to use the pcie wireless/bluetooth cards instead of using an external usb. And just to point this out. not being a gamer doesn't always mean to stay away from a gpu. older slower cpu's sometimes have a hard time playing an hd video on youtube. I don't know what I have in the computer I setup for my kid but it was cheap. I mean I think I paid 40 bucks for it on newegg some amd card. But it works really well way better than the onboard graphics. He plays minecraft on it and I put some shader packs on it and it maxes the gpu out but runs at 30fps.
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
47K Posts
0
January 22nd, 2020 09:00
USB3 ports are easily added with PCI-E cards.
The boost in speed for reading data however doesn't translate into a faster machine.
SSD's of either type do boot faster but they don't make a lot of difference with application performance.
So its a matter of what are you wanting PCI-E crosspoint storage for?
User1190
161 Posts
0
January 22nd, 2020 13:00
Is it not possible to stay logged into this forum. I wrote a post and lost it because I was not logged in. It's a bit of a pain to keep logging in isn't it?
User1190
161 Posts
0
August 28th, 2021 12:00
USB 3 Would be good as sometimes I have three plugged in, and like the speed over 2.0. I've stalled out on this project due to health and family issues. Once I look physically to see what I have available I will be back. I know a little about computers, I'm just trying to eek out any little bit of performance I can in different areas. I've dispelled tryin to make the M.2 a boot drive, but am curious if a could use one of the slots for an m.2 SATA storage drive, because I have one laying around. Another thought was a modern Ethernet adapter. I already put a fan in it as the drive was running a little hot, not bad, but a little on the warm side. I read on some of the popular server sites that there were more drive failures with WD Drives when the temps reached 47C, which mine was. I was able to reduce the temps to below 45C with the fan. Not looking to set the world on fire just a make little performance tweaks.
davalosmfco
1 Message
0
August 28th, 2021 12:00
Greetings, I wanted to install a m.2 pcie ssd like you, but I can not go to look for windows to pcie, in an installation in hdd or ssd sata if I can see my pcie ssd unit, but my bios or motherboar does not support it, I bought a adapter in amazon for sdd m.2 sata and a 120 gb ssd unit and I installed it in the pcie only so I could install windows 10 from ssd m.2 sata in an adapter on pcie port .. and the speed was noticeable .. .If you like, I can send you an image of the pieces so you can see it.
luck if you can!
User1190
161 Posts
0
August 28th, 2021 12:00
If this is correct all my slots are being used. What would be using the x16 Slot? I don't have a dedicated gpu!
PCI Data
Slot PCI-E
Slot Type PCI-E
Slot Usage In Use
Data lanes x16
Slot Designation PCIEX16
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 0
Slot PCI-E
Slot Type PCI-E
Slot Usage In Use
Data lanes x1
Slot Designation PCIEX1
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 1
Slot PCI-E
Slot Type PCI-E
Slot Usage In Use
Data lanes x1
Slot Designation PCIEX1
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 2