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Go to SolutionM.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.
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
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Posted 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.
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?
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
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Posted 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!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
frankr2994
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Posted 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.