Studio XPS 9100, PCIe x4 installed in PCIe x8 slot?

What is in the other PCIe slots?

One x1 slot has wifi card thats not being used.

Other x1 is empty.

Pci8 slot has the usb 3.1 x4 card. 

Computer is dell xps 9100 core  i7 

Tried powering up first then inserting usb 3.1 x4 card in pci8 slot. Then restarted. Then did complete shutdown and turned on with power button. It powered up this time. I guess now the question is how do i know if i'll get full usb 3.1 gen 2 capability and usb 3.0 capability (10 gbps and 5 gbps) from the pci8 slot. 

Glad you got it working but I do not recommend installing cards with the power on.

To test full USB capability you would need a loopback tester, something like this:   https://www.passmark.com/products/usb3loopback.htm. I am not sure there is a cheap way to do it.

I'm going through a similar upgrade to provide support for USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) speeds on the 9100's predecessor, the Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000.

Bought this USB 3.1 Ugreen 2.5" drive enclosure to use with SSDs to use/test the PCIe add-in card.  Reviews indicate included cable isn't up to USB 3.1 speeds, so bought this USB-C to USB-A cable which supports 10 Gpbs and 3A at 5V power, plus this USB-C to USB-C cable which has similar characteristics.  (10 Gbps plus decent power delivery like 10 to 15W for drive enclosures requires a "special" USB cable and can't be over 1m or about 3 feet.)  The 2.5" enclosure will test bandwidth up to SATA III speeds - I expect to see just under 600 MB/s, likely 500 to 550 MB/s, with the enclosure.

Also, I bought a PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure, which should be capable of using the full bandwidth of USB 3.1 Gen 2.

BTW, I bought this Ableconn PCIe USB 3.1 Gen 2 add-in card.  Key deciding factors for me were reasonable price, full speed if put into a PCIe 2.0 slot (requires at least a x4 physical slot with x2 hooked up), 2A to 3A power at 5V available to connected devices, and availability of a low profile PCIe bracket.

Here's my testing of new USB 3.1 Gen 2 setup I mentioned above with CrystalDiskMark.

For comparison, here's the Dell Studio XPS 435T/900 native SATA II - a Crucial M4 256GB, Intel RST 11.7.4.1001 driver in AHCI mode - 283/244 MB/s sequential read/write:

And, a Samsung 840 PRO 512GB in Ugreen USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure connected to Ableconn ASM1142 PCIe card using default Windows 10 driver (which has UASP) - 558/519 MB/s read/write:

Following is a different SSD - a demonstration of why UASP support is important.

With UASP - a Crucial M4 256GB in Ugreen USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure connected to Ableconn ASM1142 PCIe card using default Windows 10 driver (which has UASP) - note Queue and Thread performance:

Without UASP - a Crucial M4 256GB in Ugreen USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure connected to Ableconn ASM1142 PCIe card using ASMedia 1.16.38.1 driver (no UASP) - note poor Queue and Thread performance:

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Got a M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure.  Here's about what to expect with a Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD in a USB 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure connected to the same setup - 792/783 MB/s sequential read/write:

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@Techgee thank you so much for the hardware advice. My 9100 is running Win7 from the c: drive and I've managed to get that OS to recognize the NVME (samsung970) as the d: drive. The issue is I'm trying to install to and boot from that NVME but it's not recognized by the Win10 USB install media when that is used for booting. I don't see anything in the bios about changing it to UEFI. The Studio XPS 9100 is an eight year old machine - was UEFI even a thing back then? Whatever the case, I appreciate the benchmarks you posted for the setup. 

You should note that these cards have SATA power connection because the PCI-E bus does not provide the power needed to use 900MA per usb 3.X port.  UASP featue is only available with Microsoft WHQL built-in drivers. Currently, the ASMedia driver does not have UASP feature.

do not hot swap cards or plugs inside any PC.

ok, do the full power down hard power off steps, AC line pulled. DO THIS:

most PCs made the PCI slots are not rated for hot swap, nor is the staggered power pins proof it is.

doing what you did , would latch up the chips and case a dynamic short, causing any PSU to shut off.

learn how to work  on PCs and not do damage.OK
 

the hotswaps rules are this deep , despite youtube goons to the contrary.

1-card certified.

2: mobo certified,

3: bios   certified

4: and OS too.  4 levels of rules. to HOT  SWAP this, and never every hot swap the other power cables ever.

end PC 101, basic basics day1. class.1

no card even stated,  URL  would be nice, no?

there are 3 kinds of card, all work in true 8x slot for sure.

the USB ports need about 1amp each (tad over 900mA min)

That means there are 3 power sources.

the 75watts (or whats left there power wise? who knows cant see what is there total at all) for power

and 4PIN PATA power jack

Or some have SATA power jack. (probably best If the above  PCI powered card is too expensive )

they are not optional, on the last 2.

THE PCI powered card (only ) will have one huge VRM or 4 smaller VRMs on board, even one glance by me and gee can tell you.

75W is only available from an X16 slot.

25W max for low profile X16

10W is max low profile X4 PCI-E cards.

PCI Express 3.0 changes the line code to 128b/130b from 8b/10b encoding which is why its NOT Backwards COMPATIBLE and why newer cards do not work in OLD motherboards with PCI-E 1.1 and 2.0 bus.

OP I guess you plugged the PCI-express card in the bottom outside , PCI non express slot did you not.

do not use the legacy PCI slot oK? and please do not hot swap parts seen below !!!!

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@Xtratton wrote:

@Techgee thank you so much for the hardware advice. My 9100 is running Win7 from the c: drive and I've managed to get that OS to recognize the NVME (samsung970) as the d: drive. The issue is I'm trying to install to and boot from that NVME but it's not recognized by the Win10 USB install media when that is used for booting. I don't see anything in the bios about changing it to UEFI. The Studio XPS 9100 is an eight year old machine - was UEFI even a thing back then? Whatever the case, I appreciate the benchmarks you posted for the setup. 

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Xtratton, as this thread is about USB, could you start a new thread for this?  Click "Start a Discussion" when in the XPS Desktops forum to do this.  Subject "Studio XPS 9100 - Installing Windows 10 on NVMe SSD" or something - you can just cut and paste your original post text into it if you want.  I'll respond in new thread.

EDIT:  From an earlier edit of your post it seems you have the 970 in a USB NVMe enclosure which is plugged into the Ableconn USB 3.1 PCIe card in the x8 PCIe slot.  While it's technically possible to run Windows 10 from USB (it requires a special installation or something like Win2USB or Rufus with Windows to Go Image option) the Ableconn and most (all?) USB add-in cards do not support booting from a USB device attached to them.

If you want to boot from a M.2 NVMe SSD you'll need a M.2 NVMe PCIe add-in card AND one of only a handful of M.2 NVMe SSDs with a Legacy Option ROM, since the Dell Dimension XPS 9100 is a Legacy BIOS device and doesn't have UEFI.

The Samsung 950 PRO (came in 256GB and 512GB) is known to boot on X58 chipset systems like the 9100 - I boot and run Windows 10 from it on a Dell Dimension XPS 435T/9000, also a X58 system. The 950 is the ONLY Samsung M.2 NVMe SSD I know of that has a Legacy Option ROM.  Additionally, to boot on a Legacy BIOS system the NVMe SSD must be initialized to MBR, since the Legacy BIOS will not recognize GPT.

The Plextor M8Pe (available in 1TB) also has a Legacy Option ROM and it (M8PeGN version - M8Pe(G) would probably work as well) boots on my 9000 (I could not get the AIC, M8Pe(Y), version to work at all - likely because the heatsink hits a component on the motherboard, preventing full insertion into the motherboard).  However, for whatever reason the M8PeGN took 2+ minutes to boot and I opted for 950 since it didn't have this issue.  This issue may be specific to my system (I also think the SSD had an older 1.04 version firmware and not the latest 1.06) and it might work fine in yours. There are other X58 system owners saying they're booting from the M8Pe and don't seem to have this issue. Note Plextor's followup model, the M9Pe, does NOT have a Legacy Option ROM, neither does the M8Se.

If you want some or all of a combination of USB 3.1 Gen 2, Windows 10 booting on a M.2 NVMe SSD, plus additional M.2 NVMe SSDs for data, see my post here.