Upgrade M.2 drive on XPS 9570

Question

Hello, I want to upgrade to a 1TB M.2 drive from a SK Hynix PC 401 NVME 2280 M.2 Gen 3 512GB.  I could really use some advice on which manufacturer and model to get.  Hynix has a Gold P31 and a newer Platinum P41 Gen 4 I think.  Western Digital Black SN750 1TB and a Newer SN770.  Then Samsung 970 EVO Plus I'm looking at. All these seem to be the most popular, all for around $100.  Are any of these better than the other.  There are concerning reviews on all of these as far as cheap components and poor support.  I'm willing to spend extra $ to get solid reliability, good tech support and warranty. My XPS 9570 won't support the Generation 4.0 drives I don't think, But if the new drive is backward compatible with newer more reliable components, I would go for that.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I'm getting confused! Trying to find something perfect that checks all the boxes. Thanks a lot in advance.

fireberd · Answer

I just replaced an SK Hynex Gold P31 with a Samsung 980 on my desktop. No support from Hynex and their user app would not install a firmware upgrade. I never ran any benchmarks but visually I gained some (slight) speed with the Samsung.

I have an older Samsung NVME in my Dell laptop.

ejn63 · Answer

Samsung and WD are both solid choices. So is Crucial and are a host of others. No, your system won't run a PCIe 4 drive at full speed, but they're backward compatible with PCIe 3 interfaces.

WD is generally better with end-user support than are many others. With Samsung and others, make sure you purchase through an authorized seller (i.e., be skeptical of EBay purchases).

Slick33 · Answer

Thanks for the tips.  Would I need a heatsink for any of these drives?  Thanks

ejn63 · Answer

You won't be able to fit a heatsink large enough to do its job (nor will a drive that comes with one fit).  There's really not much airflow around the drive anyway -- unlike in a desktop system.

Slick33 · Answer

Thanks everyone for the advice.  I bought the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB at the local BB.  It seems to be popular and they were out of stock on the Western Digital.  Now the hard part.  I haven't installed windows since XP!  I guess I want to update my current drive to Windows 11 and save it incase something goes wrong.  Then use the Media Creation tool to make a Windows 11 install USB. I want to do a clean install on the new drive.  I could use some step by step 'detailed' instructions on where to go from there.  I'm getting old and slow.  I have found a couple good links, but nothing ever goes exactly the same!  Thanks

XPS

Upgrade M.2 drive on XPS 9570

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