The Chipset supports PCIe bus Up to Gen4. Please install a single ultra fast M.2 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive. Create M.2 OS(C:) boot disk with the modern GPT partition format (not MBR) for enhanced performance and reliability for large drives (up to 4TB). Within BIOS boot list option, enable UEFI for fast boot option. Remember to clone (copy) to create standby OS(C:) boot disk so that if original OS(C:) boot disk becomes unrecoverable, swap in standby OS(C:) boot disk to get up and running within minutes. Macrium Reflect Free
The DATA drive in second slot should contain all the files that are not required to be on the OS(C:) boot disk. This is especially required if playing graphic intensive games or running graphic intensive applications. The OS(C:) boot disk is then sufficiently empty so that temporary files can be opened and run without any appreciable lost performance time.
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Please remember to say thank you by clicking on Kudos. I do not work for Dell and volunteer my free time.
Which Alienware 13 do you have? There are three revisions -- the 13, the R2 and the R3. Not all of these support NVMe drives (the early one is M.2 SATA only).
The other issue you may face with PCIe 4 drives is that the system is PCI3 3 -- not 4. Make sure the firmware on the drives is the latest.
The other notes about RAID0 being inherently dangerous apply -- you won't see much if any performance boost from RAID 0 in this system (and either drive alone is far faster than the system will natively support).
If raid is supported on the NVME slots, you need to load the Intel RAID driver for the operating system you will be installing in order for the windows installer to see the configured RAID.
I would also not recommend a RAID 0 for gaming computers, since there's an inherent risk unless you have a proper backup system in place.
The SN 850 is a 4x4 drive capable of up to 7,000 MB/s, using 2 in a raid 0 is going to provide no noticeable speed improvements when gaming or using the machine for day to day tasks.
1. If raid is supported on the NVME slots, you need to load the Intel RAID driver for the operating system you will be installing in order for the windows installer to see the configured RAID.
2. I would also not recommend a RAID 0 for gaming computers,
3. The SN 850 is a 4x4 drive capable of up to 7,000 MB/s, using 2 in a raid 0 is going to provide no noticeable speed improvements when gaming or using the machine for day to day tasks.
I have both an NVME 3 x 4 and 4 x 4 installed in the same system, and while in benchmarks I can see the 3500 MB/s and 7000 MB/s difference, I notice zero difference when loading games from either.
It's so fast already that only workloads that heavily rely on disk I/O are going to show a real world difference. Games or loading up Windows are not going to be such workloads.
I noticed specifically with games it takes longer to execute the code and get the game "ready" than any loading times. I would say higher speed memory or more memory (if supported) are going to make a much bigger difference than 7000 or 14,000 MB/s (theoretical raid 0) sequential read speeds are going to make.
I really don't care about people recommending I don't use RAID for gaming, etc. blah blah
The fact of the matter and largest issue for me is that Dell's top of the range Alienware (R13), with dual NVME slots has ZERO support for RAID arrays..
I can't even comprehend how stupid this really is... Under the F12 boot menu, there is no option to access the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager.. Therefore I understand it is not even supported..
My 2 year old Alienware Area-51M laptop even supports RAID arrays! seriously this is just lunacy
crimsom
7 Technologist
•
6.1K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 03:00
Hi @Wardski1974 creating RAID_0 drives within Alienware Aurora R13 does not provide any enhanced performance and is inherently unreliable. How to Configure RAID on a Dell Personal Computer | Dell US
The Chipset supports PCIe bus Up to Gen4. Please install a single ultra fast M.2 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe drive. Create M.2 OS(C:) boot disk with the modern GPT partition format (not MBR) for enhanced performance and reliability for large drives (up to 4TB). Within BIOS boot list option, enable UEFI for fast boot option. Remember to clone (copy) to create standby OS(C:) boot disk so that if original OS(C:) boot disk becomes unrecoverable, swap in standby OS(C:) boot disk to get up and running within minutes. Macrium Reflect Free
The DATA drive in second slot should contain all the files that are not required to be on the OS(C:) boot disk. This is especially required if playing graphic intensive games or running graphic intensive applications. The OS(C:) boot disk is then sufficiently empty so that temporary files can be opened and run without any appreciable lost performance time.
------------------
Please remember to say thank you by clicking on Kudos. I do not work for Dell and volunteer my free time.
ejn63
10 Elder
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30.7K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 05:00
Which Alienware 13 do you have? There are three revisions -- the 13, the R2 and the R3. Not all of these support NVMe drives (the early one is M.2 SATA only).
The other issue you may face with PCIe 4 drives is that the system is PCI3 3 -- not 4. Make sure the firmware on the drives is the latest.
The other notes about RAID0 being inherently dangerous apply -- you won't see much if any performance boost from RAID 0 in this system (and either drive alone is far faster than the system will natively support).
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7.1K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 10:00
If raid is supported on the NVME slots, you need to load the Intel RAID driver for the operating system you will be installing in order for the windows installer to see the configured RAID.
I would also not recommend a RAID 0 for gaming computers, since there's an inherent risk unless you have a proper backup system in place.
The SN 850 is a 4x4 drive capable of up to 7,000 MB/s, using 2 in a raid 0 is going to provide no noticeable speed improvements when gaming or using the machine for day to day tasks.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17.4K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 14:00
@Wardski1974
1. I try to stay as far away from Intel-RST as possible. Run those NVMe-SSDs as AHCI instead.
2. Agreed.
3. Agreed. NVMe-SSDs are already way-fast on their own. These new x4 NVMe-SSDs even now take it to another level.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
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7.1K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 15:00
I have both an NVME 3 x 4 and 4 x 4 installed in the same system, and while in benchmarks I can see the 3500 MB/s and 7000 MB/s difference, I notice zero difference when loading games from either.
It's so fast already that only workloads that heavily rely on disk I/O are going to show a real world difference. Games or loading up Windows are not going to be such workloads.
I noticed specifically with games it takes longer to execute the code and get the game "ready" than any loading times. I would say higher speed memory or more memory (if supported) are going to make a much bigger difference than 7000 or 14,000 MB/s (theoretical raid 0) sequential read speeds are going to make.
Wardski1974
2 Intern
•
189 Posts
1
February 23rd, 2022 18:00
I really don't care about people recommending I don't use RAID for gaming, etc. blah blah
The fact of the matter and largest issue for me is that Dell's top of the range Alienware (R13), with dual NVME slots has ZERO support for RAID arrays..
I can't even comprehend how stupid this really is... Under the F12 boot menu, there is no option to access the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager.. Therefore I understand it is not even supported..
My 2 year old Alienware Area-51M laptop even supports RAID arrays! seriously this is just lunacy
Wardski1974
2 Intern
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189 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2022 18:00
Its the R13 desktop mate. not laptop
Mecka Mais
1 Rookie
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6 Posts
0
August 24th, 2022 22:00
AGREED. I had this working, but after a BIOS update, the options to modify drive RAID settings are gone. Ridiculous.