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m15 R6, SSD compatibility issue
Hi folks,
Just got my m15 R6 and it has been great! One little problem with it was SSD compatibility. From some reviews I had the idea at least one of the SSD slots support PCIE 4.0. Though when I tried to install a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, the SSD won't run at slot 1 at all, and run only at PCIE 3.0 at slot 2.
More details:
Laptop: Alienware m15 R6, 11400H + RTX3060 version
SSD: Samsung 980 PRO 2TB, can be recognized in BIOS. When installed in slot 1, constant read/write timeout. When installed in slot2, run only at PCIE 3.0 protocol.
Other SSD like the original 2230 Hynix 250GB or my Samsung 980 1TB worked find in slot 1.
Thanks!
JusFaulk
4 Posts
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February 22nd, 2022 14:00
Here are screenshots of samsung magician showing the differences in the speed. If you move the SSD to the other slot you will have the gen 4 speeds you want.
afme
2 Posts
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January 14th, 2023 16:00
TLDR - HWInfo64 shows clearly M15 R6 Slot 1 is PCIe Gen 4 at 16 GT/s & 75W and Slot 2 is PCIe Gen 3 at 8GT/s & 25W.
Hi again - in addition to my previous comment I was curious about Slot 1 and Slot 2 PCIe performance - so I investigated with HWInfo64. I think Dell's documentation isn't clear at all. The SSD sizes and speeds Dell shows in its documentation are just the SSD options that may be installed by Dell, rather than slot capabilities.
The HM570 chipset is indeed PCIe Gen 3, as described in the M15 R6 Dell Manual Page 10/11 and Intel's HM570 webpage. HOWEVER, other HM570 motherboards do have ONE PCIe Gen 4 SSD slot somehow e.g. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-tiger-lake-cpu-motherboard
I therefore used HWInfo64 to look at my girlfriend's M15 R6 and that clearly showed Slot 1 is PCIe Gen 4 and Slot 2 is PCIe Gen 3 - with Slot 1 being twice as fast as Slot 2. You can see the results in the big image below. To view the image clearly, you may have to click on it, then right-click "open image in new tab".
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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February 22nd, 2022 12:00
Hi @GABSTER24 @halimacc @havefun8 @CorgyX @JusFaulk !
This laptop supports NVMe GEN 4 on the first slot while the second slot is GEN 3. Both go up to 32Gbps confirmed by @DELL-Chris M.
1st Slot = GEN 4, Max Speed 32Gbps, Width X4, Max Storage Size 2TB
2nd slot = GEN 3, Max Speed 32Gbps, Width X4, Max Storage Size 1TB
This is shown in the online m15 R6 Setup and Specifications PDF. It clearly denotes one slot is Gen 3 and one slot is Gen 4 =
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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September 19th, 2021 04:00
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/alienware/alienware-m15-r6
it says here that your Laptop is certified to work with their 2Tb PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2’s so the issue I think is because it wasn’t properly formatted. Run some tests using the ePSA Tests while it’s plugged into slot one by doing a write test and read. Then I recommend reformatting it via USB with a fresh install of windows and doing a full format. You could also switch from NTFS to another file system, format and then switch back to ntfs as that sometimes helps.
But make sure that if the test cannot run in slot one that indicates a motherboard hardware issue which you need to use the warranty on the laptop to fix it.
halimacc
9 Posts
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September 19th, 2021 11:00
Thanks for the suggestion! I followed your suggestion and here's the result:
- Disk self-test in Dell's BIOS diagnosis passed
- Boot from a USB Windows installer, disk started to show problem. Existing partitions on disk can be recognized at first, though deleting any existing partition will fail with a timeout error. After a while the disk disappeared.
- Inserted on slot 2, fully reformatted and installed Windows, moved again back to slot 1, Windows would failed to boot and have blue screen, or even show bios error disk not installed.
Really weird...
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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September 20th, 2021 07:00
Im seriously thinking its a slot issue or something wrong with the SSD but the tests clearly show its fine???
Ok so when you reformat it and it doesent work in the first slot, does it mess it up so it doesent boot on the second one?
halimacc
9 Posts
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September 20th, 2021 13:00
Haha, yeah that's the weirdest part, the tests passed. Putting the SSD back to slot 2 it will work fine (at PCIE 3.0).
It looks to me more like a problem with the slot, as the SSD also worked fully at PCIE 4.0 speed on my desktop with a B550 motherboard. It's just not compatible between this particular slot and SSD. I don't have any other PCIE 4.0 SSD at hand, but will report back if I had the chance to try other models out.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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September 20th, 2021 14:00
Since it’s a close to recent laptop you brought you still have the one year warranty so return it and ask for a replacement model. Preferably not a faulty one lol.
David_dell_newbie
9 Posts
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November 17th, 2021 04:00
Hi @halimacc
Have you managed to run at pcie 4.0 for your addtionial 2TB SSD ?
About to buy this laptop, but not sure whether it can work with pcie 4.0 ssd . Many thanks.
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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November 18th, 2021 09:00
The laptop can run a additional 2Tb Gen 4 SSD.
AWX17
154 Posts
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November 18th, 2021 22:00
According to your manual. m15 R6 is a PCie3 bus. Not 4.
Dobs38
2 Posts
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November 23rd, 2021 20:00
Is it possible that:
Slot 1 (PCIe 4 or 3) only supports up to 1Tb and
Slot 2 (PCIe 3) supports up to 2Tb
E.g. Max 3Tb system?
Setup and Specifications document indicates that it is the other way around for M.2 2280 SSD:
PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe, up to 32 Gbps [Up to 1TB] Assume slot TWO?
PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, up to 32 Gbps [Up to 2TB] Assume slot ONE?
havefun8
4 Posts
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November 24th, 2021 04:00
See my screenshot, my laptop alienware m15 r6
Nvme Gen4 low perfomance
Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006
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December 3rd, 2021 08:00
I'm guessing since both are on the C: Drive then they're in RAID. If you want Max speed that would be RAID 0 but that's highly unreliable. Also, it says 7,000MB/s for the 980 Pro MAX SPEED*
*Max speed can vary depending on environment and configuration of the SSD.
Mr.mystify
1 Message
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January 19th, 2022 05:00
What is the verdict on this then? Im wanting to add a ssd drive on slot 2 and i trying to clarify what will work. Thanks!