m15 R6, support PCIe 4.0 at slot #2 SSD?

Question

Hi All,

From here we have this info for the SSD.

By right PCIe 4.0 should get max 64 Gbps. However, in the user manual, it says 32 Gpbs only. And this is for both slots. What does this mean? Does it mean that m15 R6 do not support PCIe 4.0 SSD at all? Perhaps, I am wrong, because I saw this.

PS: My intention is buy m15 R6 1TB version, then buy a seperate 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. But now realizing that I might not get PCIe 4.0 speed when adding another PCIe 4.0 SSD. Thus, post here for clarification.

Thanks alot.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I do not follow, 'By right PCIe 4.0 should get max 64 Gbps'? What source told you this? The m15 R6 has two M.2 2230/2280 slot for SSD. PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe, up to 32 Gbps up to 1 TBPCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, up to 32 Gbps up to 2 TB So one slot is Gen3 and the other is Gen4. Both max to 32 Gbps.

David_dell_newbie · Answer

Hi,

What I mean is :

+ pcie gen4x4 should get max speed up to 64Gbps.

+ pcie gen3x4 should get max speed up to 32Gbps.

Above is from PCIe spec. It is mentioned here too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#History_and_revisions

I the table below, the unit is GBps, multiplied by 8 then we got Gbps.

My question is: in this part of M15 R6 manual: "PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe, up to 32 Gbps up to 2 TB" why only up to 32 Gbps for pcie gen4 slot ? . In other words, why both gen3 and gen4 slot of SSD on M15 R6 got the same max speed at 32 Gbps ? the Gen4 slot should have a double max speed compared to gen3 slot.

Pcie gen4 is not gen4 anymore if it only get max speed of gen3.

Hope I made myself clear now.

Thanks

AWX17 · Answer

On page 10 of your manual, it says the chip-set on your system is only Gen3.

David_dell_newbie · Answer

Hi , I am not clear here. How does this affect two M2 SSD slots' speed? Do you mean one M2 slot is connected to CPU directly, and the other M2 slot is connected to chipset ?

AWX17 · Answer

So, M.2 2280, 30 and 40 are the physical dimensions of the card/slot in millimeters.
With the M.2 2280 interface/card, you can have Gen3 or Gen4 Pcie chip-set on the card. According to the manual, your chipset is Gen3, not Gen3+ or Gen4.

David_dell_newbie · Answer

Thanks for the infor @AWX17 , Are you saying that the SSD slots will never reach PCIE4 speed because it is limited by the chipset which is at gen3 only ? And regardless of Dell saying that 'PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe'  the whole SSD+M2 slot + chipset  is still at gen3x4 speed ?

havefun8 · Answer

12/11/21 done i test awm m16 r6 , but very disappointingresults nvme Gen4 Samsung 980 pro 1tb = 3700mbpsresults Nvme Gen3 Micron 2300 1tb default ssd = 3500Mbpssee my screenshot.

AWX17 · Answer

Yep. Your mother-board, according to your manual, will accept PCIE4 card, but will max out at 32Gbps.This made me double-check my x17, which is PCIE4, but 64Gbps.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

m15 R6 =* Latest BIOS installed* Dell OEM qualified Gen 4 SSD is installed in Slot 1- Slot one supports both PCIe Gen3/Gen4 SSD- Slot two supports PCIe Gen3 SSD only* Dell offered four 2TB SSD on the m15 R6. Only two are validated for Gen 4 speed =- D2GDK 2TB Samsung PM9A1, M.2 PCIe NVMe 2280 Gen4x4- YFGP3 2TB SSSTC, M.2 PCIe NVMe 2280 Gen4x4

jchpmn · Answer

Sorry to jump in here, Chris, but I assume that's preferable to starting my own thread.

Just to be absolutely certain, when you say "Dell OEM qualified Gen 4 SSD is installed in Slot 1", do you mean that I should have got a Gen 4 drive in my Slot 1? CrystalDiskInfo and Samsung Magician agree that both my drives are running as PCIe Gen 3 x 4. Did Dell switch to using Gen 3 drives since the first M15 R6 came out, or do I need to switch something in the BIOS to get Gen 4 operation?

Lastly, I also bought a Samsung 980 PRO 2TB to go in my second slot for now. Again, for absolute clarity: if I clone my Slot 1 drive to the Samsung in Slot 2 and swap them over, I'll get Gen 4 performance in the Samsung once its in Slot 1?

crimsom · Answer

Hi @jchpmn this debate is now a regular occurrence within the Dell Community. Customers and Users have a reasonable expectation that Dell Documentation is honest and clear. On a two M.2 slot laptop, Dell are within their rights to make SSD1 up to Gen4 and SSD2 only up to Gen3.

For the Alienware m15 R6, provided with a single M.2 OS(C:) boot drive, Dell might provide Samsung PM9A1 MZVL21T0HCLR, 1024 GB, and Samsung says this is a M.2 PCIe Gen4.0 x4 NVMe drive card. Gen4 cards are backwards compatible to run at Gen3 speeds.

For M.2 RAID_0 OS(C:) boot drive, Dell might provide two 2 x PM9A1 NVMe Samsung 1024 GB = 2 TB. However these Samsung PM9A1 NVMe cards are a matched, same specification pair and are both Gen3.

See Alienware m15 R6 laptop review: More efficient, but the RTX 3080 is slower than in the predecessor - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

NoteBookCheck m15 R6 review summary

[This user does not work for Dell and volunteers their free time. Please remember to say thank you by clicking on Kudos as this user's only reward.]

Alienware

m15 R6, support PCIe 4.0 at slot #2 SSD?

Was this post helpful?