XPS 8700 motherboard and mSATA SSD

It would seem that since there is a mSATA port on the non-SE version, it can be used, even if it wasn't an option as purchased.

Had no trouble removing the AMD 7570 & upgrading to a AMD 7770 (MSI) card, though one of the 6-pin GPU power connectors were needed & the WEI raised from 6.9 to 7.4! Not bad for a $100 card.

It now has two Samsung 840 EVO SSD's, the 120 & 250GB versions. Have also upgraded the wireless to a Intel 6235, that found on the SE models. 

The Crucial tool also says it can be upgraded to 32GB total RAM, though the 12GB installed is enough for me, if RAM pricing plunges to late 2011 levels, I may max it out, or at least add a 16GB kit where the two 2GB sticks are. That was a weird configuration, two brands of RAM in same PC. 

My next hardware upgrade will be a PCIe SSD, as these surpasses SATA 3 speeds, which is a max of 600MB/sec, the PCIe type can go over 800MB/sec, though I'd be happy just to break the 600MB/sec mark. 

The XPS 8700 non-SE version is highly configurable as desired. 

Cat

There is NO difference between XPS 8700 and SE in the motherboards . The only difference is CPU meaning they are now supporting Devils canyon and that's it. its a rip off because all they are offering same MOBO as in all XPS 8700 and SE its Just A  CPU Swap out from i7 4770 to a i7 4790. 

Its based on Z87 chipset and supports 32GIG of RAM and all LGA1150 CPUs , If you have XPS 8700 don't get the SE its a waste because its the same MB and has same options and up-gradable Just as limited to the SE version , only difference is the CPU it comes with a the i7 4790 is cheaper and no noticeable difference in performance and its not the K version that over clock-able.

You have a a XPS 8700 then Just upgrade that because its like throwing money out window , you can put a better Video card in it and a better power supply etc etc..  

 Intel's now CPUs are coming out soon so wait till 2015 for 14nm 6-8 core cpus with a lot of cache will be worth a upgrade .

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE YOU WILL NOTICE from the 8700 to SE unless you put a lot of money into it .

For those who wants to know about the mSATA port, the one on the non-SE holds a large ,mSATA SSD, currently have a 256GB Crucial M550 mSATA SSD installed, dual booting both Dell OEM Windows 8 & Windows Technical Preview (what will be Windows 10 next fall)), & it's fast as a race horse. 

My earlier specs has changed, it now also sports a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro, where Windows 7 Pro resides. Will be hooking up my Data drive again soon, though am unsure which drive I'll use this time, the one in it may be better served in a nice Optiplex 740 that I got from an eBay seller for $29 + shipping. Runs Windows 7 Ultimate great. 

Will upgrade my Speccy specs to show the Crucial 550 mSATA SSD as soon as I get on a OS that supports Speccy. 

Cat

You should also note that an XPS8700 no matter if it's a regular one or a Special Edition will not work with Nvidia newer card 970/980. I have been active on this thread and Dell and Nvidia both have done nothing to remedy the situation. Two giants pointing fingers at each others and we are left with nothing in the end.

There is a whole 13 pages thread with unhappy customers over there.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/t/19601491?pi21953=1#20687714

The max  DDR3 the board will hold is 32GB not sure about the SE I've got the xps8700. I plan to utlilze the msata port on the motherboard for caching or possible even a the main boot device with the os if ssd prices come down some a TB cost about 500 bucks atm. Hope that helps.

I have ordered my 8700 non-se and will get it in a week :).  I have also ordered 16g memory which will give me 24 total which should do nicely for now.  I really am wondering about the mSata-  so it has a slot but no drive, is that correct?

correct

I'm sure you're mistaken about the SE and the msata port, I bought the 8700-1880blk it's not a SE and I have a msata port right on the lower left of the board unless mine is a odd thing, but it was not purchased as a SE. Thanks for the SSD info I did decided to pay the 485. for a1tb msata drive (they should not be called drives anymore, lol) for the OS and most programs . I put my 2tb Seagate in from old sys with the one that came with it makes 3tb for growth of data and 4tb total for system. I've yet to install the SSD.  Looking for the best and easiest cloning sw to use for the transfer since I've spent 15 hrs and put about 500gb of stuff on the 1tb already. Also a Proud Dell owner since " A Long Time" not sure how long, I've been working on these thing for 30 years now PC's that is and I no longer do it for money, that seems like a job, lol. I'm into it for the fun now and retired. TC all and again thanks for the info. Over all I really dig the system and even becoming a win 8.1 fan NOT!  Really tough I do think win 8.1 is pretty good.

Peace

Reference to Nvidia,

I put a Raydeon 5450 w 2gb and got zilch, nada, blank dark screen and went back to the NVIDIA GeForce GT720 1gb that came with it and its ok. So I wonder if there is a bug in the bio with video and memory higher than 1gb, just guessing there, but yeah video upgrade was a issue here too.

Pirate Gary

<ADMIN NOTE: Email id removed per privacy policy>

for the non se 8700 . where can i find the information about the mother board.

such as the pci e 

is it a pci express 3? is the sata connection a 3? this type of info will help me choose the right upgrade for a ssd.

The 8700, I checked prior to purchase and was told the Sata ports are 600mbps= 6.0gb, but the contradiction is I was told they are sata 2, which is 300mbps so the truth is I'm not 100% sure. Dell did however confirm 600mbps though so...... The dell xps 8700 does in fact support PCI express 3.0. So I'm guessing you're going to purchase a additional interface card of PCIe to set up the SSD"s? I plan to just use one of the 6 sata ports on the MB myself, but did look at a Raid configuration using a pcie raid controller for interfacing the ssd's.

seems like i will have to go the sata route to be safe. member on here have upgrade via the mini sata port we have, and they have seen a dramatic difference. wondering if there is even any diff from msata vs the sata 3

Well, I see it this way the MSATA port is for SDD only I believe I've not found a HDD msata, the SATA can be SDD or HDD and a big difference in speeds, long as you understand that then it makes no real difference in the mssata vs sata when it comes to the ports, unless you put 2 different Sdd's on each port that have different read and write times. then you will have different readings from msata and sata. If I'm no correct about the msata HDD statmement somebody kindly correct me, but as I said I've not seen a msata hdd.

I'ts 6.0 GB

I'd like to add, though I cannot seem to find the page with the MB specs, that last empty port, the one that requires the removal of the bottom slot to access, has been reported to have a x4 slot, the other two are x1, and of course the single PCIe slot for a GPU. 

If that is correct, that it is a x4 one, will later add a 256GB Plextor PCIe SSD. or one that Intel, Samsung or Crucial produces (they're not going to be left out of this)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249043

However, I'll still need to verify for certain that is truly a x4 slot at the lower corner of the MB, some says yes, others no, so won't be purchasing anything until I know 100% on this. I suspect I'll need to start my own Topic on this one. 

But that extra 16GB RAM set is going in there! There's no question about that option. 

Cat

i was only talking about ssd for the msata vs sata.

Don't listen to the Dell forum mods  They know nothing.