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befcunha27
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May 31st, 2021 13:00
Add M.2 NVMe SSD while keeping SATA SDD
Hey all!
I just made a great search but as I'm not a PC expert, maybe someone here can help me.
My PC is a Dell XPS 8430 and I'm looking for a new M.2 NVMe SSD to add in my PC, so I saw the specs of my motherboard to see the compatibility. My only reason to buy it is to play games that requires a lot of my PC, both in memory and speed, and I can't install them because there's no longer space in my current C: drive (LITE-ON CV8-8E256-11 SATA 256GB), and it's almost impossible to play heavy games in HDDs. So, I opened my PC, and saw there is already a SATA SSD (obviously), where the windows operational system and almost everything in my PC is in. According to my PC specs, my motherboard has the following information about the ports and:
and
I just cant figure out if I it is possible to add/install a M.2 NVMe in the motherboard while keeping the current SATA SSD. I would just use the new ssd for games, i don't wanna clone everything or make an upgrade, i just wanna add one more ssd. In the specs it says on Table 11 M.2 card: One M.2 card slot for SSD (SATA or PCIe/NVMe) I don't know if that slot fits only one ssd, or two. I saw in my motherboard there is 2 slots, both in #8. I thought in the other one was the WiFi and Bluetooth combo card, but almost sure it is in #17:
In short, I just wanna play my games in the new m.2 ssd without removing the current SATA ssd, I don't know if it possible to use both at the same time, thanks for the attention!
1181
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Posted May 31st, 2021 15:00
That's correct, 8930. My PC already came with M.2 SATA SSD, it's not a NVMe.
So, the only way is replacing it, got it, but I still don't understanding what the second slot in #8 is for...
1165
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Posted May 31st, 2021 16:00
If an M.2 SATA SSD is installed, it should be in slot #8. So I don't understand what you mean by "second slot in #8".
SATA SSDs and NVME SSDs are keyed differently. So the M.2 slot might have separate connectors for the two different types, based on their keys, but you still can only install one or the other at a time.
The other M.2 slot on the motherboard (#17) is for a WiFi card.
RoHe
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Posted May 31st, 2021 15:00
What's an XPS 8430? Did you mean XPS 8930 or maybe 8940?
Did you install the SATA SSD or did it come that way? Seems odd Dell would install a SATA SSD instead of an NVME SSD.
To answer your question, if this is a M.2 SATA SSD, you will have to remove it add to add an M.2 NVME SSD.
An NVME SSD will be ~5-6x faster than a SATA SSD so you might want to consider getting a big NVME SSD for Windows, apps, games etc, and moving everything onto the NVME SSD.
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