M2 NVME SSD only uses 2 Lanes instead of 4 Lanes

[Daniel2908]

Hi, i bought a tg01-0023 and it should have an m2 PCIE 3.0x4 slot. But Samsugn Magician and other tools like HWINFO or SiSoft Sandra show me, that the SSD only uses 2 lanes instead of 4.  

[krzemien]

Consider this e-mail exchange:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/NVMe-PCIe-low-bandwitch-2x4-ins...

[Daniel2908]

Sorry, but that doesnt help. 

Why does the SSD only work with 2 lanes and not with 4?  I dont understand what this email exchange has to do with mine?  I dont have more HDDs or SSDs in my PC. 

[krzemien]

Your SSD is fine and will work with 4 lanes - but not in this PC as its hardware implementation (controller) most likely does not support it or is limited in some way.

[Daniel2908]

When HP writes for expansion slots

• 1 PCIe-x16
• 1 PCIe-x1
• 1 M.2-socket 1, Key A
• 1 M.2-socket 3, Key M forSSD (PCIe x4)

then it is really bad when the m2 socket only works in reality with x2 ...

And it is really easy for HP when every customer only gets the same answer (a post for another pc)... Really disappointed that no one really wants to check if there is something anyone can do in BIos and so on

PS: Sorry for my english, but german HP decided to close the german forum so everyone has to go here.  No one should but an HP PC anymore! 

[krzemien]

I can only sympathise.

Not sure how it works in Germany but here in the Blightly that would be a good reason to claim non-conformance (not-as described) and request full refund from Point of Sale.

Provided that this is the case, naturally. I'm just guessing that it is based on similar cases raised on these forums before.

[krzemien]

For what it's worth: I does look that NVMe (Samsung 970 Pro) I connected to my PC via M.2 slot yesterday evening does utilise all 4 lanes within PCIe 3x0 bus: I'm getting 2.5-3Gb/s in benchmarks. It's surprising as others reported that HP limits it somewhere - but perhaps this happens with non-prime chipsets only?

[Daniel2908]

Hi, my SSD in another PC uses 4 lanes too, but not in the tg01-0023

What does "non-prime chipset" mean? (Sorry to ask) 

[krzemien]

I'm not familiar with AMD architecture but what I meant was B- and A-series chipsets (so not X-series ones).

Within Intel I would have meant H- and B-series chipsets (so, not Z-series ones).

(and did I invent some expression here by any chance?)

[krzemien]

If it's of any consolation and based on my not-great experiences in other areas - you can read about them here:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/Re-SSD-boot-drive-for-my-system...

I have to say that the perceived difference in speed & responsiveness between SATA and NVMe SSD is not that huge

Yes, Windows loads slightly faster indeed - but once we're there, the rest seems equally-paced and I daresay choked by OS a bit (or CPU?). Generic tests confirm that NVMe SSD is very fast - in fact 4-6 times faster than SATA SSD. But practical experience with day-to-day work indicates no huge increase - definitely not the one that one could have experienced when migrating off HDDD to SSD in the past.

This is on a relatively heavy-loaded with applications and background apps PC.

So I will say that your dilemma here (x2 vs. x4 PCIe speeds) is probably very academic.