NVMe PCIe low bandwitch 2x4 instead 3x4

[KrzysiekR]

Hi,

My computer is HP Desktop Pro A Microtower Business PC (4CZ14EA), with HP 8434 motherboard (AMD B350 Chipset), with AMD Ryzen ™ 3 Pro 2200G Quad-Core with Radeon ™ Vega 8 Graphics processor, equipped with 8GB RAM and 500 GB 7.2K disk rpm SATA 6.0Gb / s 3.5 ”Hard Disk Drive.
According to the documentation available on HP websites, the computer supports nvme ssd drives. The HP offer also includes a disk (quote from the documentation):
256GB M.2 NVMe (Value) SSD
Architecture 3D TLC NAND Flash
PCIE Gen3 x4 interface
Form Factor M.2 2280
So the original NVMe HP disk provides bandwitch up to PCIe3x4

I have equipped my computer with a Plextor M9PeGN 256GB PCIe 3x4 NVMe SSD (PX-256M9PeGN), which works only on the PCIe 2x4 interface.
How to change that? What can / must be done to make computer use the full potential of the disk (PCIe3x4)?

PCI-Express slots are not used. Two SATA ports are in use (one with the HDD, second with the DVDRW).

According to specs the AMD B350 Chipset with Ryzen onboard supports 28 high speed lanes, so after summarizing all USB, LAN, GPU, SATA etc. lanes, there is still place for full bandwich PCIe3x4. Or am I wrong?

Than You in advance for quick reply.

Regards,

Krzysiek

P.S.

The BIOS has been updated to the latest F.31 Rev.A.

[krzemien]

Unless I'm very much mistaken - and I doubt - it's by design (i.e. cost saving measure by HP), with similar queries having been raised before for other HP products. For example:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/How-to-make-NVMe-SSD-run-at-PC...

So probably nothing can be done about it.

[KrzysiekR]

Cost saving argumentation doesn't make sense in this case.

1st. HP offers that system equipped with their PCIe3x4 M.2 disks. So if that cannot run at full bandwich it doesn't make any sense and it is an argument for their client to complain.

2nd. The Ryzen 3 (PRO) 2200G has its own PCIe3x4 lane dedicated to M.2 slot. So there is nothing special (cost raising) to be done to use it. Just architecture of Ryzen 2200G and B350 chipset.

And again - if HP system can run M.2 slot with full PCIe3x4 speed so there is something else to be done (undone) in my case.

Anyone runs that system? Anyone have similiar problem with NVMe on AM4 platform?

[krzemien]

The fact that quoted in HP configuration OEM disk supports certain connection speed does not mean that system will do the same. In fact, in spec for your PC (that's the correct one, I assume?):

https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c05948752

It says nothing about it. Which actually is quite telling.

As I provided in an earlier example, HP has been known for limiting NVMe interface speeds for some known to them reasons. Another (similar) thread about it is here:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/M-2-SSD-slot-configuration-AND-...

You're more than welcome to complain to HP - but I sincerely doubt you will get very far with it.

Irrespective of all that: does it really make that huge difference to you?

[KrzysiekR]

Yes, thats the correct system. But you have read only quick specs. Full specs is in different document:

https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c05948752

Pages 25 and 26 will give you the answer about HP SSD named :

M.2 Solid State Drives

128GB M.2 NVMe (Value) SSD

256GB M.2 NVMe (Value) SSD

So, as you can see,  there is information about PCIe3x4 for M.2 Solid State Drives for exactly this system.

And again you are trying to compare different architectures. Both your examples are Intel computers. Ryzen architecture is different and, as i mentioned earlier, it has dedicated PCIe3x4 line just for NVMe M.2 SSD.

I doubt that it can be limited in speed.

I know exactly that HP won't provide any help in this case.

And finally yes, difference between PCIe2x4 and PCIe3x4 is big. Half of bandwich. In some cases noticeable.

Besides, when something does not work as it should I am looking for solutions.

So thank you Krzemien, but our conversation is only speculations. I am looking for a reply of someone familiar with HP's AM4 Ryzen platform, working with NVMe SSD's. Or maybe someone who can give me an advice on management of PCIe fast lanes, because I think that there coulb be the problem. 

[krzemien]

All points dutifully noted and taken. And you're obviously correct almost everywhere. Almost, as there's still this minor but basic flaw in your chain of thoughts (that you decided to ignore from my previous post sadly):

The fact that SSD disk does support certain speeds does not mean that the other end (namely: controller) does support it as well.

Can you point to the other end - controller - supporting the same speeds clearly confirmed in this manual? Then you have a case and you can follow it up with HP, claim either misleading specification or hardware not meeting its specification. And possibly ask for a full refund.

Otherwise HP Support is your best and - I daresay - only port of call when it comes to intricacies of HP architecture - and I sincerely wish you good luck in your pursuits.

(For reference, another thread with similar considerations: https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron-Desktops/NVME-SSD-PCIE-2-0-only/td-p/6045103)