Upgrade HP Envy 750 to M2 NVME SSD?

[Paiste2017]

Hello,

Does the HP Envy 750 series (I'm looking at the 750-520 , 530, and 524) bios allow for NVME M2 bootable drives?

I checked the motherboard specs and noticed there is no M2 Key M connection. 

There is a PCI Express Gen3 x 16 slot.  Can a PCI Express expansion for M2 NVME drive be used?  I couldn't find any definitive answers on this and wasn't sure if there's an option in the latest bios for M2 NVME or to allow it to be bootable.

Also, I noticed that some of the models of the Pavillion desktop series have a M2 Key M connection.  Isn't the Envy supposed to be a step up?

Thank you!

Paiste2017

[Grzwacz]

Hi

You would need the M.2 slot on the motherboard to install an NVME PCIe 3x4 drive. 

HP would also have to include code in the EFI BIOS to allow booting to this drive. HP will not code your PC's BIOS to boot to PCIe because HP did not spec out an M.2 slot on your PC's motherboard.

I would think you could install an M.2 PCIe adapter in the PCIe x16 slot.

But you would probably have to create a modified Windows 10 install USB stick and include whatever driver the manufacturer provide (if the manufacturer even does so) to allow your PC to boot to the M.2 drive installed in the PCIe adapter. You would have to reinstall Windows 10 clean instead of using HP's Windows 10 factory image.

So this complicates things and you would not be able to use the Windows 10 HP image for recovery.

I don't think I would do this as it creates recovery problems and HP will not provide warranty service unless you go back to the factory setup.

Grzy

[Paiste2017]

Thank you for your prompt response!

Well I did plan on reinstalling Win 10 fresh. 

I was hoping to use the PCI E expansion slot with a board and the M2 attached.  Something like this:

https://www.ocz.com/us/ssd/rd400-ssd

I'm not sure if the bios does need to be configured differently as the card does have drivers.   It sounds like it would work. 

I may just jump over to one of the Omen 870 desktops as they do have the M2 Key M slot on the motherboard and I've read of others upgrading them. That may be an easier solution down the line. 

Have any others tried this with their 750s? 

[Grzwacz]

Hi  

You are welcome.

The drive looks pretty cool.

It comes with SSD management software. But I don't see any reference to downloadable code needed to interact with the boot process to allow this drive to be bootable unless your PC's motherboard has PCIe boot option in the BIOS.

It may be there. Did you see any reference to this at the site?

Not having this capability would limit the drive to storage only.

It would be fast but you could not install the operating system on it because your PC will never see the drive as a boot option.

I don't know if anyone successfully used this type of modification on a 750.

Ask the manufacturer about this.

Grzy

[Paiste2017]

I checked with the manfuacturer of that card and they indicated that the board must support NVME and if there are any BIOS updates for this compliance.  I couldn't find any info on the HP support site. 

So unless HP has enabled the Envy 750 series to support NVME and configured the BIOS to do so then it won't work.

Any HP reps on this site know about this?

Otherwise the 750 is not the way to go if you want to upgrade to an NVME SSD in the future.  Looks like the Omen would be a better choice.

Paiste2017

[Grzwacz]

Hi

HP will not update your PC's BIOS to add PCIe 3x4 boot option because your motherboard does not have a PCIe 3x4 M.2 slot.

You will have to purchase a new PC that supports booting to a PCIe 3x4 NVME drive.

Grzy

[Paiste2017]

Thank you for yiur answers! 

Ill look at another model.

Paiste2017

[md13d98]

Hi, this is a related question.
I have an Envy 750-114 and I might like to add an NVME drive to the config for running VMs and such. That in mind, I am not sure how to identify the NVME or the likes that will attach my motherboard.

Any suggestions on identifying NVMEs that might fit ?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Grzwacz]

Hi Mike,

Greetings,

Welcome to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

You should start your own thread,

The 750-114 does not support M.2 NVME storage devices.

The motherboard (MB) has one PCIe x16 slot and one PCIe x1 slot.

The only way to add a PCIe 3.0x4, M.2 storage device is to install a PCIe M.2 adapter in the x16 slot. This means you cannot run or install a discrete graphics card and have a M.2 storage device in your motherboard.

The M.2 device will not be bootable.

Your MB has three SATA ports. You can add a 2.5 inch SATA SSD if you have an open SATA port on the MB.

Regards

[jth2]

Would an NVME connected through an adapter provide fasted access to data and programs stored on it.