Upgrade OS drive, SSD or NVMe M.2

[OcatilloPicture]

I have an OMEN desktop, 870-135VX that has outgrown the 256 Gb SSD boot drive that it came with.

I can simply replace the boot SSD with a 1Tb SSD, but the mother board has a M.2 socket 3, key M on it that is not populated. I assume that this M.2 socket supports NVMe M.2, and that the M.2 interface is faster than the SATA 3 interface.

My questions are:

Is the M.2 slot faster than SATA?

Will the M.2 slot accept an NVMe card? I am thinking about using a Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1Tb NVMe M.2 card, which is about $60

Should I just do the route of least resistance and upgrade the small SATA SSD with a larger SATA SSD for the boot drive?

Suggestions?

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Yes, it appears your PC's Thimphu motherboard supports M.2 NVMe SSD's.

Solved: M.2 Drives on Thimphu, Intel Z170, WIN - HP Support Community - 6336978

A M.2 NVMe SSD such as the one you want to buy is around 5x faster than a high end SATA M.2 or 2.5" SSD

[old_geekster]

@OcatilloPicture , welcome to the Community.

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@OcatilloPicture wrote:

I have an OMEN desktop, 870-135VX that has outgrown the 256 Gb SSD boot drive that it came with.

I can simply replace the boot SSD with a 1Tb SSD, but the mother board has a M.2 socket 3, key M on it that is not populated. I assume that this M.2 socket supports NVMe M.2, and that the M.2 interface is faster than the SATA 3 interface.

My questions are:

Is the M.2 slot faster than SATA? The M.2 slot will be much faster than SATA.

Will the M.2 slot accept an NVMe card? I am thinking about using a Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1Tb NVMe M.2 card, which is about $60 Yes, from all of the information I can find the slot will accept a NVMe M.2.

Should I just do the route of least resistance and upgrade the small SATA SSD with a larger SATA SSD for the boot drive? This is your choice, but I believe you would be much happier with a M.2, SSD.

Suggestions?

Thanks. You are welcome!

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Please click the "Yes" button if my reply was helpful and "Accept as Solution" if your problem is Solved!!

[banhien]

Am I missing something ? The specs of its mother board

             https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c04790224

which shows:

• One PCI Express x16 (Gen 3.0)
• One PCI Express x1 (Gen 3.0)
• One M.2 socket 1, key A
• One M.2 socket 3, key M

Machine already has

• 256 GB 3D TLC Solid State
• 2 TB

where is the second M.2 for storage ?

Regards.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi @banhien 

If you look at the parts list for the product number of the PC, you will see that the 256 GB SATA SSD is of the 2.5" form factor,  not the M.2 form factor. 

[banhien]

@Paul_Tikkanen 

Thanks

Regards.

[OcatilloPicture]

Hi Paul,

I appreciate the link to the post about the need to update the BIOS for best results with the NVMe SSD slot.

It's nice that the motherboard physically accepts NVMe, but how to make it work is one of those missing nuances that could have resulted in a lot of needless head banging.

Thank you.

I remember when HP products came with highly detailed information about how to do anything and everything. Now, it seems that HP has caught the "don't worry your pretty little head" school of tech support that so many other computer companies have adopted. I appreciate the geekiness of too much detail, since missing a step can lead to failure.  More info is better than not enough.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.