Can Samsung 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD compatible

[Makht1996]

In one of the conversation, one of the tech support guy mentioned that for my model, HP Envy x360 15t-cn000, I can install a SSD especially Samsung 970 Evo Plus.  I want to know if I can try the new V-NAND 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 1TB. https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/980-pro-pcie-4-0-nvme-ssd-1tb... I have some more questions too. I have seen the manual and I understand where to insert the SSD. But when I opened my laptop, I found out that there was no screw where the SSD needs to be installed. Could you please let me know the specifications of the screw that I'll need to buy.  Also I'm still confused of the process of making my new installed SSD as the primary and the HDD I have into secondary. If you could provide some kind of tutorial of what to do after the physical installation of SSD, it'll be very much helpful.

[Huffer]

Screws. Hard to buy a single one:

Amazon.com: QTEATAK PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD Mounting Screws Screwdriver Kit: Computers & Accessories

The 980 Pro is very new, very cool and very fast but requires a PCIe 4.0 system to run at full speed. Your motherboard is PCIe 3.0 so if you install the 980 it will run no faster than a 970 would. 

There are lots of ways to make the M.2 SSD the primary (boot) disk. The easiest is to remove the hard drive, put the M.2 SSD in and install Windows to it. The system will default to it as it will be the only storage in the computer. You can get Windows 10 install media either from the Microsoft Media Creation Tool site or use HP Cloud Recovery:

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10, 7) | HP® Customer Support

You can as an alternative clone the hard drive to the M.2 SSD with both of them in the computer. This works best if the M.2 SSD is at least as large as the hard drive. If its smaller there are some things you can do but its harder. Macrium Reflect Free is a good cloning app. 

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[Makht1996]

Is the Samsung - 980 1TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD M.2 better than 970 Evo Plus 3.0?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-980-1tb-pcie-3-0-nvme-internal-gaming-ssd-m-2/6454198.p?skuId=6...

It is cheaper too and it says it is very good for gaming which is something why I'm upgrading my laptop.

[Huffer]

Here is a little explanation of the 980 PCIe 3.0 product. Its DRAM-less which might make it a little cheaper and performance is very similar to the 970 Evo. But let's drop back and take a look at what you are doing. An M.2 SSD will speed up general performance, boot time, opening of apps, etc. Impact on gaming is small. Gaming is driven almost entirely by the video card, which you cannot upgrade. It seems you have Intel UHD video so your expectations for how well your laptop can game need to be kept very low. The M.2 NVME upgrade is very good to do, but not so much for gaming. 

Samsung 980 SSD 1TB review | PC Gamer

[Makht1996]

I am looking to buy a M.2 SSD of 1TB which will be of the same space as that of my HDD. You mentioned if the SSD is smaller in size than the HDD the cloning might be difficult. But if I buy SSD of the same size cloning won't be that difficult right? Plus wouldn't it be better if I have two drives instead of one?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Better in the sense you will have more storage space but performance will not be different. The general operating speed of the laptop will be far better if the OS is running from an M.2 NVME SSD. Whether you also have a mechanical hard drive just sets how much stuff you can store.