SSD slots for zbook fury 15 g8 pcie gen 3.0 or 4.0?

[macbeath]

The pre-purchase specsheet  for HP ZBook Fury 15 G8  Model Number: 63H20UT#ABA  listed PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD slots.   Salesperson assured us that the machine has PCIe Gen 4.   Samsung Magician SSD Drive test software  says SSD interface is Gen 3.  which runs at half the throughput of Gen 4.   

Question:  Are we stuck with slow as molasses Gen 3 on a nearly new computer, or is it a config setting/driver issue?

Thanks.      

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Since notebook processors are integral parts of the motherboard, you can look up the NVMe slot specs by looking up the processor specs on the AMD or Intel websites as applicable.

The PCI connectivity specs for your notebook's chipset are PCIe Gen 3.0.

That info can be found under the Expansion Options section, so there are no settings, drivers or whatnot that would make the NVMe SSD run at the PCIe 4 x 4 speed.

Intel® Core™ i9-11950H Processor

Below is the link to the parts list for your notebook's product number.

HP PartSurfer

The installed 1 TB NVMe SSD is a PCIe Gen 3.0 drive when you look up the part number.

HP L85348-001 - 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive - Drive Solutions

[macbeath]

Thanks, Paul.  I appreciate the info and also it's good to know how to access the info for future purchases.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I do find it hard to believe that robust notebook does not come with PCIe Gen 4 x 4 SSD's.

Chapter 1 of the service manual shows the NVMe drives that HP offered in the model series, and none are PCIe Gen 4.

Maintenance and Service Guide (hp.com)

[TzortzisG]

 Hi Macbeath.

This issue concerning the ZBook G8s has been discussed before. Unfortunately HP chose to grace only the Power Zbook G8s with a Gen 4.0 slot and left the Studio and the Fury G8s with Gen 3.0 slots. These laptops all share the same 11th Gen TigerLake processors, but the laptop designers didn't connect the CPU PCIe 4.0 lanes to the m.2 slots on your laptop and on the Studios. You can see the relevant discussion here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/samsung-980-pro-on-Zbook-Studi....

HP has also managed to pull off these cockamamie shenanigans on some AlderLake laptops, as seen here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Does-the-M-2-Expansion-Slot-in.... And I'm pretty sure Alder Lake laptops support Gen 4.0 m.2 drives, even though their expansion options still have the chipset as Gen 3.0.........  I completely agree with Paul_Tikkanen EXPERT Level 21 that it's "hard to believe that robust notebook does not come with PCIe Gen 4", alas it's unfortunately true. Page 8 of your product's datasheet will tell you everything you need to know: HP ZBook Fury 15.6 Inch G8 datasheet. Gen4 drives ARE compatible and offered with this series, but are "downgraded" to plain "slow as molasses Gen 3" speeds.