M.2/NVMe Gen 4 PCIe Slot Speed Issues for HP Victus Gaming Laptop

[Zluos]

Hello, I recently purchased a SK Hynix 2TB M.2 for my laptop. It is rated to run 7000/6500 speeds. However, I have benchmarked it with CrystalDiskMark and at first, it showed the 7000/6500, but now every time after that, it is only running at half the speed of 3500/3000. I am guessing my motherboard is limiting it to x2 lanes compared to x4 lanes PCIe.

-Is there a way to change the PCIe lane setting from x2 to x4 through my BIOS (Hidden advanced settings, perhaps? I am unable to find it on the regular BIOS)

-If the motherboard is limited to the BIOS settings, then do I have to use a x2 lane M.2 like the Samsung 990 EVO Plus which can automatically switch from Gen 4x4 and Gen 5x2 PCIe to achieve the full speeds of the M.2?

Thanks for any help!

[banhien]

@Zluos 

Your machine does NOT run PCIe Gen 4 speed because it only supports M.2 solid-state Gen 3 drive (PCIe-3 × 4 that why it only runs 50% of PCIe Gen 4 speed.

Regards.

[Zluos]

Hey, I thought this was the case initially, however, I contacted HP support about the slot and they confirmed it is a Gen 4 PCIe slot. Where did you find it only supports Gen 3 drives? When I first installed the new M.2, it did in fact show the 7000/6500 speeds, so I know it can run at Gen 4 speeds. Thank you for your input but I do not believe this is the answer I am looking for.

[Zluos · Accepted solution]

Hey so apparently I found my issue by accidentally stumbling upon it. The issue is I’ve been running my benchmarks with my laptop unplugged.
-When the laptop is plugged in, the NVMe uses the full 7000/6500 mb/s speeds.

-When the laptop is unplugged, the NVMe uses half the speeds = 3500/3250 (probably for battery life)