The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Hi. Newbe NVME Question.

    Discussion in 'Sager/Clevo Reviews & Owners' Lounges' started by ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020.

  1. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Hello,

    I just purchased and am waiting to receive a Sager NP8374. It has an i7 8750 and GTX1070 GPU. Here is my question. It currently has a WD Blue 250GB M.2 2280 SATA 3 and a 1TB HDD. I would like to add a NVME 1tb drive to its open slot, and eventually make the system boot to the NVME.

    The manual states this:

    Slot 2: m.2 2280 SSD Card with SATA3/PCIe Gen 3*4 Interface (M Key) or Optane
    Slot 3: m.2 2280 SSD Card with SATA3/PCIe Gen 3*4 Interface (M Key)

    So I am really confused as I have never dealt with NVME before. I have cloned HDD to SSD in the past.

    Any help would be appreciated.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #1
  2. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Treat it as normal SSD with better r/w speeds. You can clone it from old ssd to new ssd using dissimilar restore option provided by macrium reflect. I clone my old nvme to newer nvme SSD w/o any issue. Just stick with microsoft nvme driver and you'll be good.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 18, 2020
    #2
  3. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Oh that's terrific! I appreciate the help. I'll order up the nvme and install it once the laptop arrives. I'm boosting the RAM to 32gb as well.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #3
    Vasudev likes this.
  4. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    32GB RAM is bare minimum these days. BTW, I have P1 Crucial SSD QLC. I was really disappointed with reviews but I found sweet deal on it at Amazon and was impressed by lower read latency and overall better speed upgrade from Samsung PM951. Still, 4k writes are better on Samsung. P1 is really power efficient with microsoft nvme driver and very cooler.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 18, 2020
    #4
  5. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Yes I will be using this laptop for 4k editing. I was looking at either Samsung Evo 970 Plus or the WD Black. I already ordered the RAM. Your thoughts on those SSDs?
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #5
  6. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    If your drive is constantly hammered with 4k footage I'd suggest SATA M.2 1TB or more since NVMe gets super hot very quickly if you can't cool with heatsink or thermal pads passively. The reason I didn't get Seagate or WD Black or Samsung 970 evo plus was my ambeints above 30-38C so I rarely reach advertised speeds be it 4k or Sequential that's why I went with P1 which can sustain 1000MB/s writes.
    Consistent R/W is better than shorter peak performance.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 18, 2020
    #6
  7. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6

    That's very interesting. I never would have known that. Should I just keep my OS on the current non nvme drive and just get the 1tb drive you suggest and be done with it?

    I appreciate all your input greatly.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #7
  8. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Depends on your use-case. If you edit videos for a living I'd say NVMe simply finishes the job quicker + more heat. Home users are fine with SATA SSD and will not notice any difference.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 18, 2020
    #8
    Papusan likes this.
  9. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6

    Basically just doing 3 short videos a week for YouTube using a Panasonic GH5.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #9
    Vasudev likes this.
  10. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Then don't worry about heat and longevity. Go with NVMe for OS + video editing, SATA SSD for games/video edit project backup.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 18, 2020
    #10
    Papusan likes this.
  11. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    You've been a terrific help and I really appreciate it
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 18, 2020
    #11
    Vasudev likes this.
  12. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,441
    Messages:
    58,200
    Likes Received:
    17,914
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Getting an MLC flash based drive would be nice over TLC and certainly QLC for 4k scratch space.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Dec 18, 2020
    #12
    Vasudev likes this.
  13. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Ok. That'll be my plan. I'd like the laptop to be as fast as possible given its specs.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 19, 2020
    #13
  14. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,441
    Messages:
    58,200
    Likes Received:
    17,914
    Trophy Points:
    931
    It's more for endurance of lots of writes.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Dec 19, 2020
    #14
  15. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Gotcha.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 19, 2020
    #15
  16. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    So if I have the NVME in the first m.2 slot and a SSD in the SSD/HHD bay, what should I put in the second m.2 slot? Could I get another NVME to use as a scratch disk?
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 19, 2020
    #16
  17. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    12,050
    Messages:
    11,278
    Likes Received:
    8,816
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Yes, provided the second slot can work at PCIe 3.0 x4 instead of x2 which you have stated in original post.
    Will suggest using max XMP speed possible on dual channel RAM 2800/2933MHz for best performance.
     
    Vasudev, Dec 20, 2020
    #17
  18. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    How will I know is the other slot would work at PCIe3.0x4? The only RAM available was 2666
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 20, 2020
    #18
  19. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,441
    Messages:
    58,200
    Likes Received:
    17,914
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Usually the manual will let you know the possible configurations.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Dec 20, 2020
    #19
  20. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6

    Thanks. Not finding anything unfortunately. It discusses setting up SATA mode and RAID and Intel Optane Rapid Storage Technology.

    It does say this about HDD, that it can be taken out to accommodate other serial (SATA) hard disk drives.

    As far as M.2 it says Two M.2 2280 SSDs with SATA Interface (RAID 0/1)/PCEi Gen 3*4 interface.

    It also says Intel Optane modules must be installed in the SSD 1 slot.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 20, 2020
    #20
  21. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

    Reputations:
    9,441
    Messages:
    58,200
    Likes Received:
    17,914
    Trophy Points:
    931
    There is your answer, two m.2 that can be either kind and are independent of anything else in the system.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Dec 20, 2020
    #21
  22. ChicagoLand

    ChicagoLand Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Oh that's great! I sincerely appreciate the time you two guys have taken to help me out.
     
    ChicagoLand, Dec 20, 2020
    #22