Info on updating old pc with PCIe ssd

Important Drivers Specific: NVMe Drivers
1

Hi,

I have this old Dell xps that I would like to update with ssd and new operating system (Win10 or Debian8). Mobo is AMD 780G, CPU is 2.8GHz AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. It comes with one PCIe Gen2 x16 and two PCIe Gen2 x1 I would like to use to put usb3 support and PCIe ssd such as “HyperX Predator SSD”.

I am wondering if I can put the PCIe 2.0 x4 SSD on the x16 expansion and if the SSD will be bootable. I’ve searched about NVMe and bios support but I am not sure if this is going to work on my motherboard.

Thanks

2

@marameo :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

Only a user of a rather similar Dell XPS system may be able to give you answers to your questions.
Please give us some additional informations about your system: exact model name, chipset, BIOS platform (UEFI/non-UEFI).
The storage driver, which you will need, depends on the SSD you want to purchase and the protocol (AHCI/NVme) of the related Controller.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

3

Those are the information I can collect so far: Dell XPS 7100, Bios A06 and motherboard chipset AMD 780G.

Thanks

4

If that PCI-e 2.0 x4 uses AHCI - it shoudn’t present a problem.
With NVMe - disk will be bootable only from Clover/DUET.

AMD 780G chipset system can’t be UEFI based, so native boot is out of the question.
Also, PCI-e support is backwards compatible (ie. you can put PCI-e 3.0 drive in PCI-e 2.0 slot)

5

The data sheet does not mention if the PCI-e 2.0 x4 uses AHCI (http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/SHPM2280P2_en.pdf). If it did would it be bootable then?

The plan b is to put a USB3 PCI-e 2.0 x1 expansion and connect the SSD to the usb3 to have major speed then internal sata2 or use a PCIe SATA SSD adapter.

Thanks

PS: it is said that when NVMe is not written on the product then it’s AHCI.