Can I use the full potential of a Samsung 950 Pro in my Dell XPS8900?

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Crippler069

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Can't seem to find an answer to how many lanes are available in my M.2 slot on my XPS8900. I understand I need 4 to take advantage of the 950 Pro. Thanks 🙂
 
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Sean411
Unfortunately, many of us who decided to buy the XPS 8900 based on the potential of that M.2 slot on the motherboard, have found it to be a major disappointment. Dell only engineered the slot to use a PCI-E x1 lane speed, (not a PCI-E x4 that would be needed to reap the maximum 2000-2500 mb/s read speed, and 900-1500 mb/s write throughput speeds we were all salivating over) So if you actually use the M.2 slot on the XPS 8900's FOXCONN based motherboard with one of the new generation of M.2 PCi-Express 3.0 based SSD's, your only going to get a modest bump to 800mb/s vs. 600mb/s using the conventional SATA 3 6.0 Gb/s that interface specification provides. I imagine that the Dell engineers have to design the parameters of these...
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Unfortunately, many of us who decided to buy the XPS 8900 based on the potential of that M.2 slot on the motherboard, have found it to be a major disappointment. Dell only engineered the slot to use a PCI-E x1 lane speed, (not a PCI-E x4 that would be needed to reap the maximum 2000-2500 mb/s read speed, and 900-1500 mb/s write throughput speeds we were all salivating over) So if you actually use the M.2 slot on the XPS 8900's FOXCONN based motherboard with one of the new generation of M.2 PCi-Express 3.0 based SSD's, your only going to get a modest bump to 800mb/s vs. 600mb/s using the conventional SATA 3 6.0 Gb/s that interface specification provides. I imagine that the Dell engineers have to design the parameters of these all-inclusive one-box preconfigured desktop solutions far in advance, which means it's almost impossible to PREDICT what new trends are going to actually take hold within the fast moving personal computer landscape. So, in that regard, I guess I can't really blame them for not anticipating the new frontier of using the m.2 slot as new destination for these new super-fast SSD's as the primary OS drive interface.

P.S. - You aren't completely shutout if you really want to use one of the new super speed SSD's 0n the XPS 8900 though. There is a workaround that we have discovered, although it comes at a cost. If you are willing to SACRIFICE one of your PCI-E slots (x4) located on the mother board, you can still use a PCI-E x4 to M.2 adapter card to 'create' a fully functional slot in which your new M.2 PCI-Express SSD can perform as it was originally designed. Not sure if you had plans to use that PCI-E slot in the future for a multiple video card setup are not, because if you are, this option might not work for you either.
 
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Solution


No you can't. The M.2 slot on the Dell XPS8900 is a single lane. Unbelievable.
 
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Understood, I learned that today as well. Seems Dell did a huge disservice to their customers. Very disappointing.
 
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Very disappointing indeed and Dell has been very unresponsive to queries. What's happened to them ?
 
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That is a good question. Dell (like most OEMs) is not all that "cutting edge". They like stable and easy. That keeps customer support loads down, which keeps operating costs down.

This is why so many folks build their own rigs, to avoid such limitations.

However, in this case, Dell really dropped the ball on something so basic in their XPS product line.
 
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I agree, a very rookie mistake. Thanks. Happy hollidays.
 
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Yes, the Lycom DT-120 will work fine. (LOL, it looks IDENTICAL to the one I have!)

I used an Addonics PCI-E to M.2 adapter card solution. (Model# ADM2PX4)

It seems that these cards are manufactured in Taiwan by the same factory. (all the way down to the letter and number codes printed on the circuit boards)

Buy either one, it doesn't seem to matter. They will both get the job done.

By the way: Contrary to what some people may tell you, there is NO REAL WORLD DIFFERENCE in performance by using a PCI-E 3.0 to M.2 PCI-E x4 adapter card interface route, vs. using a fixed M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 connector hard wired directly to the Z170 Intel chipset on the motherboard. (using the same m.2 SSD) In some measurable tests, the PCI-E to M.2 adapter card route actually yields slightly better results in synthetic and workload benchmark scores than a direct hard wire based M.2 x4 PCI-E connector. But no matter what test you run, the performance is virtually identical between the two paths.
 
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That PCI slot cant support an SLI/Crossfire setup anyway AFAIK so theres very little purpose for a dual GPU setup. That said, I have the GTX 745 in that second slot as it was the only way I could view the bios.../facepalm.
 
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Many thanks to the posters who tracked this problem down...
As I was burning up my search engine on the interwebs for ANY information about which hardware would work in the XPS 8900 M.2 slot (specifics that were strangely absent from Dell's website), I ran across this From the Dell Knowledge Base under the topic "What is an M.2 add-in card?"

The M.2 provides a small-form-factor implementation of the SATA express interface providing support for PCI express 3.0, SATA 3.0 and internal USB3.0 interface support.
Advantages:
  • Increased throughput capability for smaller form factor devices.
    Increasing speeds past 6.0 Gbps SATA limits.
    2 or 4 lane transfer speed capability.
  • Equivalent of 900MB/s (read) and 800MB/s (write) for 1st Gen SSD (increased in future Gen).
    Greater flexibility than mSATA in physical dimensions.
    Wide product offering to meet design needs.
    Smaller footprint.
    Reduced connector height.
    Single or double sided module options.
I made the logical leap that this information applied to the design of Dell's machines, and ordered an XPS8900 i7 16GB machine fitted with only a 1TB HD expecting that the M.2 slot would be fully functional as described in the KB article, to add M.2 storage once I determined which hardware was appropriate.
This reminds me of buying a Dell Pentium 60MHz machine decades ago based in part on the promise that it would be "upgradeable" to prevent obsolescence... Looks like Dell is still up to its old marketing tricks..
 
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Yes, you can use a M.2 Samsung 950 PRO as a boot drive, if you buy and install a PCI-E to M.2 adapter card in the available x4 speed PCI-E Interface slot located on the XPS 8900's motherboard. The PCI-E 3.0 (x4) motherboard slot is wired through the same Z170 chipset, with the same high bandwidth / low latency performance necessary to support full speed operation. (just like a dedicated M.2 x4 speed slot on the motherboard would in theory) Nearly identical scores in all performance testing categories, regardless of the path you take.

Also keep in mind that there's an added bonus of getting the 950 AWAY FROM THE MOTHERBOARD to aid in cooling as the V-NAND memory dies will tend to overheat sometimes under heavy loads due to how close it actually sits in relation to the surface of the motherboard. In testing, it has been discovered that the PCI-E adapter card route yields better, more consistent thermals across all computing loads compared to the dedicated M.2 (x4) slot on most motherboards. These new NVMe SSD's sit awfully close to the surface of the motherboard once they are install in those dedicated slots, which will eventually cause excess heat to build up from the SSD under heavy loads, combined heat generated from the motherboard. The close proximity of the two circuit boards, plus heavy read/write loads can force the M.2 form factor SSD to engage it's dynamic throttling protection algorithm, which can curb performance by 25% or more. This is directly due to an inability to shed enough heat to keep the SSD functioning at it's rated speeds as advertised. The SSD engages this safety mechanism to protect the SSD from damage. By placing the M.2 SSD in a PERPENDICULAR orientation on a separate PCI-E based (x4) adapter card module, you expose the SSD to better air flow (cooling) than it would otherwise have if installed directly on the surface of the motherboard in a dedicated M.2 slot. Heat buildup on the dies is reduced under heavy loads, and thus better, more stable and predictable performance will be the end result.
 
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