M.2 slot on ASUS G501

[gyoung91]

I have ASUS G501 and it has a m.2 PCI-E slot. I wonder if m.2 sata SSD is compatible with it.

I've heard ppl complaining about issues about BIOS not recognising the Samsung SM951 SSD as a boot drive when installing a fresh windows. I wonder if this is true coz it's an OEM drive.

If I buy other type of m.2 pci-e ssd e.g. plextor or kingston, will there be a problem?

Thank you

 

[The Original Ralph]

the M.2 sata SSD will be limited to approx 550 MB/s read, 520 MB/s write, while the PCie M.2 SSD will be capable of approx 2.5X those speeds - why would you want to consider sata M.2 boards?

as to issues getting the bios to recognize the SM951, those issues are becoming rare as BIOS updates have been released - ramcity has some excellent installation guides ( https://www.ramcity.com.au/view/installation-guides/installation ) - follow them carefully and there will be no issues
if there is a bios update for your laptop for NVMe SSDs, i'd wait till mid july when the NVMe SM951 SSDs are due to be released - they'll be a little bit faster than the current AHCI SM951

fwiw

 

[gyoung91]

the M.2 sata SSD will be limited to approx 550 MB/s read, 520 MB/s write, while the PCie M.2 SSD will be capable of approx 2.5X those speeds - why would you want to consider sata M.2 boards?

as to issues getting the bios to recognize the SM951, those issues are becoming rare as BIOS updates have been released - ramcity has some excellent installation guides ( https://www.ramcity.com.au/view/installation-guides/installation ) - follow them carefully and there will be no issues
if there is a bios update for your laptop for NVMe SSDs, i'd wait till mid july when the NVMe SM951 SSDs are due to be released - they'll be a little bit faster than the current AHCI SM951

fwiw

Thanks. The link is very helpful. The reason why I don't prefer pcie ssd is because of the heat issue 85-100 deg celcius. Although the high temperature is still within normal operating temp, i am concerned about its lifespan and its effect on the surrounding components since i will be using it in a laptop. It will be unlikely for me to put a heatsink over it as well.

 

[The Original Ralph]

from the reports i've seen, the samsung sm951 has a thermal limiter built in that is apparently set at 82C, dropping transfer speed to 70MB/s for a couple of seconds when temps go over 82C -, there was one report in legitreviews.com review http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm951-512gb-m-2-pcie-ssd-review_161689/3 , and iirc there was also a more recent report on another website but my brain is "hiccuping" in remembering which.

I went with the xp941 as it lacked any thermal limiters and have measured temps, with a non-contact thermometer, as high as 97C when rendering video files (one review indicated they'd measured 113C). That temp is limited to the controller, but it's not really putting out enough heat (or btu) to effect surrounding components. The controller and hot spot is an area approx .5X.5" right under the "IC circle 20" text on the label in the shot below.

I did install a small 40X40X20mm fan directly over the xp941 and max temp i've seen since is 78C - i'm toying with the idea of playing with some solvents to try to peel the label back without damaging the label (in case i need svc under the warranty), just enough to uncover the controller, so it can shed it's heat better - that plastic label is simply acting as an insulator.

here's a shot of my fan

.

you probably don't have room for an active cooling solution, but i suspect your board already has air circulation around the m.2 socket

 

[The Original Ralph]

OR, if you wait a bit, it seems faster and cooler running M.2 SSDs are on the horizon

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/phison-ps5004-nvme,29250.html

 

[avd-vlad]

So have you installed SSD to your G501 and what model did you choose? I have the same notebook model Asus G501JW and I tried to install AHCI SM951. Unfortunately it was not recognised nither BIOS, nor installed OS, nor OS installation in UEFI mode. I wonder if our notebook model support PCIe SSD at all?

 

[DimitarKrastev]

I purchased Asus G501JW as well and tried PM951me. It is not detectable as well neither by BIOS nor by the preinstalled OS?

 

[IvoRV]

I just tried a 970 evo plus 500gb on my g501 vw and cant get it to work, tried everything on bios. I got windows installed on it but cant get it to boot from it.
Any sugestions?
Did anyone got an ssd compatible?