[SOLVED] SSD for a Dell XPS 8900

[rallybug]

I have a Dell XPS 8900, and want to add an SSD for OS and apps. I will be reinstalling everything from scratch.

I'm not sure which is the current favorite 1Tb SSD, and whether it will fit my motherboard.

Current spec is:
XPS 8900 with 8Gb ram, 1 x 1Tb HDD, 1 x 2Tb HDD
i5-6400 (Skylake) on a Dell 0XJ8C4 motherboard (Z170 chipset, 1xPCIe x1, 2 x PCIe x4, 1 PCIe x16)

The motherboard has, according to the docs here, 5 x SATA 6Gbps drive connectors and one spare solid state drive connector, although that M.2 connector appears to be limited to x1 speed.

I'm guessing a card like this SilverStone PCI adapter, and then an appropriate SSD?

What's the difference between a SATA 6 and NVMe SSD?

 

[jay32267]

"What's the difference between a SATA 6 and NVMe SSD? "

most SSDs will provide Read/Write speeds in the neighborhood of 530/500 MB/s. For comparison, a 7200 RPM SATA drive manages around 100MB/s depending on age, condition, and level of fragmentation. NVMe drives, on the other hand, provide write speeds as high as 3500MB/s

You could use a SATA port on the MB and not have to get the card.
You could also use the M2 for an NVMe drive....but at 1 lane....you are limited to 985 MB/s and that's theoretical....so it most likely will be slower.
The card will get you x4 for a NVMe drive.