Which M.2 drive for Alienware 17 R3?

[lcfballplayer43]

I just bought a new Alienware 17 R3 and it has 4 M.2 slots, but I do not know which SSD to purchase for it. Do you know if it would be SATA or PCIe, if PCIe, NVMe or AHCI? I just want to make sure I purchase the right one as I was looking at the Samsung 950 Pro. 850 EVO, or SM951. Thanks!

 

[ko888]

PCIe over SATA.

NVMe over AHCI.

So choose an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.

Just make sure that the motherboard's installed BIOS version supports NVMe.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R5YXM&fileId=3497164181&osCode=WT64A&productCode=alienware-17-r3&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

The change log shows:
• Modify NGFF device NVMe-PCIE control function and RAID 0/1 enabling.

 

[cj100570]

The 17 R3 only has 2 M.2 slots. If the Alienware 17 that you have has 4 M.2 slots it's either the R2 or an M17! And if it's either of those laptops, The 950 Pro and SM951 would be a waste of your money as the M.2 slots are SATA whereas those drives are PCIe. Further, if you do have the 2015 17 R3, it supports NVME drives straight from Alienware but the list of drives that will work is very limited.

 

[plainbum]

The 17 R3 only has 2 M.2 slots. If the Alienware 17 that you have has 4 M.2 slots it's either the R2 or an M17! And if it's either of those laptops, The 950 Pro and SM951 would be a waste of your money as the M.2 slots are SATA whereas those drives are PCIe. Further, if you do have the 2015 17 R3, it supports NVME drives straight from Alienware but the list of drives that will work is very limited.

I am ready to buy an NVMe drive, will you link me to this list you mentioned?
Seems some are having success with Sammy Pros NVMe's
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17r3-and-m-2-ports-with-samsung-950-pro-report.783584/page-2
Thanks for any replies!