Acer Aspire 315-22-924K laptop and M.2 Drive

[sepheronx]

Hello everyone.

I am wondering. Friend of mine brought me his laptop and its an Acer Aspire 315-22-924K. He complained it is a tad slow and I figured its cause of the spindle drive. Which it has. When I opened it up it seems to be a M.2 port too:

I am assuming this is a SATA but I could be entirely wrong and it is a PCIE. I cant find much details in my googlefu. Anyone know?

 

[Caring1]

It's definitely an M2 Sata, but read the following link to see how to check if it can use NVMe.

Acer Aspire E5-575-52JF m.2 nvme support

Does the E5-575-52JF (i5-6200u CPU) support a m.2 nvme drive? Is there a specific version of BIOS required?

community.acer.com

 

[Hyderz]

sata is fine anyway since the upgrade would be much faster than the mechanical hdd

 

[TheLostSwede]

That's an M keyed slot by the looks of it, so that should be for NVMe.

 

[Flaky]

Key just by itself means nothing in regard to SSD slots.
Without any additional information such socket may support either SATA only, PCIe only, or both.

According to this it's a PCIe-only 3.0 x2 slot.

It seems it's a stoney ridge APU A9 based laptop. Even with SSDs these tend to be rather slow, and get slowed down even more by windows defender.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Key just by itself means nothing in regard to SSD slots.
Without any additional information such socket may support either SATA only, PCIe only, or both.

According to this it's a PCIe-only 3.0 x2 slot.

It seems it's a stoney ridge APU A9 based laptop. Even with SSDs these tend to be rather slow, and get slowed down even more by windows defender.

Seriously? You can't say that.
An M.2 slot with a B-key can't fit an NVMe drive, since it's physically blocked from fitting in the slot, so obviously the key matters a lot.

And an M-key slot will NEVER be SATA only, as then it would be a B-key slot. An M-key slot can be NVMe only, or NVMe/SATA.

 

[Flaky]

M-key slot will NEVER be SATA only, as then it would be a B-key slot.

How often do you see that in practice?

Motherboard makers tend to put M key slots wherever they want, even for SATA-only slots.
Here are a few real world examples that contradict your "m-key slot will never will be sata only":
Second M.2 on Asrock AB350M Pro4
M.2 on Gigabyte H110-D3A

And that's the reason why when I say that key does not matter in regard to SSDs, I mean it. Keys only differentiate SSD slots from WIFI/4G slots.
Maybe keys were supposed to bring some meaning, but they failed to do so in real world.

 

[TheLostSwede]

How often do you see that in practice?

Motherboard makers tend to put M key slots wherever they want, even for SATA-only slots.
Here are a few real world examples that contradict your "m-key slot will never will be sata only":
Second M.2 on Asrock AB350M Pro4
M.2 on Gigabyte H110-D3A

And that's the reason why when I say that key does not matter in regard to SSDs, I mean it. Keys only differentiate SSD slots from WIFI/4G slots.
Maybe keys were supposed to bring some meaning, but they failed to do so in real world.

Congrats, you found two outliers, big deal. At least they put it in the spec.
Regardless, that's wrong and shouldn't be done and both companies should get flack for doing so.

I have seen B-key only devices into which an NVMe drive physically can't fit, so yes, the keys do mean something. That companies don't follow standards is just poor show.

 

[Flaky]

I have seen B-key only devices into which an NVMe drive physically can't fit, so yes, the keys do mean something.

But did these devices declared PCIe SSD support in those slots? Because that's what the discussion is about.

Let me rephrase the original statement:
Key has no meaning, as the only real important thing are the interfaces supported in the M.2 SSD slot.

If the slot supports PCIe, then it has to be M key.
All PCIe M.2 drives either have "M" cut, or both "M" and "B" cuts. Thus, they always fit.

If the slot supports SATA, it can either be M key or B key.
All SATA M.2 drives have both "M" and "B" cuts. Thus, they always fit.

If you buy an SSD that matches the interface supported by the device, then it has to fit in it, and there's no need to check the key.
If you buy an SSD that mismatches the interface supported by the device, then it may or may not fit in the device. But it does not matter, because it will not work.

If you check the interfaces, then there is no need to check the keys.

 

[sepheronx]

Thanks everyone!

So I'll talk to my friend to advise getting something like a adata xpg 8200 pro since it's fairly cheap and a good drive

 

[TheLostSwede]

Thanks everyone!

So I'll talk to my friend to advise getting something like a adata xpg 8200 pro since it's fairly cheap and a good drive

Waste of money if it's only got two PCIe lanes, as you'll never get anywhere near the performance it offers.
Also, it's not the most power efficient drive, so maybe look for something more notebook orientated?

 

[sepheronx]

Waste of money if it's only got two PCIe lanes, as you'll never get anywhere near the performance it offers.
Also, it's not the most power efficient drive, so maybe look for something more notebook orientated?

Do you have any recommendations?

I buy mostly from this place: memoryexpress.com

 

[TheLostSwede]

Maybe something like the WD Blue SN550? Can't access that site btw.

 

[sepheronx]

Thanks friend. Will inform the customer.

 

[sepheronx]

Question - shouldn't the port also support SATA M.2? He decided to get the cheaper SATA m.2 Crucial MX500 drive and when I pop it in and go to bios, it isn't recognizing it. Bios has AHCI set and drive 2 supposed to be recognized.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Question - shouldn't the port also support SATA M.2? He decided to get the cheaper SATA m.2 Crucial MX500 drive and when I pop it in and go to bios, it isn't recognizing it. Bios has AHCI set and drive 2 supposed to be recognized.

In theory, yes, but it seems like that isn't the case. There are M.2 slots that are PCIe only, which again technically isn't according to spec, but alas...

 

[sepheronx]

In theory, yes, but it seems like that isn't the case. There are M.2 slots that are PCIe only, which again technically isn't according to spec, but alas...

I am gonna get him to get this one then. Its cheap. the 550 is 20+ more.

Silicon Power 256GB - NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 2,200/1,600MB/s SSD (SP256GBP34A60M28) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Silicon Power 256GB - NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 2,200/1,600MB/s SSD (SP256GBP34A60M28) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

 

[TheLostSwede]

I am gonna get him to get this one then. Its cheap. the 550 is 20+ more.

Silicon Power 256GB - NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 2,200/1,600MB/s SSD (SP256GBP34A60M28) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Silicon Power 256GB - NVMe M.2 PCIe Gen3x4 2280 TLC R/W up to 2,200/1,600MB/s SSD (SP256GBP34A60M28) : Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

Seems like a sensible budget option for a laptop based on power usage.

Silicon Power P34A60 M.2 NVMe SSD Review: Mid-Range Performance at Rock-Bottom Pricing

"Cheap and good enough" wins again

www.tomshardware.com

 

[sepheronx]

I feel bad for the guy as he is running around getting this stuff. It's rather silly that the m.2 drive isn't both sata and PCIe compatible

 

[TheLostSwede]

I feel bad for the guy as he is running around getting this stuff. It's rather silly that the m.2 drive isn't both sata and PCIe compatible

The M-key slots are supposed to support both standards, but it seems like M.2 is yet a standard where the standard isn't being followed by the device makers...

M.2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Technically speaking, even B-key slots are supposed to support two PCIe lanes, but I don't think that's implemented.