Question about m.2 SSDs, RAM, and the Sager NP7258

I have a Sager NP7258 on order with Xotic PC, and the individual I attempted to speak with through support cannot answer my question. As a matter of fact, I don't think he even understands it. So I turn to you wonderful people.

This laptop has a m.2 slot that supports 2280 according to here. Therefore, in order to exceed the capability of a standard mSATA SSD, I could order the Samsung 950 PRO -Series 256GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD 2-Inch MZ-V5P256BW. Now one of the purchaser goes on to warn that the SSD takes up 4 PCI-e lanes, so that you could find yourself in a situation where it takes lanes away from your GPU (in my case, the onboard Intel 520 and/or GTX 965M) causing throttling issues. The board specs indicate 8 PCI-e lanes, so will this happen? According to that same page, the board supports DDR3L memory up to 1600 MHz but goes on to indicate that real operation frequency depends on the processor. However, according to the processor specs, DDR4-2133, LPDDR3-1866, and DDR3L-1600 are supported. I believe a member of Xotic PC told me that DDR4 is not supported by the board, despite the processor, so I wouldn't be able to use it. Is that accurate?

What are the optimal SSD and RAM upgrades I can make without compromising the performance of other components such as the GPU?

Thanks in advance. The m.2 isn't technology I'm incredibly familiar with.

 

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/1-tb-m2-2280-drives.786502/#post-10173603


What capability does a too small NVMe offer over a 2.5" SSD?

None (for a normal workstation class load).

Except for bragging rights of the sequential speeds.


See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nvme-ssds-not-all-theyre-cracked-up-to-be.788103/

 

Did you see the read speed on the Samsung Pro compared to an mSata?

 

Canan you explain how an m.2 drive generates extra heat when it consumes less power? I feel like I'm missing something. Plus, it would be great if you could answer my questions about RAM. My guess, based on what I'd read, was to go with the m.2 SSD and DDR3L 1600 MHz.

 

Hey V1R4G3,
Sorry that you weren't able to get the answer you were looking for. Please let me know if there is anything I might be able to help with though.

The NP7258 does have a skylake processor in it, and skylake processors are able to use either DDR3 or DDR4. But it just depends on the motherboard on which one they can actually use. Almost all motherboards in laptops or desktops will work with one or the other, but not both. On that model, it is DDR3 that it can use. DDR3 ram is going to be different pins (204 pins) and voltage (1.35v) compared to DDR4 (260pin and 1.2v), and DDR4 isn't compatible in that system as it has DDR3 sodimm slots. Intel's ARK page does show that it would work with the higher speeds of ram as well. Though Sager only offers 1600mhz ram. So buying new ram to replace what comes in there might be costly, and for probably a small marginal gain on real world performance. I would say to put your money in to other upgrades first.

The PCie lanes for the m.2 are separate from the PCIe lanes that go to the graphics card. I haven't heard of a situation where it would use up any of those lanes, as far as I know.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly.

 

Less power than what?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Did you read the last link in post#2? A single aspect or performance metric based on theoretical and/or synthetic performance 'scores' usually means little in real life results.

 

Higher 'performance', even 'synthetic' performance will always need higher processor and power requirements. Couple that with the much smaller surface area of an M.2 drive (vs. a 2.5" SSD in an enclosure) and those aspects are concentrated and amplified not only for the M.2 in question, but because an M.2 'bay' is not properly cooled, it can and does affect other components too like the CPU, RAM and/or GPU individually or in combinations (depending on the physical layout and the cooling design of the chassis in question).

As alexhawker pointed out "Less power than what?".

SSD's do not use less power than regular HDD's. M.2 drives actually use considerably more power than 2.5" SSD's (for reasons already explained). While an SSD (2.5" or M.2) uses considerably less power when idling than almost any mechanical HDD, in use, it uses the same and usually more (even if only for short burst for an equivalent workload vs. an HDD).

In an off the shelf, cramped and under designed (for cooling) chassis like almost all notebooks are, that heat has nowhere to go but throttle the M.2 itself, and any other component that soaks the heat the M.2 produces.

While a CPU can support different generations of RAM (DDR3 and DDR4), what a manufacturer delivers is usually limited to a single option for notebook based systems. In this case, I would believe what someone at Xotic PC told you about that aspect of your notebook. Or, you can simply test DDR4 modules for yourself and let others know your results.

The DDR3L 1600MHz modules are the safe bet for your system, but I would not limit myself to the stock/suggested timings for RAM.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ull-speed-help-screenshots-appreciate.699186/


Read the couple of pages in the link above to see why I don't put stock memory modules in any of my platforms anymore for over 3 years.

Getting back to the M.2 and heat... just like the last few generations of CPU's from Intel have been challenging from a cooling/throttling perspective, (higher performance from less surface area=concentrated heat buildup), an M.2 drive's architecture does give increased performance (mostly for enterprise level workloads) and hence higher heat production from their much smaller surface area (too bad they are not designed for enterprise level write endurance...).

I'm glad to help when I can, but at the same time I can't spoon feed you this info.

Search on this forum with my name and read as much as you can.

 

Thermal density. Same number of transistors in a smaller area. I mean ULV CPU's consume a lot less power than a desktop CPU (i.e. 15W vs 95W) but desktop CPU's run cooler? Why? Surface area and cooling potential.

 

Thank you, this answered my question. A reading I took in suggested that the Samsung m.2 SSDs had a lower power consumption than mSata SSDs.

Thank you, as well, Pat. I was unaware of the limitations of this board in regards to memory. Clevo specifications can be an adventure to navigate sometimes. Suffice to say, the physical limitations of the memory slots, which I was aware of pin differences, completely evaded me. It's so easy to overcomplicate things and overlook the simple answer right in front of your face, sometimes.