Replacing 750HDD in a GT80 2QE

I am considering a GT80 2QE. It has a 250gig SSD and a 750gigHDD. Is it feasible to change the 750HDD to an SSD of some kind?

 

Well gt80 came with 4 empty m.2 ssd slots. If you got 250gb it is most likely 2x128gb in raid 0 so you still got 2 empty m.2 slots. You don't need to change your hdd just add another m.2 ssd. To make sure open top cover and inspect how many empty m.2 slots you got there.

 

O.k., but what I'm wondering is if one has to have an HDD in there, or whether they could all be SSD. Could I install say a 500gb SSD and put everything that's on the HDD onto it, and remove the HDD? I am new to hardware mods, but I know I'd like the computer to run just SSD's.

 

The 2.5" HDD that's in there is just for data, there is no operating system on it so replacing it is the easiest thing in the world.

That was the first thing I did. The SSD that works really well is the Samsung 850 or 860, 1TB models. They are not that expensive so just go for 1TB.
They used to cost close to $300 just 2 years ago, now they are much less.

The HDD that's in there is 5400 RPMs and very slow. It also tends to crash, it's just cheap junk.

You can also upgrade the M.2 slots, they are non-PCIe so Samsung 860 M.2 works really well there. I have the newer SLI version that takes NVMe/PCIe that your machine cannot take apparently but I get one slot less than you do. That's what I like about older GT80s, you can have so many SSDs in them.

4xM.2 2280 and 1x2.5"

 

Great. Thank you for the reply, although I'm a bit surprised to learn the 2QE doesn't accept NMVe. Well, it's still going to be light years faster than my Thinkpad 410

 

You cannot tell any speed difference between NMVe/PCIe and the SATA M.2 or 2.5" drives. Not in real life, at all. One is 3300 Mbits/second, the other around 1500 Mbits/sec and it's just doesn't make any practical difference.

I would take a slower speed but gain 1xM.2 slot. You lose one slot going from older GT80 to newer SLI models. If they want to limit PCIe slots, fine but they could have at least left the SATA slot there. Say 2xPCIe + 2xSATA 2280s and 1x2.5" SATA.

Instead GT80 SLI gets 2x2280 PCIe, 1x2280 SATA and 1x2.5" SATA

 

Also, Samsung is the best but they have a confusing naming scheme.
They have a 860 that's 2.5" and also have a 860 that's M.2 2280.

I got the newer 860 now and it's faster with better endurance than 850.