M.2 ssd key type for Defiance III

[Dennymac]

Hi Folks.

I recently got my Deifance III 15.6 laptop.

I have installed a 256gb ssd and am looking to add further storage through the m.2 ports. My question is about the m.2 ports. I haven't used them before as my PC does not have these connections and my previous laptop has not either. I have done some reading re the different types of m.2 ssd's available and my question is regarding the key type for the m.2 connection. I emailed PCS but got an answer that just added to the confusion and so I turn to the forms in the home someone can help me out. I will upload pics of the connectors on the mobo and I would just like to know if they are B KEY, M KEY OR M+B KEY connectors.

I am guessing that connector 1+2 are B KEY type and connector 3 is m key type? Is this correct?

The mobo is notebook p65_67HSHP however i cant find much info on it.

Thanks in advance

 

[steaky360]

The specs page for the Defiance III indicate that it supports 2x M.2 2280 SSD's (I assume mSATA) and 1x M.2 2280 PCIe SSD.

Keying can be confirmed as below but looking at the pics the two 16401 ports (labelled 1 and 2 in the pics above) seem to be sockets for "M-Keyed M.2 SSD's" (I'd assume the SATA ones) and the other appears to be a B-Key socket (I assume for the PCIe SSD).

The 2280 refers to the 'width and length' of the M.2 drive (22mm wide, up to 80mm long), you'd need to check if the board supports other lengths.

You could get one of the M.2 drives PCS offer with the laptop and that should help assure compatibility (just as an example).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

 

[Dennymac]

Thanks for the reply.

Whats confusing me is that the PCIe slot is listed as 2280 also but looking at connector 3 it looks like it is a lot shorter than 80mm in length. I have seen that some m.2 slots are both SATA and PCIe compatible which makes me wonder if either connector 1 or 2 could be dual compatible.

 

[steaky360]

I can't say for sure either way - I might have thrown a curve ball suggesting mSATA though as doing a little bit more reading I think the M.2 Standard is entirely separate from mSATA - so ignore that part

It does look as though connector 3 doesn't have screw holes in a suitable place to mount a 80mm long drive. Weird, maybe the specification page is incorrectly listing one of the drives?

If you got any manuals etc. in your welcome pack they should be able to shed some light on what is supported.

Out of interest, what did PCS say when you asked them?

Maybe the board only supports 2 simultaneous M.2 style SSDs plugged in? Either 1 PCIe or 2 SATA drives? And the 3rd socket is for something else (the configurator only allows you to add 2off M.2 drives for example)?

EDIT:

Could the additional slot be for the 3G/4G module offered in the configurator?

 

[Dennymac]

They said that the ports were M+B which they might have just said to avoid compatibly issues but never said which port was PCIe enabled. Had a look in the bios there as well and there is NVMe config options so I guess its just a case of trial and error to see which port is the PCIe one if I buy an M.2 NVMe SSD.

 

[steaky360]

I'd hazard a guess that the slot labelled SSD1 is the enabled one (if the other isn't enabled) - unless the other slot is labelled SSD0 for some reason.

 

[Dennymac]

I would be thinking along the same lines also. The other one is labelled SSD2 so I will try them both out anyway when I get card and report back then.

 

[rav007]

I dont have the 17 inch model but this is what I know from my 15 inch one:

Bear with me... I dont have port 3, just 1 and 2. Also your 1 and 2 are identical... mine are not, my 2 is the same as your 2, and my 1 is the same as your 3 in terms of connector type!

So effectively what this means is in my 1 and 2 I can put m.2 SATA ssds and configure RAID and it will work.
But I can only put the NVMe into port 2 because thats the only one it will fit into, it doesn't physically fit into my port 1.
Also if I have an NVMe in my port 2, I can physically fit an m.2 SATA into port 1 but my laptop doesnt work. I think for NVMe to work it deactivates the other M.2 port via the bios.

My ports are both 2280, with the adjustable standoff so you can buy a shorter card. You seem to have that additional one. I think you may be able to physically fit 2x NVMes in ports 1 and 2. Whether they work or not, I dont know.


EDIT: So I think your slot 3 is for a short card like the 4g module, but its so difficult to tell because your defiance 3 isnt sold now, and the one I have, I put 2 m.2 ssds and the 4G card in and it didn't throw any errors... when it should because I dont have the ports for all 3 + wifi card.

Post-edit EDIT: And looking at the blue and black connectors near port 3, I think that also confirms it is for the 4G module. For me, these 2 connectors go to my port 1, going off your image as a reference to positioning.

 

[Dennymac]

All will be revealed tomorrow. I’ve an NVMe card ordered and should have it tomorrow so we will see if both ports 1 and 2 work with NVMe. Port 3 is most likely for 4g/shorter cards.

My laptop is only a week old so as for the mobo not being sold I’m not sure if you mean it’s only out or it’s an old one. It being a relatively new mobo would explain why there is almost zero info on the interwebs about it.

 

[steaky360]

Please do feedback if you can - would be good to know for the future

 

[Dennymac]

Well finally got it working yesterday. It was a serious pain in the stones to get windows installed on the NVMe drive but got it working and it’s flying. Getting very good read/write speeds compared to old ssd. The biggest issue with the install was getting the correct config in the bios and formatting the drive correctly so I could install windows on the NVMe and then make it boot from it. I would recommend if anyone is installing windows to the NVMe drive to make sure it is the only drive attached when doing so as it can create a tonne of problems when there are other drives installed.

Have only the one NVMe so can’t test raid config at the moment unfortunately.

Also on another note since I re-installed windows on the NVMe it seems to be running a lot hotter. Anyone any ideas on this? I’m not sure if it’s the control centre drivers or what but the fans don’t seem to kick in properly when gaming in the laptop causing it to run hot. When I manually set them to full speed the system quickly cools down. Would it be a case of remove all versions of control centre and then re install again?

 

[rav007]

Well finally got it working yesterday. It was a serious pain in the stones to get windows installed on the NVMe drive but got it working and it’s flying. Getting very good read/write speeds compared to old ssd. The biggest issue with the install was getting the correct config in the bios and formatting the drive correctly so I could install windows on the NVMe and then make it boot from it. I would recommend if anyone is installing windows to the NVMe drive to make sure it is the only drive attached when doing so as it can create a tonne of problems when there are other drives installed.

Have only the one NVMe so can’t test raid config at the moment unfortunately.

Also on another note since I re-installed windows on the NVMe it seems to be running a lot hotter. Anyone any ideas on this? I’m not sure if it’s the control centre drivers or what but the fans don’t seem to kick in properly when gaming in the laptop causing it to run hot. When I manually set them to full speed the system quickly cools down. Would it be a case of remove all versions of control centre and then re install again?

hold off on purchasing a 2nd NVMe or even trying a 2nd M.2 SATA SSD. In my laptop if the NVMe is installed I can't install a 2nd M.2 drive as it doesnt detect the NVMe then and just pretends it doesn't exist. On the configurator, your laptop also doesnt have an option for a 2nd NVMe in the 2nd M.2 drive options list so I would be very cautious and assume they haven't implemented the capability of NVMe RAID unless you find another person who has done it and been successful. I would try the notebookreview forums for your laptop, there are some pretty adventurous people on there.

As for the laptop running hotter, I don't understand why that would happen because the automatic cooling profile by default should steadily ramp up when temps increase. My GPU doesn't ever seem to get to max fans because even at load it sits at 68C for my 1060. Maybe a re-install of the software would help. Did you get your drivers from Clevo directly?

I'm surprised it gave you such a hard time to install the OS. For me it was super easy, after putting the NVMe in and removing the M.2 SATA, the windows boot disk saw the drive, once chosen as the installation drive it formatted it and the install was really straight forward.