Nova 2x M.2 port bandwidth
- Thread starter Steve2
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FerrariVie
Super Star
Have a look at this thread:
24 hours old NOVA laptop: 2nd M.2 Drive is not showing/working anymore.
I just received my NOVA laptop yesterday. Everything seemed fine yesterday evening but this morning the second M.2 Drive (1 TB Samsung EVO Plus) is not showing/working anymore. It's also not showing in DISK MANAGEMENT as well. Quite frustrating as this laptop is needed for an ongoing VFX...
In theory, you're right. Based on clevo's manual and replicated by PCS on their site, the nova chassis accepts one Gen3 PCIe and another Gen2 PCIe. So if you use 2 Gen3 drives, one would work at Gen2 speeds. But be carefull about it, as people seem to be having issues with 2 NVMEs. However, all the cases of issues I've seen reported are using at least one Samsung 970 drive, so if you want to try not using Samsung and check if 2 Gen3 NVMEs from other brands actually work (even if one works at Gen2 speeds), you would do a great discovery for science
But if you want to be on the safe side, I would suggest you go for one NVME Gen3 and another SATA 2.5" in order to enjoy the full speed of Gen3.
That's actually quite funny - I was looking into it for curiosity's sake mostly due to playing about with the configurator and selecting 1 250GB and 1 1TB Samsung 970 Plus drives. I then found a snippet of info that suggested the 2nd M.2 wouldn't operate at it's maximum speeds. I've since found a single reference to this on reddit and now confirmation from Fevieira above.
Its scary to hear stuff like 2nd M.2 not working when any 970 is in play. The 970 is the fastest option available and a very tempting choice as a boot drive - I hope it would be a coincidence and it's just a popular choice.
If any PCS staff are reading, it would be nice to at least show the warning - especially since the PCS configurator actually allows you to choose drives with lower "better fitting" speeds if you don't care about brands, though I'm sure most people wont care, and are up for the "future proofing".
Its scary to hear stuff like 2nd M.2 not working when any 970 is in play. The 970 is the fastest option available and a very tempting choice as a boot drive - I hope it would be a coincidence and it's just a popular choice.
If any PCS staff are reading, it would be nice to at least show the warning - especially since the PCS configurator actually allows you to choose drives with lower "better fitting" speeds if you don't care about brands, though I'm sure most people wont care, and are up for the "future proofing".
FerrariVie
Super Star
I don't think they read the forum, so you could try contacting them to see what they say about it. And as I said, if you really want the faster samsung drive as boot, just go for it and get another 2.5" SATA as the second drive, hoping that one day a BIOS update will solve the issue and you get your second M.2 drive back.
If you buy both drives from PCS and it ends up not working, they'll need to fix it somehow. Even if it's replacing your one of your NVME drives by a SATA of similar pricing. But then you'll need to go on the route of RMAing the drives back and forth.
PS: I don't have a Samsung drive, but an ADATA Gen3. If someone wants to send me another Gen3 drive (not Samsung) for testing purposes, I'm happy to do it and post the results back on the forum
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Good advice. I'll also contact PCS directly with the suggestion.
I think this is one of the topics right? Hard to deny that observation about Samsung. It would be nice to get some input/confirmation from more non Samsung dual M.2 users.
Edit: HAH sorry fevieira - didn't even see your link until now. I think its the style - my brain instantly dismisses those thinking they are adds. Wasted about 30 mins looking in the forums too
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FerrariVie
Super Star
Yes, I would just add that @lauwai has 2 NVMEs (none samsung, neither Gen3) and he confirmed that they work well together:
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/nova-brief-review.71531/page-2#post-509088
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
They’re both PCIe 3
FerrariVie
Super Star
Yeah, I think you're both right... sorry. But neither use the 3k+ speeds, so that is still what is not clear to me and might be causing issues (if not Samsung incompatibility)
Just to note I've had no issues with the 2 drives I have in my laptop. I had read about the Samsung drive thing prior to ordering and specifically chose not to get that brand just to be safe and also for cost reasons. I was going to buy the 2nd drive seperately and save a couple of pounds but decided to order from PCS so that its covered by the warranty and it's their problem if there's an issue with it..