Optimus VII / N150RD PCI-e SSD query

[Lum]

I have this laptop, it has a nice 256GB SM951 as the primary controller and a cheapo mechanical drive in the SATA slot, and I know the mobo has two more PCIe slots. One for the wireless, which I'm using and one for the 4G module which I'm not using and don't intend to ever use.

I doubt this slot can do NVMe, which is fine, but what I want to know is can I shove something like an M.2 Samsung 850 evo in the spare PCIe slot as the 256GB SM951 is a teensy bit small for my dual-boot setup. It'll give me some decent speed mid-tier storage for games etc. and leaving the SATA slot free for a bulk storage mechanical drive for videos etc.

 

[Lez501]

Not 100% certain, but my defiance has a similar configuration. I have the SM951 256GB in the main slot, and a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo M.2 sata drive in the second slot - works for me.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have this laptop, it has a nice 256GB SM951 as the primary controller and a cheapo mechanical drive in the SATA slot, and I know the mobo has two more PCIe slots. One for the wireless, which I'm using and one for the 4G module which I'm not using and don't intend to ever use.

I doubt this slot can do NVMe, which is fine, but what I want to know is can I shove something like an M.2 Samsung 850 evo in the spare PCIe slot as the 256GB SM951 is a teensy bit small for my dual-boot setup. It'll give me some decent speed mid-tier storage for games etc. and leaving the SATA slot free for a bulk storage mechanical drive for videos etc.

Unfortunately the M2 slot spare specifically fits an LTE card, so an M2 drive wouldn't fit.

 

[Lum]

A random Polish person posted a video of disassembling one of these. Looks like it's an B-keyed M.2 slot, which apparently takes PCIe-x2, SATA and SMBus according to wikipedia, though only half length.

In theory then, an SSD should fit??

 

[Lum]

Hmm, no way to sell if the SATA is actually wired up, though the PCIe is. So I need to find a 2242 B-keyed SSD with an onboard controller, preferably NVMe rather than AHCI, unless someone from PCS can confirm if that slot has AHCI hooked up?