Solved! Alienware R5 17.3 SSD

Ayoo25

Estimable
May 12, 2014
3
0
4,510
hey guys so my new Alienware R5 is on the way by ups so yes im hype lol but i wanted to ask how easy is it to add an SSD to it can i just open the back and pop it in do i need to get a SATA Cable or anything to hook it up i was going to buy the Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD to put in it also if there's anything i should do or look out for when i first get the laptop thanks for everyone help on this also man this is my first Alienware pc im happy to be apart of the family
this is my laptop



Alienware 17 R5 laptop with power adapter

Windows 10 Home operating system

2.2GHz eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8750H hexa-core processor with 8MB cache, up to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost

17.3" diagonal Full HD anti-glare display with 1920x1080 resolution, IPS technology

16MB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM

1TB hard drive

8GB solid-state drive

802.11ac Wi-Fi

Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 OC graphics with 8GB GDDR5 memory

7.1 digital audio with stereo speakers

Full HD webcam

Killer e2500 gigabit ethernet

Backlit keyboard

Six-cell lithium-ion battery

Two USB 3.0 ports

HDMI 2.0, ethernet ports

Headphone/microphone jacks


this is what someone told me on Reddit


118GB? Oh man that's a lot of money down the drain. The only reason to have an optane is if you have a desktop computer and it only had a hard drive. THey use a lot of power for a laptop so it cuts down battery life.



And there's NO point using it with an SSD (which you bought on the side) so you could have saved yourself a lot of money either a) ordering laptop just with the HDD or b) ordering it with a PCIE ssd instead - these are much faster than that 860 Evo drive.



It's your computer..do what you want. But the optane is just a marketing gimmick for home users - and an expensive one. Personally, I'd send it back as soon as UPS gets there and reorder it with a PCIE SSD from Dell and return that 860. If you already had that, great...You can order the laptop with no 2.5" drive
this laptop was a gift byw it coming from dell DELL OTM SCA SYNCREON SYSTEMS TORRANCE, CA, US

 
Solution

Rdslw

Prominent
Aug 1, 2017
78
0
610
optane is only usefull if you have ssd AND and another empty m.2 (FOR HDD CACHE) OR when you're fine with 118GB of space. Best way is to get solid SSD m.2 like samsung 970 or any other that you can use as boot drive.

Don't fixate yourself that HDD + optane is best way, Its accually SAME crappy HDD on steroids, you still get crappy behavior on first run.
 

USAFRet

Illustrious
Moderator


Optane isn't useful with an already existing SSD at all.
You're using one SSD as a cache to speed up the real SSD. A waste.
 

Ayoo25

Estimable
May 12, 2014
3
0
4,510


ok so what should i do just get a samsung 970 so i can have more room to put my games on
 

Ayoo25

Estimable
May 12, 2014
3
0
4,510


checking the Alienware 17 R5 Specification document Alienware 17 R5 Spec Doc

Your computer supports one hard drive and three solid-state drives.
Table 9. Storage Áº…cècoƯnÁ
Storage type Interface type Capacity
One 2.5-inch hard drive SATA AHCI 6 Gbps Up to 1 TB
One M.2 2242 solid-state drive
• SATA AHCI 6 Gbps
• PCIe NVMe up to 32
Gbps
Up to 1 TB
One M.2 2280 solid-state drive
One M.2 2280 solid-state drive PCIe NVMe up to 32 Gbps Up to 1 TB
Intel Optane storage
Table 10. Intel Optane storage
Interface PCIe 3.0x2
Connector M.2 2280
¯nèÊ½oƯnÁ supported 60 GB and 120 GB
Capacity Up to 120 GB
 

USAFRet

Illustrious
Moderator


OK.
Leave the 1TB HDD in.
Remove the Optane thing.

Add an 860 EVO m.2 (SATA III)
Or
970 EVO (NVMe)

Either will work.
 
Solution