tc-895 B46H5-AD board what gen is nvme slot

petboy

Hi just got an tc-895 i5-10400 2.9ghz 1tb hdd (slow) i want to fit a nvme but trying to find out what gen it is is near impossible, (is acer a secret society) looked at near 20 seller sites and not one gives full specs. lots of manual sites claim to have the manual for the board THEY DO NOT boards i have used in the past clearly mark all connectors but not this one.
Any one tell me what gen it is and any size limitation or a site that actually has the board manual (if it even exists)
Thanks hope you can help

ttttt

@petboy

I am pretty sure that the best for your TC-895 is a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD, because it is still using 10th generation CPU. To use gen 4 M.2 SSD, you will need PCIe 4.0 motherboard and 11th generation CPU to achieve the ~7,000 MB/s speed. To get this kind of performance I had to build a new PC recently with this kind of requirements.

Motherboard manuals ( diagrams) for most Acer PCs are not available for public circulation, some Acer Aces here may provide you a diagram later .

You can use M key PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD with form factor 2280 , maximum speed is ~3,400 MB/s for sequential read.

ttttt

@petboy

Depending on how you are going to use your PC. For my usages, the RAM seldom reach the 7 GB mark, so a 8 GB RAM stick should be sufficient. However, I installed another 8 GB stick to make it (2 x 8GB), not because of insufficient RAM, but just to enabled its dual channel capability. There were some noticeable performance increase, but not significant. I have not tried Disk Magic. I did use Maricum Reflect for a 500 GB to 500 GB disk cloning. It was a success.

I am no expert either. Most of the time I learn by practicing,  testing and trial an error, changing things here and there and learn from my mistakes. 

If your RAM is 2 x 4GB, then wait until you see some applications that demand something close to 8 GB, no big rush. Maybe you can skip the SATA SSD . For performance, you have the M.2 NVMe SSD. For storage capacity, you have the 4TB NAS HDD drive already. The SATA3 SSD is in-between and will be expensive for high capacity.

ttttt

@petboy

I am pretty sure that the best for your TC-895 is a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD, because it is still using 10th generation CPU. To use gen 4 M.2 SSD, you will need PCIe 4.0 motherboard and 11th generation CPU to achieve the ~7,000 MB/s speed. To get this kind of performance I had to build a new PC recently with this kind of requirements.

Motherboard manuals ( diagrams) for most Acer PCs are not available for public circulation, some Acer Aces here may provide you a diagram later .

You can use M key PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD with form factor 2280 , maximum speed is ~3,400 MB/s for sequential read.

petboy

Thanks for that i done a bit more research i still could not be 100% sure but took the chance and ordered 

Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V7S500)  

its a long time since i last built a system so not up to date with all the modern components
Thank again for the advice  

ttttt

@PeterHodgson
I have the same SSD with my other PC. It should work with your PC at close to 3,400 MB/s. Enjoy it. Do not know what is the  drive that came with your PC. This one may be faster than the one came with the PC ( possible a x2 M.2 NVMe SSD, just half the speed of this x4 SAMSUNG drive).

ttttt

@petboy

Oops! I missed the point. You have an old style 1 TB HDD, no wonder it is slow. You may want to get cloning software or use Win 10 "Create System Image" method to make this M.2 NVMe SSD as the boot drive. Since you are going to clone from a larger capacity drive to a smaller drive, some cloning software may not work right. To use Win 10 system image method, you will need an additional drive for that ( recommend to use surplus old HDD from old PC or get an external HDD ) but usually highly reliable.

I just got a WD Passport Ultra 5TB external HDD for Mac from B&H Photo for USD $99 (out of stock for PC version). I reformatted and created ten partitions from there to back up System Images for different versions (32-bit and 64-bit) of Windows for all of my PCs and have NTFS and exFAT partitions for data.
Even though it is a 5400 RPM drive, the connection is the USB Type-C and the write speed still can reach 100 MB/s+, so the speed is acceptable.

 Love it. 

To get help on how to migrate the OS to this new M.2 drive, you can click my avatar and search the topics that I posted about one year ago for that( using system image method) or you can search similar topic from this Acer site (using cloning software). I would say, try cloning software method first, as it is the easiest method.

petboy

You got it SLOW SLOW SLOW and that's with new uncluttered install so would only get slower I have installed disk magic and it looks like you can migrate just the windows system rather than clone the disk that as you say prob would not work also going to create system image in case i need it when ssd arrives later today i have usb drive and old wd red nas hdd that i use as usb drive to use. I'm far from a comp expert but one way or another i will get it done. I'm going to use the red 4tb as internal drive until i have the cash for sata ssd.
What are your thoughts on ram it only has 8gb so needs more but i feel 16gb would be plenty rather than the max 32.

ttttt

@petboy

Depending on how you are going to use your PC. For my usages, the RAM seldom reach the 7 GB mark, so a 8 GB RAM stick should be sufficient. However, I installed another 8 GB stick to make it (2 x 8GB), not because of insufficient RAM, but just to enabled its dual channel capability. There were some noticeable performance increase, but not significant. I have not tried Disk Magic. I did use Maricum Reflect for a 500 GB to 500 GB disk cloning. It was a success.

I am no expert either. Most of the time I learn by practicing,  testing and trial an error, changing things here and there and learn from my mistakes. 

If your RAM is 2 x 4GB, then wait until you see some applications that demand something close to 8 GB, no big rush. Maybe you can skip the SATA SSD . For performance, you have the M.2 NVMe SSD. For storage capacity, you have the 4TB NAS HDD drive already. The SATA3 SSD is in-between and will be expensive for high capacity.

petboy

Just the every day stuff browsing. email, streaming, photo & vid editing nothing too demanding, resource monitor shows 6.5 used 1.5 standby 150 MB free it has on board graphics so shares ram. It's one 8gb adata ddr 4  i could get another the same but there a high price and for a few pounds more i can get two 8gb crucial or similar sticks   i dont know if adata are any good as i have never heard of them before (more research). that's for the future anyway (no cash)
Your right about the sata ssd EXPENSIVE and a unnecessary extravagance.
I would have built my own system but cashflow would not allow so had to buy at AO where i have credit account but they have very limited choice.
I do the same as you practice trial and error i have no worries about getting in the registry and making a few changes  and yes sometimes screw the system up TOTALY but although recovery is a tine consuming pain it's is easy. Most people seem to scared to try these things but  it's a good way to learn and personally i think it's FUN

ttttt

@petboy

Your new TC-895 is a capable machine, you can enjoy it for the upcoming years. Just don't think about upgrading PSU and other hardware yet, as it uses the 12 volt only PSU. Currently you can only get connectors and PSU upgrade from acer. Begin to see people can get hardware from third party manufacturers now. 

My PC's original RAM stick is from Samsung. I mixed it with another stick from Silicon Power with the same spec, and everything is fine.
Adata is common here in the U.S., they sell memory sticks and storage devices, just not as famous as the big name brands.

I believe we can both be considered computer enthusiasts. Playing with the PC as a hobby, ha ha!