Weighing all my storage options for Predator Orion 5000 PO5-640-UB11

Hi all,

I recently purchased the Predator Orion 5000 PO5-640-UB11 model that comes with 1 TB storage via a M.2 PCIe SSD, but no HDD. While this is plenty of storage for my gaming needs for right now, I feel I will definitely need to look for an upgrade later on and might as well get a head start. I understand that SSDs are faster and more efficient by far, but am also interested in possibly getting a 1TB or 2TB Internal SATA HDD to install in one or both of the 3.5 inch bays. Which route should I go? Is it even possible for me to install an additional SSD, or, would I have to remove the old one and install and new SSD in its place with more storage capacity (i.e. a 2TB M.2 PCIe SSD)? I tried looking at the owner's manual but was having trouble understanding (#newbie)

On the Internal SATA HDD side of things, if I was to go that route, this is the one I was thinking of purchasing. Does anyone know if it would be compatible with this model? Would I need to buy any power connectors or cables to go with it?

Amazon.com: Western Digital 1TB WD Blue PC Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD10EZEX : Electronics

I appreciate all your help as always!

Accepted answers

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/675517/weighing-all-my-storage-options-for-predator-orion-5000-po5-640-ub11

To make it simpler for you, this is all you need to know about your PO5-640 and what Acer recommends oem and fits to these desktops, you can also fit the 2.5" SSDs from Samsung EVO, WD Blue or Seagate BarraCuda as they will fit and be compatible with this mobos SATA3 6GB/s interface. The PO5-640s M.2 specs are PCIe 3 x4 and of course you can fit speedier M.2 SSD drives like the Samsung 970 Pro or the WD NS750 Black M.2s or many others (as some of the reviews of these drives are suspect so be careful) but, Acer recommends the below drives for a reason as they are the most compatible and best budget drives:

PO5-640 Motherboard Components Descriptions:

M.2 drives

Mechanical 3.5" HDDs

All comments

chugzilla

i just connected an external ssd and it works great i got it from bestbuy

SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable 1TB External USB-C NVMe SSD SDSSDE81-1T00-G25 - Best Buy

Ol_Snapper

Well geee... never thought about an external SSD lol. Do you run any games from it and do they load considerably slower when compared to games saved on your desktop's internal SSD? I will definitely bookmark the one you mentioned above. It appears to be a great product!

I am so glad I joined this group, you guys are all super helpful and definitely know your stuff!

chugzilla

nope what i did is use it for everything else so the main ssd on the pc can run the games and windows lol

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/675517/weighing-all-my-storage-options-for-predator-orion-5000-po5-640-ub11

To make it simpler for you, this is all you need to know about your PO5-640 and what Acer recommends oem and fits to these desktops, you can also fit the 2.5" SSDs from Samsung EVO, WD Blue or Seagate BarraCuda as they will fit and be compatible with this mobos SATA3 6GB/s interface. The PO5-640s M.2 specs are PCIe 3 x4 and of course you can fit speedier M.2 SSD drives like the Samsung 970 Pro or the WD NS750 Black M.2s or many others (as some of the reviews of these drives are suspect so be careful) but, Acer recommends the below drives for a reason as they are the most compatible and best budget drives:

PO5-640 Motherboard Components Descriptions:

M.2 drives

Mechanical 3.5" HDDs

Ol_Snapper

Awesome thanks for the info guys!

Ol_Snapper

Where does the second ssd go? And do I have to remove anything before installing a second ssd?

Milkbone9

Second SSD goes right above gpu, right after the fans when looking through glass side. Will need a screw to hold the M.2 down. Number 9 in motherboard pic above in comments.

Ol_Snapper

@Milkbone9 thank you and much appreciated!

billsey

I now have the stock 1TB SSD, a second 2TB SSD and a pair of 8TB HDDs setup as RAID1 (redundant) in my PO5-640. Everything works as expected...

franksinatra1985

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1174289#Comment_1174289

Could you let me know which brand and model of NVME 2TB did you purchase? I tried installing a 1 TB WD Black SN770 in the empty slot and it took several seconds for windows to initialize it. Yesterday I noticed my cursor would freeze and then when shutting down the PC the monitor would shut off but the PC, keyboard, and mouse lighting were still on. It took about a minute for everything to turn off.

Now that I started up the PC again I look in my computer or disk management and there's no disk1 aka the WD NVME drive? It has disappeared. Only the boot 1 TB drive is there.

Also does anyone know the exact brand and model number for the supported NVME drives on the list of parts on the post above? I type in the Acer parts number for any of those and no results show up.

Thanks

billsey

The 2TB NVMe I have in there is an older Intel 660 drive. No problem here with that. It sounds like your WD might be having issues... I assume it's held in place good with the screw? The drives listed in that post are just the ones Acer was purchasing for the machine, not a list of what else works.

Dasandman1986

Do the Crucial SSD work in the extra M2 slot? I’m planning to go with their RAM as 16x2 or 32x2 anyway so would prefer to use their SSD as well.

chugzilla

when Ya go to the crucial site just use their system scanner and when it's done it loads all compatible stuff for your pc it's that simple and i trust crucial i did that for my memory etc.

Crucial System Scanner | Memory Upgrade Scanner | Crucial | Crucial.com

chugzilla

well i was looking at my drives earlier and said wow where did all my SSD space go i only have like 5 or 6 games from steam installed but there huge lol so what i did was watched a video that shows you how to add a drive to the steam dl folder in settings then move whatever games you want to that other drive so Ya can free up space on the main drive it's so easy to do. i have a SanDisk 1 tb portable at 1050 read and write speeds so i transferred over RDR2 to try it out and i couldn't tell a difference in playability. not sure what my internal SSD speeds are but i know there faster than that but i am going to get an internal SSD from crucial there 1 tb is on sale for 80 Bux now that's a great deal. and just store all my games on there.

How to Move a Steam Game to Another Drive, The Easy Way (howtogeek.com)

Crucial P5 Plus 1TB Internal SSD PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe CT1000P5PSSD8 - Best Buy

Ol_Snapper

Wow I am surprised a game like RDR2 plays fine on your portable SSD. That's amazing! For the second Crucial SSD install, do you know if it is literally as simple as inserting it into slot #9, screwing it down with an M2 screw, and booting up the desktop? No extra stuff needs to be done in the BIOS? If it is that simple I am probably just going go that route rather than purchase an external SSD or an internal 3.5" HDD.

My list of upgrades for Black Friday thus far:

1) Noctua NH-U12A chromax.Black, 120mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black) - Noctua NH-U12A chromax.Black, 120mm Single-Tower CPU Cooler (Black) (amazon.com)

2) Extra Frostblade fan off the OEM stock cpu cooler mounted up top (above cpu) as an exhaust

3) Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe M.2 2280SS Gaming SSD - Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe M.2 2280SS Gaming SSD | CT1000P5PSSD8 | Crucial.com

I may attempt to purchase the Crucial 1 TB SSD sooner if I think my wife will not strangle me haha.

billsey

Yep, pretty much that simple. You fire up Disk Management in Windows after booting and initialize, create a partition and format the partition and you are good to go. The B660 chipset seems to be PCIe 4 off the PCH-S chip, so the Crucial SSD should run close to full speed.

chugzilla

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1180934#Comment_1180934

yeah, it's that simple just need a 2mx6mm screw i think it is. and yeah, i figured since RDR2 is my most intense game with CPU and GPU i tested it was played a few hours couldn't tell what drive it was on lol. i also have a 3.2 512 gig usb drive hooked up i may put it on there and see how it works on that lol and yeah stay away from HDD they are terrible even for storage imo. yeah, and I'm ordering the SSD before it's not on sale anymore lol it's like 50 Bux off now that's a deal.

Ol_Snapper

Excellent. That makes me feel a lot better about things.

chugzilla

the Noctua will be the hardest part of it all and if Ya want you can call me and i can talk you through it when you do it let me know buddy.

Ol_Snapper

I would be super grateful! When the time comes for the Noctua upgrade I will definitely let you know. Thanks a lot buddy. When you get time please post some more pics of your rig would love to see how those two exhaust frostblade fans look mounted up top!

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