Looking to upgrade my nvme on nitro 5 an515-57-58hn

Yesterday I picked up a nitro 5, loving it! It's the 11th gen model, 11400h, an515-57-58hn is the model number.

The first nvme port, which is currently in use by the stock 256gb nvme, is a gen 3 SK Hynix ssd. It is my understanding that this first port supports gen 4 nvme.

My second port has PCIe on it, so I know my other port only supports gen 3 nvme.

I've purchased a gen 4 SN770 to add to my laptop. I was going to just put it in the second port, where I would only get gen 3 speeds, but I was going to be fine with that. Now I'm debating if I'm better off putting it in the first port, since the stock Hynix ssd is only gen 3 anyways.

My question would be, if I switch them, are both nvme drives boot drive compatible? Id imagine it would be a ton of work to get clone windows to the 770sn and take it off the Hynix if that second port can't boot windows anyways. Wondering what would be the best way to upgrade my machine. Thanks for any advice.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

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StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/680986/looking-to-upgrade-my-nvme-on-nitro-5

The Nitro AN515-57s laptop has 2x PCIe M.2 slots that are both PCIe Gen.3x4, I've got an AN515-56 which is the same laptop and I'm running a WD 1TB SN750 Black PCIe Gen.3x4 drive which is the top performing drive and I've cloned the oem WD 512GB SN530 M.2 drive onto the SN750 Black and its very easily done, when you do the cloning always use the other internal M.2 slot and put your SN770 M.2 Gen 4 drive into that slot and use the WD cloning software the Acronis True Image, as its allot quicker than doing it externally and it takes about 5min max for the clone to do and finish.

Putting a Gen 4 M.2 drive into a PCIe 3 x4 slot will always work at that Gen 3 slots max speeds which really is a max 3500 MBps compared to a Gen 4 drive like SN770 that can have speeds of 5500 MBps average read/write which is not quite double speed.

KevinTuna

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186218#Comment_1186218

I thought the first slot was gen 4 for sure? Quite a few posts on here showing its gen 4 but I've never tested it. It makes sense since 11th gen Intel takes advantage of gen 4.

Would my clone still work with that software since one of the drives isn't a WD drive? When doing a clone, would it wipe my stock 256gb Hynix drive and start it on a clean slate, or is that a different process to wipe/clean the drive. Is that WD clone software free? Thanks.

KevinTuna

Here's a few posts mentioning slot 1 supports gen 4. ( I personally have no idea, since it came with a gen 3 drive, I'm assuming you're right

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/650190/does-nitro-an515-57-support-pcie-gen4-ssd

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/665800/nitro-an515-57-support-pcie-gen4-ssd

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186223#Comment_1186223

No, its wrong, as the AN515-57 does not have PCIe 4 x4 slots, allot have it wrong, just do a CrystalDiskMark test and see the speed as a Gen 4 M.2 is in the 5000+MB/s speds plus range and Gen 3 is up to 3750MB/s max.

If the AN515-57 that you have has PCIe 4 x4 then this is the CrystalDiskMarch benchmark test results that you will get with the WD SN770 Black M.2 SSD drive:

This is the Acer specs of the 512GB & 1TB M.2 SSD drives for the AN515-57 from its Acer SG

KevinTuna

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1186231#Comment_1186231

Thanks for all this detailed information. I'm just going to put the SN770 in the second drive and use the 258gb stock drive to boot off, and nothing else. I don't think boot times would be incredibly different anyways.

Caru_secco

Hey! I am in the same issue here! Could you please clarify a doubt I had about this conversation?

I dont speak fluent english, so it was a bit confusing :)

I have the same lap top model, and looking to buying a gen 4 ssd. So, if I got it right, the second slot is compatible with the gen 4 SN770? It is a gen 4 port?

eGomes

@Caru_secco wrote:
"I have the same lap top model, and looking to buying a gen 4 ssd. So, if I got it right, the second slot is compatible with the gen 4 SN770? It is a gen 4 port?"

Hi,

Commonly, M.2 SSD PCIe Gen 4 are backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3 slots. In some very specific cases, it may be necessary to update the firmware (BIOS / UEFI) or even of the SSD itself, to improve compatibility and support.