XPS 8900, used as a Plex Media Server

Question

Bought the Costco special xps 8900 years ago with the I7 6700, 16gb ram and a 1TB HDD 7200 rpm with a NVIDIA 4gb video card.

I have been using this set up for years as a Plex media server (all content stored on external NAS systems. Only in house use, Only 1 user. The OS drive is the 1TB HDD and only about 200 gb of the 1tb used.

I have been reading about upgrades and rather than a new computer my thoughts are to add 32gb ram to the current 16 giving me 48gb ram total. Changing the 1TB HDD to a new 1tb ssd and perhaps just to have it a 2TB ssd extra storage SATA drive in the box.

Here is my question. The system board (according to the specs) has a onboard M2 slot but I've seen so many posts of what SSD would I use and in my case would putting it on board vs just a 1 TB SATA drive to replace the 1tb HDD in the system now? I have not found any specific drives that are compatible for this slot and I obviously don't want to corrupt the Os or programs.

Where can I find more details on what onboard ssd the system accepts... we are running Windows 10 home.

ejn63 · Answer

The system will take any standard M.2 2280 NVMe SSD. The advantage of an M.2 drive over a 2.5" SATA unit is speed (though the system won't support the speed of a PCIe 3X4 SSD, even at the speed the system will support, an M.2 drive will be several times faster than a 2.5' SATA drive).

davidk1952 · Answer

@ejn63​   Thanks for the reply, I  had tried to find the specs on what would work but Dell doesn't really give much specific on it.  I will look up the m.2 2280 ssd and pick one up and see about using that in place of the HDD that is in it.    Thanks for your information... I appreciate it.

davidk1952 · Answer

@ejn63​ Will this ssd work?  https://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-SN580-Internal-Solid/dp/B0C8XMH264/ref=sr_1_3?crid=17GHPD72KN265&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YL9Z5PclqUA3IidomiValVFz3b0xWDWm4l5NHPS64KMHKCwwO3iaB0snpBnWT-LiDKhzzplC4TuHZ7tB1t56pQBoYU4ZFHpAPp_PYjPfjqu2vgwPlrcPzYZVhqN5YQF4AybUVvT_vcyWOQhArAKGFiLvZVLpEBecDtMQTKhD3j0rWy_0WyABOM4eFvLLL4x1ZANeGaHfsoq_eLCKDfYvf8jY3jrdKfH_j3wgN_MoP4M.4qhPzX7yzDdZEfIkCYmKg-QSl5t2RkcA5GEWkWNaQcg&dib_tag=se&keywords=m.2%2B2280&qid=1736389267&sprefix=%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-3&th=1

ejn63 · Answer

Yes, it will.

davidk1952 · Answer

@ejn63​ Well... I found this information on the dell xps 8900 motherboard m.2 spec: Does the XPS 8900 have an M 2 slot? The Dell XPS 8900 does have an NVME M.2 slot. However, according to the spec, it's only got an x1 PCI-e 3.0 lane. Newer motherboards have 4 PCI-e lanes, and the drive is designed to take advantage of the faster throughput.Mar 13, 2020 This means the SSD will only offer a 560 MBPS speed just like the 2.5' sata drive.   With out the higher x4 compatibility going for an NVME doesn't really offer the throughput of a NVME x4

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XPS 8900, used as a Plex Media Server

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