Cannibalize Laptop's SSD worth it?

warup89 · Oct 17, 2015

Hey guys,

My last job let me keep a Lenovo thinkpad x1 carbon that has the highest specs available. Great laptop but, I think its overpowered. I did found out that it has a Samsung PCIe 512gb ssd, I was thinking of getting an mini PCIe adapter and making this my boot drive on my gaming PC. Is it worth the hassle? as I currently have an 840pro 256gbs.

*Also-
I dont know what else to do to my current system, this would be the last upgrades (if needed) until I re-do the whole machine when it starts lagging on next gen games.

zsolt_93 · Oct 17, 2015

Short answer, no. Long answer nope. You would not feel it just the size will be different. And you need a replacement for the laptop as it does not have any sata slots probably, that is why it has the OP ssd, so you will still have to dish out money.

warup89 · Oct 17, 2015

Hmmm, you might be right about the speed. I highly doubt this laptop has a sata slot. So as you mentioned i would need a replacement PCIe SSd which dont look cheap either.

AsRock · Oct 17, 2015

I would probably sell it my self depending on how much you could get for it secondhand, if i could get enough for a SSD for the PC and a smaller pcie ssd to replace it that is.

jsfitz54 · Oct 17, 2015

See today's Newegg Promo page: http://promotions.newegg.com/neemail/latest/index-landing.aspx

See Samsung 850 Pro drive and M2 EVO drives.

newtekie1 · Oct 17, 2015

The Carbon X1 uses an M.2 drive, but they are SATA based. So speed wise it isn't any faster than a standard SATA drive. Plus, I don't know if you can even use a SATA based M.2 drive in a PCI-E adapter, I believe those adapters only work with PCI-E based M.2 drives.

Edit: It looks like there are M.2 adapters that support SATA, but you have to plug a SATA cable into them from your motherboard. That'd look kind of strange. Still not worth it, IMO.

warup89 · Oct 17, 2015

AsRock said:
I would probably sell it my self depending on how much you could get for it secondhand, if i could get enough for a SSD for the PC and a smaller pcie ssd to replace it that is.

Good Idea, these drives are quiet expensive for what I see, Maybe buy another SSD that my gaming PC has an RAID them, as well as buying a smaller PCIe ssd for the laptop...but Ill i think about it if the gains are worth it.

newtekie1 said:
The Carbon X1 uses an M.2 drive, but they are SATA based. So speed wise it isn't any faster than a standard SATA drive. Plus, I don't know if you can even use a SATA based M.2 drive in a PCI-E adapter, I believe those adapters only work with PCI-E based M.2 drives.

Edit: It looks like there are M.2 adapters that support SATA, but you have to plug a SATA cable into them from your motherboard. That'd look kind of strange. Still not worth it, IMO.

Thank you for the heads up, I just opened the laptop in order to see the exact drive model and it is indeed an PCIe ssd drive as shown bellow:

I guess these drives are only available on the model I have.

newtekie1 · Oct 17, 2015

I guess the next hurtle would be if your motherboard can boot from a PCI-E SSD. Unless you just plan to add it as a storage drive.

You can pop one of these in the laptop: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147397R

warup89 · Oct 17, 2015

That's a great question and now I'm worried, my motherboard was one of the first skt 2011 and hasn't seen an update since it's first launch year (I checked). But I'll research more about it though.

Thanks for the link, I'll be mixing and match parts and see how costs come about.

jsfitz54 · Oct 18, 2015

By your picture of the drive, it is a rebranded Samsung drive. Compare photo of drive here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147425

See "SM951" notation on sticker.

See post #30 here: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/samsung-850-pro-or-evo.211299/page-2

warup89 · Oct 18, 2015

You are right, the more i look into it the more it appears to be the SM951, I just did a crystal mark test and it does write to around 1400MBps which is crazy. I only use my laptop for web and word I think the drive is being waste on it.

eidairaman1 · Oct 18, 2015

well get an adapter for it and try it. Skt 2011/2011-3/Am3+ really don't need that much in upgrades.

warup89 · Oct 18, 2015

im going to look for the most value adapter/ssd replacement.

AsRock · Oct 18, 2015

Just saying, i have a aging Intel 430m in my laptop and some time ago put in a Intel SSD which is sata 2 and it's worked flawlessly in fact been really happy with the performance with the laptop, it boots with in 20 seconds and fully usable.

Hopefully you'll find a good adapter

jsfitz54 · Oct 22, 2015

New review today: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7392/samsung-950-pro-2-pcie-gen-3x4-nvme-ssd-review/index.html

System Name	Iam-a-computah
Processor	i9 9900k @5 Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte Auros z390x
Cooling	Custom water loop, x2 280 radiators
Memory	16gb Corsair Dominator
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 TI FE 11gb WC
Storage	SSD: 256gb Samsung 840pro & HHD: WD black 2T
Display(s)	LG 34" UW screen
Case	EVGA DG-86
Audio Device(s)	Creative x-FI
Power Supply	EVGA super NOVA 1300wtt
Keyboard	G710
Software	W 10

Processor	Intel Core i5 4570
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3
Cooling	Stock
Memory	8GB Kingston ValueRAM CL9 1333MHz DDR3
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTS450OC-1GL
Storage	1TB WD Black + 1.5TB WD Black + Kingston V300 120GB
Display(s)	T200HD
Case	Delux MZ401
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Enermax NAXN 500W
Software	Windows 8 Pro x64

System Name	Iam-a-computah
Processor	i9 9900k @5 Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte Auros z390x
Cooling	Custom water loop, x2 280 radiators
Memory	16gb Corsair Dominator
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 TI FE 11gb WC
Storage	SSD: 256gb Samsung 840pro & HHD: WD black 2T
Display(s)	LG 34" UW screen
Case	EVGA DG-86
Audio Device(s)	Creative x-FI
Power Supply	EVGA super NOVA 1300wtt
Keyboard	G710
Software	W 10

Processor	AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard	ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling	D15
Memory	Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s)	eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage	Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s)	Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case	Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse	Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard	Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores	Meh benchmarks.

Processor	Intel i7 970 // Intel i7 2600K
Motherboard	Asus Rampage III Formula // Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Cooling	Zalman CNPS9900MaxB // Zalman CNPS11X
Memory	GSkill 2133 12GB // Corsair V 2400 32GB
Video Card(s)	ASUS GTX1080 // MSI GTX1070
Storage	Samsung 870EVO // Samsung 840P
Display(s)	HP w2207h
Case	CoolerMaster Stacker 830se // Lian Li PC-9F
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic X 850w Gold // EVGA 850w G2
Mouse	Logitech G502SE HERO, G9
Keyboard	Dell
Software	W10 Pro 22H2

Cannibalize Laptop's SSD worth it?

warup89

zsolt_93

warup89

AsRock

TPU addict

jsfitz54

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

warup89

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

warup89

jsfitz54

warup89

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

warup89

AsRock

TPU addict

jsfitz54

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64