Reference: How to upgrade your old desktop computer to current state of the art NVMe M.2 SSD

[DevTech]

With the constant hype cycle it's easy to forget that the largest jump in performance in many years was the Intel i7 and even the first i7 CPUs still perform nicely today.

 

A more recent performance jump has been M.2 NVMe SSDs and this old product from 2014 can enable the fastest SSD tech on older computers:

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/201748/asus-unveils-hyper-m-2-x4-adapter

 

Step 1. Verify you have a PCIe x 4 slot free on your motherboard. Ususally this will be a second x16 video slot which will work fine for x4.

 

Step 2. Purchase the inexpensive ASUS Hyper M2 X4 card

 

Step 3. Purchase the very expensive Samsung M.2 NVMe 960 Pro

 

Step 4. Plug it in.

 

Step 5. Enjoy state of the art NVMe SSD in an older computer! 

Edited March 28, 2018 by DevTech
added Reference to the title to suggest old thread not get locke

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Been out for awhile, but thanks for the info.

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, Mindovermaster said:

Been out for awhile, but thanks for the info.

But at the time it came out there really wasn't anything you could plug into it and so it sort of vanished into some dusty corner of the internet...

 

With the wide availability of the Samsung 960 Pro, you now have a bottle of greased lightening that makes that card really interesting to turbo-charge old computers!

 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

6 minutes ago, DevTech said:

But at the time it came out there really wasn't anything you could plug into it and so it sort of vanished into some dusty corner of the internet...

 

With the wide availability of the Samsung 960 Pro, you now have a bottle of greased lightening that makes that card really interesting to turbo-charge old computers!

 

Agreed. I doubt the CPU/board can hold out, though... 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

You may also have to install a custom modified firmware for your motherboard in order to add an NVMe option ROM to your UEFI firmware.  Here's one such discussion thread from ASUS' support forum on doing this:  https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?48001-R4E-BIOS-4804-MODDED-EFI-Intel-13-1-0-2126-Download/page1

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky