3 HD's installed G751 Samsung M.2, Evo840 256gb, 750gb Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid

[adamkm]

Hi All

Took delivery of the G751 yesterday, i7 4710, GTX 980, and with 256GB M.2 SSD + 1 TB 7200 rpm drive.

I switched out the 1 TB 7200 drive for a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive, that is now connected to the SataII bay: This drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148837

The M.2 drive Pre-installed is this SSD drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147366

And finally, I stripped down the Samsung Evo out of its 2.5" enclosure and fitted it in the SATAIII bay next to the M.2 drive. It actually fits really nicely there when its stripped down out of its Samsung aesthetics. I used a bit of electrical tape to keep it in place. Not much though, already a nice snug fit. This drive is here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AT2MA3364&cm_re=evo_840-_-20-147-248-_-Product

Nicely, the M.2 which was already the boot drive continued to be so and I didn't have to change a single thing, I simply booted windows and all 3 drives were instantly present. Good stuff 🙂


Now I ran CrystalDiskMark on the 3 drives all same settings (1 after the other of course, not simultaneously) I did 2 iterations with the maximum 4GB file size.

I thought my Samsung 840 Evo was fast in my last machine, but JESUS the speed of these new M.2 drives is DOUBLE. I'm basically posting this so people can compare and see for themselves what they can get out of this.

I don't seem to have had a single issue that anyone else is having with this laptop. It seems amazing. I've spent about 8 hours gaming so far (World of Tanks on maximum graphics) and not noticed any ill effects. Maximum GPU temp I've seen is 68 degrees. I am using a laptop cooler pad, wouldn't ever play without 1 tbh.

From left to right: M.2 drive, Samsung Evo 840, Seagate Momentus XT

[MaxFuse]

could you post a picture of the two hard drives in the m.2 bay?

[Zip1]

Could you also tell us the specific model and who you bought it from (maybe a link)?

[adamkm]

Here's the picture from inside, nothing fancy. The SSD has been taken out of its enclosure and plugged in. They are really tiny when you take em out.

[adamkm]

And another

[Xehanort]

First of all, thank you so much for this thread and the pictures...

This is amazing! I would love to try this on my G751JY, as soon as SSD's reach an acceptable price.

Did you need to remove the M.2 SSD before inserting the Samsung EVO into the SATAIII port? My fear is removing the M.2 SSD, never removed or replace one in my life and this laptop cost me way too much to start taking risks. And all you use is electric tape to fix the EVO drive with the M.2? It's kind of hard to understand how much tape you used from the picture, it looks like you put tape under the EVO drive as well :S

[adamkm]

No it was incredibly easy to be honest. The SSD overlaps the M.2 by about 0.5mm, the chips don't touch. I put a small strip of electrical tape over the very edge of the M.2 where the SSD is near it. SSD doesn't actually touch it, theres a tiny gap, it was just incase. Then I inserted the SSD which is a really nice snug fit so theres no way that is coming loose on its own. I put 2 little strips over the edge of the SSD to stick it a bit to the metal bracket that holds the m.2 and finally 1 long strip over the ssd and touching the m.2 drive although I don't think this piece if necessary but it keeps it in place a little bit.

I did check temps before and after but I didn't write them down, I ran 3D mark11 before and after and there was a 1 degree temperature difference. I game on this a LOT and it performs perfectly 🙂

[adamkm]

Oh to directly answer your question... No you don't need to do anything with the M.2 drive. It just sits there happily... just put a bit of tape along its edge. I think i'm going to cut the last piece of tape over the top of them both down to about half size, its only serving to stop any potential horizontal movement of the SSD but its so snugly fit that it really cant move anyway.

[Xehanort]

Great stuff, thanks for the reply 😄

I was planning on getting a 1TB Samsung EVO...with a 1TB this wouldn't work now, would it? Because i'm sure it would be fairly larger than a 256GB in physical size...

[joshindaphils]

AdamKM,

Original add a SATA SSD along with your M.2 drive thread over here:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?58104-How-to-add-a-4th-drive-to-your-G751&highlight=drive+...

Please add your findings / pics there to consolidate the discussion as well the questions asked here are answered over there already (add 1TB drive etc.).

Congrats on your mod, I've enjoy my extra SSD space as well 😄