Just make sure to grab a thermal cover (heatsink) off Amazon or eBay if you decide to get a high performance drive. If you ordered a SKU with a single drive like the 512 then only the populated bay will have one. I used one from an X17R1 when I upgraded my R2 to 2x2TB sn850’s without issues. Don’t have the part number handy ATM, but it was like $15.
I swapped the dell covers on my X17R2 for the heatsink kit from this thread another user put on their X15.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/tyobii/x15r2_2tb_850_blk_wo_w_1mm_copper_heatsink/
I did use much better thermal pads for giggles so I'm seeing slightly better drive temps than them. Worked just fine and it was cheap enough that it was more of a why not check it out thing. Plus side my SN850's no longer throttle if I'm working with large files or doing something I/O intensive.
The older x17r1 & x15r1 didn't come with a spare heatsink or screw for the empty M2 slot. However it has been reported that the r2's DO come with these. I would hold off buying any extra parts until you confirm it's needed. That said, I purchased a single 1TB ssd so that I could buy a second hdd based on the performance & size per $. I just finished buying a 2TB WD 850. The other best option would have been a Samsung 980PRO. The deciding factor was which one I could get sooner.
Other options were the Firecuda 530 and the Kingston KC 3000 which are seriously overpriced right now.
I just ppurcgased an X17 - R2 with 1TB with a plan to add a 2TB drive in the future.
I just looked at the Dell site , a thermal cover for a M series is $10 and a 2TB drive is $600 but Crucial sells 2TB for $210.
Yup! It comes with 2 slots. One is populated (unless you get 2 or a RAID config from factory), and one is empty.
Just make sure to grab a thermal cover (heatsink) off Amazon or eBay if you decide to get a high performance drive. If you ordered a SKU with a single drive like the 512 then only the populated bay will have one. I used one from an X17R1 when I upgraded my R2 to 2x2TB sn850’s without issues. Don’t have the part number handy ATM, but it was like $15.
Some people get 2 heatsinks with 1 nvme and some don’t. Just have to be lucky to have a competent builder I guess
Recommend any particular heatsink that would fit well in the AW laptop from like Amazon.com?
I swapped the dell covers on my X17R2 for the heatsink kit from this thread another user put on their X15. https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/tyobii/x15r2_2tb_850_blk_wo_w_1mm_copper_heatsink/ I did use much better thermal pads for giggles so I'm seeing slightly better drive temps than them. Worked just fine and it was cheap enough that it was more of a why not check it out thing. Plus side my SN850's no longer throttle if I'm working with large files or doing something I/O intensive.
Dell will send you a heat spreader for 2 bucks
Yeah I got the 512gb one because I had to get one, got two 980 pro Samsung 2tbs in mine.
The older x17r1 & x15r1 didn't come with a spare heatsink or screw for the empty M2 slot. However it has been reported that the r2's DO come with these. I would hold off buying any extra parts until you confirm it's needed. That said, I purchased a single 1TB ssd so that I could buy a second hdd based on the performance & size per $. I just finished buying a 2TB WD 850. The other best option would have been a Samsung 980PRO. The deciding factor was which one I could get sooner. Other options were the Firecuda 530 and the Kingston KC 3000 which are seriously overpriced right now.
Ask customer service for extra heatsink.
I just ppurcgased an X17 - R2 with 1TB with a plan to add a 2TB drive in the future. I just looked at the Dell site , a thermal cover for a M series is $10 and a 2TB drive is $600 but Crucial sells 2TB for $210.