Thinking about the Thinkpad L15 Gen 2 with the AMD R5 5650 PCIe 4 NVME SSD?
Thinking about the Thinkpad L15 Gen 2 with the AMD R5 5650 PCIe 4 NVME SSD?
Some people claimed PCIe offers backward and forward compatibility, yet I noticed limited references about PCIe 4 support on Thinkpad L15. Most problems seem tied to Intel models, so I’m curious if AMD devices face similar issues too. The trouble began when the system tried to recognize PCIe Gen4 as Gen1 and completely missed detecting the SSD.
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
If the slot filling speed of the drive is lower than the one it's using, it will operate at a reduced rate. The available bandwidth lane depends not only on the platform but also on the laptop's motherboard model. Sometimes the board was set up for a slower speed than what the system can handle.
Regarding your laptop's specifications:
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sy...L1...D_Spec.PDF
indicates you can use a single NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 drive. The PCIe x4 detail isn't fully clear from the spec sheet, and the forums linked to Lenovo don’t clarify why PCIe 4.0x4 drives are problematic. I recommend considering a PCIe 3.0 x4 model, such as the Samsung 970 Evo Plus, if you can find one at a lower price.
Before replacing the drives, ensure your laptop has the latest chipset drivers and BIOS updates.