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Upgrading my HP Envy J Series

Hi LTT Forum!

 

So as much as I'm wanting to build a full desktop computer, I'm about to be out of a job and want to just upgrade my old HP Envy to get some work done on it, not necessarily to game.

 

UPDATE: The forum helped me solve the original "mystery slot" problem but now I need some RAM advice for my unit! Please see the last post for the current RAM that's slotted in my unit!

 

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I took it apart and found that the HDD and RAM are easily upgradable, and an empty "M2 x 2.5" slot exists.

 

Now to me that seems like a contradiction of M2 and 2.5 but it also doesn't say M.2... 

 

My question to the forum is what drive slots in this spot that's roughly a quarter of the size of the actual 2.5" HDD that is already in my computer?  

 

Thanks for the replies!

Edited by mattynubbit
Updated the main focus of the topic
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That is likely a slot for a wifi card or something if i am understanding your description properly. Can you take a picture?

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CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

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21 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

That is likely a slot for a wifi card or something if i am understanding your description properly. Can you take a picture?

Hi kelvinhall! 

 

Here is an image of the whole upgrade section of this old boy as well as a close up of the "M2x2.5" area!

 

So would this be able to handle two drives or is a swap of the HDD the only option for me? It looks like the Metal Bracket can come off with two screws so it may populate a full length M.2 drive? Let me know what you think!

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20200520_113308.jpg

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Seems like that could fit an m.2 2242 SSD but the screw arrangement looks weird. How long is the slot?

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SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

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21 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Seems like that could fit an m.2 2242 SSD but the screw arrangement looks weird. How long is the slot?

So I measured it out from the seam of the metal bracket (which I'm still unsure how it comes off, maybe by taking off the entire backplate) and it comes to 100-110mm from the edge of the bracket to the start of the pins. And the width of the socket is roughly 30mm.

20200520_120052.jpg

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20200520_120029.jpg

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7 minutes ago, Selle said:

That looks like a msata slot. 
 

M2x2.5 is the type of screw you have to use

Oh shit, this is a good point lmao.

 

 

Damn, I'm dumb. Yeah. Just toss in an MSATA SSD.

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SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

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11 minutes ago, Selle said:

That looks like a msata slot. 
 

M2x2.5 is the type of screw you have to use

Thank you for the input! Given how expensive mSATA drives are... I think I'll just replace my 2.5" drive with a 2.5" ssd to bring some new life to my system 😅

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7 minutes ago, mattynubbit said:

Thank you for the input! Given how expensive mSATA drives are... I think I'll just replace my 2.5" drive with a 2.5" ssd to bring some new life to my system 😅

mSATA drives aren't that much more expensive than SATA ones. If you want a lot of storage, keep the 2.5" hard drive and just toss in a 128GB mSATA boot drive.

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SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

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1 hour ago, mattynubbit said:

Hi LTT Forum!

 

So as much as I'm wanting to build a full desktop computer, I'm about to be out of a job and want to just upgrade my old HP Envy to get some work done on it, not necessarily to game.

 

I took it apart and found that the HDD and RAM are easily upgradable, and an empty "M2 x 2.5" slot exists.

 

Now to me that seems like a contradiction of M2 and 2.5 but it also doesn't say M.2... 

 

My question to the forum is what drive slots in this spot that's roughly a quarter of the size of the actual 2.5" HDD that is already in my computer?  

 

Thanks for the replies!

Hey forum, now that the mystery slot has been solved, my next aspect is replacing my RAM (picture of my RAM is attached). A quick parts search is saying this is DDR3 RAM, so if I get this G-Skill laptop ram (two of them), would it be plug and play like I'm assuming it would be?

 

Being on a budget I think I'll upgrade the RAM first to get Resolve running faster and keep all my storage in my WD MyBook that I have on my desk already.

20200520_113327.jpg

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32 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

mSATA drives aren't that much more expensive than SATA ones. If you want a lot of storage, keep the 2.5" hard drive and just toss in a 128GB mSATA boot drive.

Hey kelvinhall! 

 

Can you chime in on my RAM question I added to this thread? Thanks in advance for your insight!

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2 minutes ago, mattynubbit said:

Hey kelvinhall! 

 

Can you chime in on my RAM question I added to this thread? Thanks in advance for your insight!

That link you put is DDR3L. Unless you need low voltage RAM (which I doubt), don't get it. Any DDR3 SODIMM should work tho

Quote me to see my reply!

SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

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12 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

That link you put is DDR3L. Unless you need low voltage RAM (which I doubt), don't get it. Any DDR3 SODIMM should work tho

Thanks for the input! 

 

Would these small sticks that are in my laptop be 204-pin sticks or 240-pin sticks?

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7 minutes ago, mattynubbit said:

Thanks for the input! 

 

Would these small sticks that are in my laptop be 204-pin sticks or 240-pin sticks?

DDR3 SODIMM is 204 pins.

Quote me to see my reply!

SPECS:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X Motherboard: MSI B450-A Pro Max RAM: 32GB I forget GPU: MSI Vega 56 Storage: 256GB NVMe boot, 512GB Samsung 850 Pro, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue HDD PSU: Inwin P85 850w Case: Fractal Design Define C Cooling: Stock for CPU, be quiet! case fans, Morpheus Vega w/ be quiet! Pure Wings 2 for GPU Monitor: 3x Thinkvision P24Q on a Steelcase Eyesite triple monitor stand Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 Keyboard: Focus FK-9000 (heavily modded) Mousepad: Aliexpress cat special Headphones:  Sennheiser HD598SE and Sony Linkbuds

 

🏳️‍🌈

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