Original Specifications<\/font><\/font><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\n
As originally configured, this machine had an 8th generation Intel Core i7-8565U<\/a> (4C\/8T) \u201cWhiskey Lake\u201d processor with a base clock speed of 1.80 GHz, a max turbo frequency of 4.60 GHz, and an 8 MB L3 cache. It had one 16 GB stick of DDR4-2666 MHz RAM (with one empty slot), which meant the memory was operating in single-channel mode instead of dual channel mode. For storage, it had a 128 GB SK Hynix BC501 M.2 PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe drive for the operating system, and a 1TB Seagate ST1000LM035-1RK172<\/a> 5400 rpm SATA hard drive for extra storage.<\/font><\/p>\nThese general specifications are a pretty big improvement over a mainstream business laptop from a few years ago. It used to be that machines in this price range would have a 2C\/4T processor and a single 2.5\u201d SATA drive bay, probably with a conventional hard drive. Having a 4C\/8T processor and two drive bays, one being M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe, makes a big difference!<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\nInitial Storage Benchmarks<\/font><\/font><\/h2>\nI wanted to confirm that the machine wasn\u2019t DOA from Dell, so I unboxed it and plugged it in. Everything worked fine out of the box, so I collected some quick CrystalDiskMark results on the two OEM drives. First was the 128GB SK Hynix M.2 PCIe NVMe boot drive. As you can see below, this is quite miserable performance for an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.<\/font><\/p>\n\nSequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1585.788 MB\/s
\nSequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 287.443 MB\/s
\nRandom Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 277.594 MB\/s [67772.0 IOPS]
\nRandom Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 255.548 MB\/s [62389.6 IOPS]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nKeep in mind that this is a M.2 2230 form factor drive that also only supports two PCIe 3.0 lanes, rather than the four PCIe 3.0 lanes that most M.2 PCIe NVMe drives support. This limits its sequential bandwidth to about 1600 MB\/second. It is also a very small capacity drive, which further limits its performance because there are fewer NAND cells than in a larger capacity drive. You really should try to stay away from NAND SSDs that are smaller than 500 GB in size.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\nJust for comparison, here are the same CrystalDiskMark results for the 1TB Seagate ST1000LM035-1RK172 5400 rpm SATA hard drive that came in the system. Even with a 128 MB cache, these are not impressive results for a laptop hard drive. They are probably better than than the hard drives in many existing laptops, but really, using a conventional magnetic hard drive in a laptop is just a miserable experience that I would avoid unless you have no financial alternative.<\/font><\/p>\n\nSequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 139.031 MB\/s
\nSequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 133.234 MB\/s
\nRandom Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1.162 MB\/s [283.7 IOPS]
\nRandom Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1.246 MB\/s [304.2 IOPS]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nOpening Up the Beast<\/font><\/font><\/h2>\nOnce I was done with this initial storage testing, it was time to open up the machine to make some improvements. Working with laptops for hardware modifications can be anywhere from easy to fairly difficult. Some \u201cUltrabook\u201d style machines are virtually impossible to work on, with non-replaceable components or components that are soldered in place. Just getting them opened without breaking or damaging anything can sometimes be pretty challenging. I recommend that you download the service manual for your machine before you even buy it to make sure you understand what you will be dealing with. I also recommend having proper tools from IFixit.com<\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\nI would rate the difficulty of opening up the Dell Inspiron 5480 as medium. There are three captive phillips screws, and seven removeable phillips screws that must be loosened or removed from the base. After that comes the fun part of getting the plastic base to pop off without breaking anything or damaging the plastic surface. IFixit has a number of \u201cprying and opening tools<\/a>\u201d that are made of carbon fiber or plastic, so you can open things like this without damaging them.<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\n![\"DSC01361\"](\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/glenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/dsc01361_thumb.jpg\" "\\"DSC01361\\"")
<\/a><\/font><\/p>\nFigure 1: Inside of Dell Inspiron 5480 with OEM Drives<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\n![\"DSC01363\"](\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/glenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/dsc01363_thumb.jpg\" "\\"DSC01363\\"")
<\/a><\/font><\/p>\nFigure 2: Inside of Dell Inspiron 5480 with Samsung 970 EVO Plus<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\nAfter opening up the case, I added a 16GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM that I had purchased for $64.99 at Micro Center. Next, I removed both OEM drives, and I installed the 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus<\/a> M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe drive. I had to move a small retaining clip to a different position because the new drive used the longer 2280 form factor (which means it is 80mm long rather than 30mm long). I purposely did not install the 1TB Samsung 860 EVO<\/a> SATA SSD at this time, because I was going to be installing a fresh copy of Windows 10. In my experience, Windows 10 will sometimes (without asking) install some things on a second drive if it is present during the initial installation, so I always have just a single physical or logical drive present at this point.<\/font><\/p>\n
These general specifications are a pretty big improvement over a mainstream business laptop from a few years ago. It used to be that machines in this price range would have a 2C\/4T processor and a single 2.5\u201d SATA drive bay, probably with a conventional hard drive. Having a 4C\/8T processor and two drive bays, one being M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe, makes a big difference!<\/font><\/p>\n I wanted to confirm that the machine wasn\u2019t DOA from Dell, so I unboxed it and plugged it in. Everything worked fine out of the box, so I collected some quick CrystalDiskMark results on the two OEM drives. First was the 128GB SK Hynix M.2 PCIe NVMe boot drive. As you can see below, this is quite miserable performance for an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.<\/font><\/p>\n Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1585.788 MB\/s Keep in mind that this is a M.2 2230 form factor drive that also only supports two PCIe 3.0 lanes, rather than the four PCIe 3.0 lanes that most M.2 PCIe NVMe drives support. This limits its sequential bandwidth to about 1600 MB\/second. It is also a very small capacity drive, which further limits its performance because there are fewer NAND cells than in a larger capacity drive. You really should try to stay away from NAND SSDs that are smaller than 500 GB in size.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n Just for comparison, here are the same CrystalDiskMark results for the 1TB Seagate ST1000LM035-1RK172 5400 rpm SATA hard drive that came in the system. Even with a 128 MB cache, these are not impressive results for a laptop hard drive. They are probably better than than the hard drives in many existing laptops, but really, using a conventional magnetic hard drive in a laptop is just a miserable experience that I would avoid unless you have no financial alternative.<\/font><\/p>\n Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 139.031 MB\/s Once I was done with this initial storage testing, it was time to open up the machine to make some improvements. Working with laptops for hardware modifications can be anywhere from easy to fairly difficult. Some \u201cUltrabook\u201d style machines are virtually impossible to work on, with non-replaceable components or components that are soldered in place. Just getting them opened without breaking or damaging anything can sometimes be pretty challenging. I recommend that you download the service manual for your machine before you even buy it to make sure you understand what you will be dealing with. I also recommend having proper tools from IFixit.com<\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\n I would rate the difficulty of opening up the Dell Inspiron 5480 as medium. There are three captive phillips screws, and seven removeable phillips screws that must be loosened or removed from the base. After that comes the fun part of getting the plastic base to pop off without breaking anything or damaging the plastic surface. IFixit has a number of \u201cprying and opening tools<\/a>\u201d that are made of carbon fiber or plastic, so you can open things like this without damaging them.<\/font><\/p>\n Figure 1: Inside of Dell Inspiron 5480 with OEM Drives<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n Figure 2: Inside of Dell Inspiron 5480 with Samsung 970 EVO Plus<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n After opening up the case, I added a 16GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM that I had purchased for $64.99 at Micro Center. Next, I removed both OEM drives, and I installed the 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus<\/a> M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe drive. I had to move a small retaining clip to a different position because the new drive used the longer 2280 form factor (which means it is 80mm long rather than 30mm long). I purposely did not install the 1TB Samsung 860 EVO<\/a> SATA SSD at this time, because I was going to be installing a fresh copy of Windows 10. In my experience, Windows 10 will sometimes (without asking) install some things on a second drive if it is present during the initial installation, so I always have just a single physical or logical drive present at this point.<\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/p>\nInitial Storage Benchmarks<\/font><\/font><\/h2>\n
\n
\nSequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 287.443 MB\/s
\nRandom Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 277.594 MB\/s [67772.0 IOPS]
\nRandom Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 255.548 MB\/s [62389.6 IOPS]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\nSequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 133.234 MB\/s
\nRandom Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1.162 MB\/s [283.7 IOPS]
\nRandom Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1.246 MB\/s [304.2 IOPS]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nOpening Up the Beast<\/font><\/font><\/h2>\n
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![\"DSC01365\"](\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/glenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/dsc01365_thumb.jpg\" "\\"DSC01365\\"")
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