M920q vs M920x

Which one has two NVMe slots? The differences that matter for a home server:

M920x has 2 M.2 NVMe slots; M920q has 1. That matters for ZFS mirrors or separating boot and VM storage.

Full spec comparison

Spec	M920q	M920x
Released	2018	2018
CPU generations	8th gen (Coffee Lake) / 9th gen (Coffee Lake Refresh)	8th gen (Coffee Lake) / 9th gen (Coffee Lake Refresh)
Most threads	12	12
Chipset	Q370	Q370
Memory type	DDR4-2666	DDR4-2666
Max RAM (official)	32 GB	32 GB
M.2 NVMe slots	1	2
2.5" bays	1	1
PCIe expansion	PCIe x8 via riser	PCIe (dGPU option)
Onboard NIC	Intel I219-LM	Intel I219-LM
Second NIC option	PCIe x8 card via Lenovo riser (replaces the 2.5" bay)	PCIe 3.0 x8 low-profile slot (Lenovo lists an Intel I350-T4 NIC option; uses the 2.5" bay space)
2.5/10GbE path	10GbE (owner-reported)	10GbE (owner-reported)
AV1 decode	No	No
Transcoding	Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode	Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode
Idle power (measured)	12–15 W at the wall (ServeTheHome, Quad/six-core 8th-gen T-series CPU)	Not measured yet
Spec confidence	Widely confirmed	Widely confirmed

Spec

M920q

M920x

Released

2018

CPU generations

8th gen (Coffee Lake) / 9th gen (Coffee Lake Refresh)

Most threads

Chipset

Q370

Memory type

DDR4-2666

Max RAM (official)

32 GB

M.2 NVMe slots

2.5" bays

PCIe expansion

PCIe x8 via riser

PCIe (dGPU option)

Onboard NIC

Intel I219-LM

Second NIC option

PCIe x8 card via Lenovo riser (replaces the 2.5" bay)

PCIe 3.0 x8 low-profile slot (Lenovo lists an Intel I350-T4 NIC option; uses the 2.5" bay space)

2.5/10GbE path

10GbE (owner-reported)

AV1 decode

Transcoding

Good for 4K HEVC; no AV1 decode

Idle power (measured)

12–15 W at the wall (ServeTheHome, Quad/six-core 8th-gen T-series CPU)

Not measured yet

Spec confidence

Widely confirmed

Which one for which job

M920q

Upgrades: 2× DDR4-2666 SODIMM (max 32 GB official), 1× M.2 2280 NVMe + 1× 2.5" SATA, PCIe x8 card via Lenovo riser (replaces the 2.5" bay).

M920x

Upgrades: 2× DDR4-2666 SODIMM (max 32 GB official), 2× M.2 2280 NVMe + 1× 2.5" SATA, PCIe 3.0 x8 low-profile slot (Lenovo lists an Intel I350-T4 NIC option; uses the 2.5" bay space).

M920q details M920x details

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