[NAME]   - You can certainly install an NVMe SSD in the motherboard slot in the XPS 8930,  clone your existing HDD's image onto the SSD and make it the boot drive without having to reinstall Win 10 and your apps.  Many SSDs come with their own cloning software or you can use Macrium Reflect (free). If you do have an Intel Optane drive in that slot now, you'll have to break the cache before removing the Optane drive and swapping in an SSD. Otherwise, the PC won't boot after the Optane is removed. After you clone the HDD onto the SSD, open the case again and disconnect the SATA data cable from the HDD. Close the case and reboot normally. PC should boot from the new SSD. Assuming PC boots from the SSD, reconnect the SATA data cable to the HDD. Close case and power PC on. Start tapping F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. When the F12 menu opens, look for the option to boot from the SSD on that menu.After PC boots to the desktop from SSD, launch Disk Manager in Win 10 and initialize the HDD. (ALL files will be deleted from the HDD so back up personal files on external media first.)After the HDD is initialized with Disk Manager, restart Windows normally. PC should boot from SSD and the HDD can now be used for storage. If you don't initialize the HDD after cloning the image onto the SSD, the PC will continue to boot from the HDD, not from the SSD. You can search for threads about installing an SSD in the XPS 8930. Samsung and Crucial SSDs are popular choices. After everything is working, you should tell Win 10 to move default folders for docs, pics, music etc onto the HDD to save space on the SSD. The fewer writes to the SSD, the longer it may last...
based on the posts that come up I'm assuming it does but I don't want to make a purchase of that magnitude based on an assumption. this is all new to me (I hadn't noticed I had overlooked the M.2 listing all this time) and an article at pcworld states "simply having an m.2 slot doesn't guarantee NVMe compatibility".  the only complaint I've had about this computer thus far was that I was unable to get a proper SSD due to the pcie slots already being taken up. unaware I had the sata connections and could use those until I was directed to look for them.  when buying the computer a pcie ssd was all that was offered so I had assumed that was what was required / my only option. discovering I may have the requisite m.2. slot has filled me with hope, any and all help is greatly appreciated!
XPS 8930, motherboard M.2 support NVMe?