Trying to fully understand the M.2 SSD vs. SATA SSD

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FarmerFran

FarmerFran

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I am getting the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 which has the M.2 ports. I was considering the Samsung 950 Pro in 512GB

BUT!!!

I will be running Dual Video Cards (most likely) CrossFire R9 Fury cards. Will the cards and the SSD fight for bandwidth vs getting a SATA SSD?


I.E. should I get a SATA SSD or a M.2 SSD when running CrossFire and/or SLI ojn a MB due to bus limitations?

Thanks all

 
Solution
T
Google knows it all:

"Here's how the sharing breaks down. A SATA-based SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable SATA port 3 and its accompanying SATA Express port, because they both share the same chipset link. Similarly, if you populate the M2H M.2 slot with a SATA-based SSD, SATA port 0 becomes unusable.

The situation becomes even more complicated with PCIe SSDs. A four-lane PCIe-based SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable all the SATA ports on the bottom row—ports 0 through 3. Enable RAID mode, and you'll lose SATA port 5 and its corresponding SATA Express port, as well. A two-lane PCIe SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable SATA ports 2 and 3 and the SATA Express port they're embedded in. Enable RAID mode...
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popatim

popatim

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The concern is usually with available sata ports. I haven't used that board but typically if you populate the m.2 port then you lose 2 sata ports. You'll have to check your owners manual for the exact details.

The graphics cards get the pcie lanes directly from the cpu. The m.2's get lanes from the chipset; if that helps you to understand.
 
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FarmerFran

FarmerFran

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Oh man... more reading up then... looks like there is PCIe AHCI and PCIe NVMe -- and lots more info pertaining to the above posts.

I get what both of you said and I am looking into looking at the MB spec sheet

Things to note

I can check what slot got to "what lanes"
I only run one other SDD (my current SSD an "old" Crucial SSD) and one other "real old" HDD for storage.
 
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tom_spinach

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Google knows it all:

"Here's how the sharing breaks down. A SATA-based SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable SATA port 3 and its accompanying SATA Express port, because they both share the same chipset link. Similarly, if you populate the M2H M.2 slot with a SATA-based SSD, SATA port 0 becomes unusable.

The situation becomes even more complicated with PCIe SSDs. A four-lane PCIe-based SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable all the SATA ports on the bottom row—ports 0 through 3. Enable RAID mode, and you'll lose SATA port 5 and its corresponding SATA Express port, as well. A two-lane PCIe SSD installed in the M2D M.2 slot will disable SATA ports 2 and 3 and the SATA Express port they're embedded in. Enable RAID mode, and you'll lose those two ports along with SATA port 5 and its corresponding SATA Express port.
"
05-diagram_pcie_routing.gif


In a nutshell, there is no problem for you. Just to note it limits you to use a lot of SSDs, but in your case, with one M.2 and the two disk you have mentioned you are pretty fine.
 
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FarmerFran

FarmerFran

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On this motherboard according to the manual it looks like in AHCI the M2D disables SATA 0, 1, 2 and 3 but 4 and 5 are active. On the M2H all SATA ports are active. Both say 32BG/sec.

Does the M2D have a speed advantage?
 
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dancomputerman

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If you are going to go M.2 I would highly recommend you invest in a PCIE M.2 and not a SATA one. The performance is insanely better. Especially if you are Z170.

I am doing a build now with the ITX version of your board and it will be getting a 950 PRO 512 :)
 
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dancomputerman

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If you board matches the chart above then you would want to install the m.2 in the slot that does not share PCIE lanes with another slot. I think even if you did that you would not notice and issue unless you did some pretty serious video and storage benchmarks at the same time. The chances of you saturating the bus with normal use is slim. With that being said I would install it in the slot that is going to have the best airflow/least heat from other hardware. As these new m.2 drives can generate quite a bit of heat under load.
 
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FarmerFran

FarmerFran

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If you look at this picture... there really is nowhere safer from heat for the m2. Eith port is right next to a video card. I went with the H slot as to not lose SATA ports. The way this MB is wired the H slot uses the 3rd PCIe slot and the D slot is disables a lot of the SATA ports. Just a personal preference.


[/img]http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/2/5481/20150807145721_big.png
 
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FarmerFran

FarmerFran

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I say not safe meaning that you either have the 2 video cards or a video card and the cpu. Yes I have a total of 7 fans in the system the front fan will help as well as the fans from the side.

 
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