Question about NVMe drive

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

gerdeman6141

Commendable
Nov 18, 2016
14
0
1,520
I just wanted quick clarification. I am planning on getting a Samsung 960 evo SSD and to my knowledge, it uses PCIe x4. I will be getting the ASUS Strix z270f motherboard which has the following ports:
2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)
1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode)
4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1

So if i am correct. I will have 2 x16 ports that can be used for full bandwidth for my GPU or SLI if i ever decide to do that. I will not have to run my GPU as x8. Then i can use the 3rd PCIe slot for the SSD that will be able to utilize the full read and write speed. Am I correct in thinking about it this way or is there some sort of bottleneck with this setup?
 
Solution
Eximo
A complete hardware list would help give a definitive answer. Typically the M.2 slot does disable a pair of SATA ports when in use. However, this board offers two M.2 slots, so that may only occur with the second one. But you'll still have plenty to use for a drive or two.

16x GPU
24x lanes from the PCH
M.2 SSD at 4x

Still leaves 20 PCIe lanes for your third 8x slot (at 4x) all your 1x slots not blocked by the GPU, and anything else that might consume lanes.

Unless you are planning to populate everything in the computer, chances are you'll have more I/O then you need with an ATX board. This is why most gamers can get away with cheaper or smaller motherboards. All you really need is a GPU slot and a SATA port these days.

Sort by date Sort by votes
Eximo

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
May 27, 2010
25,816
4,163
139,340
Not quite.

The x16 slots on the motherboards share up to 16x lanes with direct access to the CPU, so it is either 16x/0x for a single card or 8x/8x for SLI.

The NVMe SSD doesn't go in a PCIe slot, but has a dedicated M.2 slot, it just consumes available PCIe lanes. Those PCIe lanes come from the PCH (chipset)

So potentially I think you can fill all available slots on this system with no issues. You might lose a few SATA ports though, as they also consume PCIe lanes. With the caveat that most 1x slots are blocked by GPUs anyway.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
G

gerdeman6141

Commendable
Nov 18, 2016
14
0
1,520


Ok, so i should still be able to run my GPU as x16 but i may need to sacrifice a couple SATA ports?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Eximo

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
May 27, 2010
25,816
4,163
139,340
A complete hardware list would help give a definitive answer. Typically the M.2 slot does disable a pair of SATA ports when in use. However, this board offers two M.2 slots, so that may only occur with the second one. But you'll still have plenty to use for a drive or two.

16x GPU
24x lanes from the PCH
M.2 SSD at 4x

Still leaves 20 PCIe lanes for your third 8x slot (at 4x) all your 1x slots not blocked by the GPU, and anything else that might consume lanes.

Unless you are planning to populate everything in the computer, chances are you'll have more I/O then you need with an ATX board. This is why most gamers can get away with cheaper or smaller motherboards. All you really need is a GPU slot and a SATA port these days.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom