Help me understand PCI-E channel limitations and sharing on Z97-Pro Mobo

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alexb75

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I have a Asus Z97-Pro with Intel i7-4790 CPU. I just bought GTX 1070 GPU, and I am now confused as to how the PCI-E channels will be shares between SATA, m.2 PCI-E, GPU, USB, etc... and HOW to set it up properly?

Here's what I wanna use at minimum:

1. GTX 1070 (PCI-E x16)
2. m.2 SSD (PCI-E x2)
3. SATA SSD
4. 2 x SATA HDD
5. AC Wifi Card (PCI-E ... not sure how many channels)
6. 2 x USB 3.0 ports
7. 2 x USB 2.0 ports

Now, do I have ENOUGH channels for all of these? or will some be shared? If so, how do I make sure MAX performance is applied to GPU, m.2 SSD, and my SATA drives!

Thanks
 
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amtseung
You should read your motherboard manual or talk to ASUS directly. I wouldn't know from personal experience, since I have an MSI motherboard. Different manufacturers implement that PCIe-slots-taking-away-from-SATA-ports and vice versa thing differently.

I'd say motherboard first. Actually, from...
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alexb75

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Yes, I just don't understand if using all of those channels will limit any performance! Here are some screenshots of manual.

Asus_mobo.PNG

Asus_PCI.PNG

Asus_PCI-2.PNG

Asus_SATA.PNG

m2.PNG
 
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alexb75

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Let me put it this way, I will have the following devices connected, how to best connect them to builtin-SATA vs. ASM (3rd party SATA) vs. PCI-E.

1. Bluray SATA
2. m2 SSD
3. SATA SSD
4. HDD SATA
5. HDD SATA
6. 1070 GTX GPU PCI-E 16x
7. FUTURE: Second 1070 GTX GPU PCI-E

Based on my understanding, I will run out of bandwidth with all of these.
 
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amtseung

amtseung

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PCIe wifi cards are usually 1x.
Sata and PCIe are generally two different things sharing the same bus bandwidth since it's chipset-controlled.
The CPU itself has 16 3rd gen lanes. the Z97 chipset has 8 2nd gen lanes. If you want a second GTX1070 in SLI, you're already going to have to run them x8/x8. If your m.2 SSD is PCIe, then it'll probably occupy 2 or 4 lanes out of 8 from the chipset, depending on model. With an additional 3 SATA drives and the wifi card, I think you've just about maxed it out. Either that Bluray disc drive has to go, or something else has to give.

Usually, when someone wants this much bus bandwidth and connectivity options, they go to the enthusiast platforms like the Intel X-series.
 
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alexb75

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Thanks! That's what I was looking for, so are you saying that "in total", I have 24 lanes? 16 lanes on CPU and 8 lanes on motherboard? Does that mean that I need to rely on the 3rd party SATA chipset (ASMedia) for the other drives if I added the 2nd GPU? I believe if you added the 2nd GPU, you lose SATA 5/6.

Even if I don't add the 2nd GPU, is it better to connect the HDDs to the ASMedia SATA connectors instead of motherboard ones?
 
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amtseung

amtseung

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You should read your motherboard manual or talk to ASUS directly. I wouldn't know from personal experience, since I have an MSI motherboard. Different manufacturers implement that PCIe-slots-taking-away-from-SATA-ports and vice versa thing differently.

I'd say motherboard first. Actually, from some quick googling, I'm pretty sure this ASMedia thing is the chipset, or an extension of the chipset. I'm not sure. I hope someone else can clarify.

If you find yourself running out of connectivity/bandwidth, you could always switch to using an external USB disc reader/drive, and a USB 3 external HDD enclosure. Why are there two HDD's? Are they in RAID or something? I feel like there are also things that can be done to consolidate your storage situation without sacrificing much performance, which should in turn ease this situation.
 
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