PCIe lanes and storage

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Menkes

Menkes

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Hello everyone, I have a slight issue with my current build.

I have an Intel 750 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x4), a Samsung 850 m.2 (SATA) and various HDD/SSD drive connected via regular SATA cables.

My rig also has a dedicated GPU that I want to keep at x16 at all times on a z170 Intel chipset.

Is this even possible? I have seen some reviews saying that the NVMe is connected to lanes on the chipset while the GPU is using lanes on the CPU directly. Is this correct?

My NVMe drive seems to not function in it's fullest capacity, hence why I am asking this question, it shows up on CrystalDisk at 50% of its full potential.
 
Solution
atomicWAR
Also running your GPU on an 8x link really doesn't slow it down. I wouldn't worry if I were you. It has been tested again and again and you lose like 1-5% of your performance even using a 4x PCIe 3.0 link (PCIe 2.0 8X equivalent bandwidth) and PCI 2.0 16X link (which is equal to PCIe 3.0 8X) scores nearly the same as PCIe 3.0 16X

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/pci-express-3-0-vs-2-0-gaming-performance-gain/4/
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Menkes

Menkes

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I currently own an Asus Maximus Hero 8 z170 (which I dislike very much) and considering getting a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7 z270 depending on weather it will solve this issue or not.

I cannot afford to upgrade to a x99/x299 chipset yet sadly.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Does your current setup only run in 8x mode with your m.2 installed because the way they listed it I would think you would be getting 16X and 4X from the PCH. As for the Gigabyte board...I believe running the primary m.2 slot (M2M_32G) is pulling from the PCH while the secondary (M2P_32G) is pulling from the third PCIe 16X at 4X slot. But I don't want to say for certain everything will be ok. I'd email their tech support and get an answer directly from them.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Also running your GPU on an 8x link really doesn't slow it down. I wouldn't worry if I were you. It has been tested again and again and you lose like 1-5% of your performance even using a 4x PCIe 3.0 link (PCIe 2.0 8X equivalent bandwidth) and PCI 2.0 16X link (which is equal to PCIe 3.0 8X) scores nearly the same as PCIe 3.0 16X

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/pci-express-3-0-vs-2-0-gaming-performance-gain/4/
 
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Solution
atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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When M.2 is in SATA mode it can use PCIe or it can use a SATA HSIO lane. It depends on the motherboard, usually if it uses an HSIO lane it kills a SATA port on the board. Regardless in theory if you used all your storage at once, with your gigabyte port you could bottleneck the PCH. This is one reason some fols do use the HEDT systems. They have more PCIe/HSIO lanes to use.
 
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Menkes

Menkes

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Oh, I see. So it's up to the motherboard manufacturer to decide or is it a setting we can toggle? I would much rather it will disable a SATA port rather than use a PCIe lane.

I only do need 2 SATA ports anyway
 
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