Question about an upgrade \ build using an ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero

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Teemsan

Teemsan

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Right now I’m planning an upgrade \ new build. I’d be using my old:

Case: FD Design R4
PSU: EVGA Supernova B2 750W (~ 2yrs use on it)
GPU: XFX R9 390 (3 yrs use on it)
6 HDD’s - or - 5 HDDs and 1 Sata SSD

What I’m looking at adding is:
i7 8700K, and a new motherboard and RAM

RAM I’ll figure out. I definitely want 64 GB (Current 4K editing projects are pushing 32 GB limits on my current rig)

For the motherboard my 1st choice right now is the ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi version)

My needs are 80 % editing \ 20 % light gaming and other mixed use. So my consideration for that board over other Z370’s is a combo of things aside from quality board and decent power phasing, like 6 available SATA ports, 8 USB I/O ports and 4 on case, WiFi, 64 GB memory (*very important), and lastly, but important is the M.2

I’ve read several threads on how the M.2 works on that board but I’m still not 100% on it. My plan would be to fill all 6 SATA (probably 6 HDD’s) and then have an M.2 PCIe based NVMe SSD like the 960 EVO as my boot \ OS drive in slot M.2_1.

If I’m reading the mobo manual correctly it’s saying that when M.2_1 is in PCIe mode (ensuring it’s a PCIe capable device) it will NOT disable a SATA lane. So is this correct? The M.2_1 in PCIe mode would be running at x4 from PCH lanes then?

It's important I'm clear on that as storage is really at a premium for me. (I currently have 32 TB spread over 12 drives) It’d be nice to find a board with 8 SATA ports that tick all the boxes, but correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t see any 8 SATA port boards for these i7 Coffee Lake chips.
 
Solution
faalin
Ok, i have the Samsung 960 M.2 plugged into port M.2_1 as PCIe and have moved all my sata ports around and all 6 of them are working. I do not have a second M.2 plugged into the M.2_2 port.
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faalin

faalin

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I could check my board when i get home (2hrs) and see. I know i have 3 sata drives plugged in along with the 960 m.2 drive, but i think i plugged them in satas ports 2, 3, & 5. If i did ill just move one over to port 0 or 1 and see if it works.
 
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Teemsan

Teemsan

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Thanks, that'd be awesome



Thanks,
I just checked it out on Newegg.ca. The descrip under storage devices says:

* M2_1, SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
* M2_2, SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
* If M2_3 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_3 will be disabled.

By my read that means no matter which one you use, it will disable either one or two depending on which M.2 slot you use.
 
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Teemsan

Teemsan

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I'm in Canada. For me those i9 X series or TR systems are a quantum leap in expense. And not necessarily more appropriate
 
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DRagor

DRagor

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Nope, last slot (_3) will deduct one SATA slot only if you put SATA drive there, but if you put NVMs drive there, there is no deduction. The other two will reduce number of slots no matter what you put in there, true.
 
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Teemsan

Teemsan

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Good one, yes, I believe your right. I just looked further down and saw:

1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_3), supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32Gb/s)**

So based on the first statement about the M.2_3 slot:

* If M2_3 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_3 will be disabled.

Taken together that would imply it has both modes, and the the PCI Express mode is discreet and independent of the SATA mode.

Now does that M.2_3 support booting the OS? I'm gonna dl that boards manual and have a read. It looks really promising. Thanks, +1
 
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Teemsan

Teemsan

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That's awesome faalin, thanks so much for taking the time to check that. Much appreciated.

I've just spent some time pouring over the ASRock Z370 taichi, and it's definitely between that and the ASUS Maximus X Hero. While the ASRock Z370 taichi has 8 SATA (2 are on Asmedia) it only has four USB 3.0 ports, one 3.1 and one type C on the rear I/O. The Hero has 6 SATA, but you do get the additional NVMe SSD for a total of 7 drives, and it has 4 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, and one 3.1 and one type C on the rear I/O.

ASRock seems to have decided that it's more important to have two LAN ports (three in the case of the Z370 Gaming i7) instead of a couple extra USB 3.0 ports. I don't get that but I'm sure there's some logic behind it I'm missing.

It's a coin toss between these two, but I'm leaning into the Asus just because I've never personally gone wrong with the Asus boards.

Are you running Windows (if so which vers), and are you booting off of that Samsung 960 in the M.2_1 port?

EDIT: Also what are you cooling your 8700K with to get 5.0?
 
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faalin

faalin

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Feb 22, 2012
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running windows 10 pro off the M.2 drive, and have to say it boots super quick. Running a cryorig R1 Ultimate but had to swap out the front fan for a slim to clear the ram so could have just gotten the universal but i already had the cryorig slim fan from another build.

Been running ROG boards since the 1st gen intels came and of the 7 ive owned none of them have ever let me down, and the all OC super well

Ive done 5.1Ghz @ 1.36 volts but have since locked all the cores at 4.5Ghz since nothing i do needs that much speed. Im also bottlenecking the CPU at stock speeds by 20% with my GTX 980sc so that also negates the OC as well.
 
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