any reasons to have ultra m.2 instead of m.2 for z370 chipset?

[boloyeung826]

Hi,

It seems that m.2 and ultra m.2 have both the same speed. I do understand that it was beneficial to connect directly ultra m.2 sockets to CPU. The drawback here is that it will consume 4 pcie lanes that are used for GPU X16. So now it does not make any sence to do so because m.2 uses pcie lanes from chipset and will not cause any issues with GPU. For me bandwidth is a really important because I am using GPU for computations. I know that for games it will not make a huge difference running gpu in either X8 or X16 mode though. I have read quite a lot of posts in this forum suggesting to stay away from Asrock if performance of GPU really matters. I am just wondering why Asrock continues to use old ultra m.2 sockets in their new motherboards. I understand that it was their inovative solution for the problem. Anyway for me it was a dealbreaker so I decided to go with another vendor.

 

[rocktalkrock]

Ultra M.2 is exactly the same as M.2. Ultra M.2 is just a marketing name ASRock uses to differentiate a full 32/Gbps M.2 socket vs the older 10/Gbps M.2 sockets first used on Z97 motherboards. Other motherboard makers label all M.2 sockets the same, whether they are the faster 32/Gbps or slower 10/Gbps.

Ultra M.2 = 32/Gbps
M.2 = 10/Gbps

 

[boloyeung826]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

 

[rocktalkrock]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

That article was published three and a half years ago and talks about an ASRock Z97 motherboard. If you look at Wikipedia's detailed explanation of the M.2 form factor, you will see no mention of "Ultra M.2". As i said before it's just an ASRock marketing term. For the "PCI Express" and "SATA" bandwidth specifications of any M.2 socket, just look closely at the detailed "Storage Specifications" the manufacturer lists for each motherboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

 

[boloyeung826]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

That article was published three and a half years ago and talks about an ASRock Z97 motherboard. If you look at Wikipedia's detailed explanation of the M.2 form factor, you will see no mention of "Ultra M.2". As i said before it's just an ASRock marketing term. For the "PCI Express" and "SATA" bandwidth specifications of any M.2 socket, just look closely at the detailed "Storage Specifications" the manufacturer lists for each motherboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

Thanks for your answer. I have tried really hard to find at least something about ultra m.2 All sources say that it is inovative technology for Asrock motherboards that connects m.2 to CPU without going to the chipset. Well if ultra m.2 is exactly the same thing with m.2 for z370 chipset (doesn't affect GPU PCIE lanes) then I just don't understand this marketing strategy. I cannot imagine people will buy something without asking what ultra really means and why it is there. Is it just u.2??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.2 So you don't need an adapter for m.2 So confusing!

 

[rocktalkrock]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

That article was published three and a half years ago and talks about an ASRock Z97 motherboard. If you look at Wikipedia's detailed explanation of the M.2 form factor, you will see no mention of "Ultra M.2". As i said before it's just an ASRock marketing term. For the "PCI Express" and "SATA" bandwidth specifications of any M.2 socket, just look closely at the detailed "Storage Specifications" the manufacturer lists for each motherboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

Thanks for your answer. I have tried really hard to find at least something about ultra m.2 All sources say that it is inovative technology for Asrock motherboards that connects m.2 to CPU without going to the chipset. Well if ultra m.2 is exactly the same thing with m.2 for z370 chipset (doesn't affect GPU PCIE lanes) then I just don't understand this marketing strategy. I cannot imagine people will buy something without asking what ultra really means and why it is there. Is it just u.2??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.2 So you don't need an adapter for m.2 So confusing!

It made more sense when M.2 was first introduced and there were many motherboards with 10/Gbps M.2 sockets. ASRock wanted customers to recognize the difference between a faster 32/Gbps M.2 socket, and a slower 10/Gbps M.2 socket. That's not as important today since most M.2 sockets are 32/Gbps, but some motherboards will have a 2nd slower 16/Gbps M.2 socket. The motherboard makers are just trying to allocate the chipsets available PCI Express lanes, along with the available SATA ports, the best way they can.

 

[rballan8]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

That article was published three and a half years ago and talks about an ASRock Z97 motherboard. If you look at Wikipedia's detailed explanation of the M.2 form factor, you will see no mention of "Ultra M.2". As i said before it's just an ASRock marketing term. For the "PCI Express" and "SATA" bandwidth specifications of any M.2 socket, just look closely at the detailed "Storage Specifications" the manufacturer lists for each motherboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

Thanks for your answer. I have tried really hard to find at least something about ultra m.2 All sources say that it is inovative technology for Asrock motherboards that connects m.2 to CPU without going to the chipset. Well if ultra m.2 is exactly the same thing with m.2 for z370 chipset (doesn't affect GPU PCIE lanes) then I just don't understand this marketing strategy. I cannot imagine people will buy something without asking what ultra really means and why it is there. Is it just u.2??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.2 So you don't need an adapter for m.2 So confusing!

It made more sense when M.2 was first introduced and there were many motherboards with 10/Gbps M.2 sockets. ASRock wanted customers to recognize the difference between a faster 32/Gbps M.2 socket, and a slower 10/Gbps M.2 socket. That's not as important today since most M.2 sockets are 32/Gbps, but some motherboards will have a 2nd slower 16/Gbps M.2 socket. The motherboard makers are just trying to allocate the chipsets available PCI Express lanes, along with the available SATA ports, the best way they can.

The earlier routing traded off increased M.2 speed for GPU speed and ASRock Marketing sexed up the connection label from "32Gb/s" to "Ultra". I get that. What I don't understand is whether the old trade-off still exists and there is still a GPU penalty for using say, an X370 Killer board with the Ultra M.2.

 

[rocktalkrock]

But why is it still connected directly to CPU as described here: https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/anton-shilov/asrock-doubles-bandwidth-of-m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/ ???? With newer intel chipsets (e.g. z370) it is not needed anymore because m.2 is just as fast as ultra m.2 Also m.2 doesn't affect GPU. At the same time it is not possible to use GPU in X16 mode and ultra m.2 in Asrock motherboards.

That article was published three and a half years ago and talks about an ASRock Z97 motherboard. If you look at Wikipedia's detailed explanation of the M.2 form factor, you will see no mention of "Ultra M.2". As i said before it's just an ASRock marketing term. For the "PCI Express" and "SATA" bandwidth specifications of any M.2 socket, just look closely at the detailed "Storage Specifications" the manufacturer lists for each motherboard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

Thanks for your answer. I have tried really hard to find at least something about ultra m.2 All sources say that it is inovative technology for Asrock motherboards that connects m.2 to CPU without going to the chipset. Well if ultra m.2 is exactly the same thing with m.2 for z370 chipset (doesn't affect GPU PCIE lanes) then I just don't understand this marketing strategy. I cannot imagine people will buy something without asking what ultra really means and why it is there. Is it just u.2??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.2 So you don't need an adapter for m.2 So confusing!

It made more sense when M.2 was first introduced and there were many motherboards with 10/Gbps M.2 sockets. ASRock wanted customers to recognize the difference between a faster 32/Gbps M.2 socket, and a slower 10/Gbps M.2 socket. That's not as important today since most M.2 sockets are 32/Gbps, but some motherboards will have a 2nd slower 16/Gbps M.2 socket. The motherboard makers are just trying to allocate the chipsets available PCI Express lanes, along with the available SATA ports, the best way they can.

The earlier routing traded off increased M.2 speed for GPU speed and ASRock Marketing sexed up the connection label from "32Gb/s" to "Ultra". I get that. What I don't understand is whether the old trade-off still exists and there is still a GPU penalty for using say, an X370 Killer board with the Ultra M.2.

No, there is no penalty using an ASRock board with an Ultra M.2 socket. The PCIe x16 slot still runs at "PCI Express 3.0 x16", just like Asus or Gigabyte.

* ASRock X370 Killer SLI *
Slots:
- 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots
- 4 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots

Storage:
- 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors
- 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket - PCIe Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) or SATA3 6.0 Gb/s
- 1 x M.2 Socket - PCIe Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s) or SATA3 6.0 Gb/s


PCIe slots:
PCIE1 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.
PCIE2 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x16 lane width graphics cards.
PCIE3 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.
PCIE4 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot) is used for PCI Express x8 lane width graphics cards.
PCIE5 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.
PCIE6 (PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) is used for PCI Express x1 lane width cards.