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Using a dual 970 evo in a Maximus X will lose some kind of performance?

SamuelFDias
Level 7

‎09-06-2019 02:52 PM - last edited on ‎03-06-2024 07:43 PM by Community Admin

So the question is simple 🙂
I have already one 970 evo 1T and i'm thinking to upgrade the storage to 2T using another 970 evo, but I'm afraid that I lose some performance in for example the GPU...
I use the PC mainly for gaming so SSD performance is a thing but I prefer not losing anything in the GPU and lose something in the SSD.

Can you clarify me in this matter?
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Carlyle2020
Level 10

‎09-07-2019 04:04 AM

Correctly configured within Bios you will only loose Sata1-Port. Nothing else.
The second evo will run on 4 pcie lanes from the z370 chipset.
You will NOT LOOSE 16x GPU connectivitiy .

Bios:
advanced OnBoard Devices Configuration:

PCIE 4_3 set on: 2x (makes room)
M.2_1 set on: pcie mode
M.2_2 set on: 4x

Rgds
Carlyle

hmm. There was something about loosing sata port 5 and 6. THAT one i now am uncertain of. But it's in the manual.
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SamuelFDias
Level 7

‎09-07-2019 05:17 AM

So if I buy a new 970 Evo put it on the slot and configure like that I'll lose only SATA ports... which I don't use at all... is that right? 😄
And most important I'll NOT LOSE any GPU performance right?
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Ch3vr0n
Level 10

‎09-07-2019 07:08 AM

Above info is incorrect. You will NOT lose the use of ANY sata ports. The loss of sata ports only applies when you insert a SATA based M.2 device. This is NOT the case here. I'm using an M11F in combination with a 960 Pro nvme drive, a 970 evo nvme drive and ALL 6 sata ports are occupied (3 optical drives, 3 standard SATA hard drives) and all of them are functioning at full speed. Including my GTX 1080

and i didn't have to make ANY change AT ALL to the bios.
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SamuelFDias
Level 7

‎09-07-2019 07:25 AM

So I can buy a 970 evo and use it in the lower slot and don't lose any ports, GPU speedor anything right?
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Ch3vr0n
Level 10

‎09-07-2019 07:28 AM

What exact model of board do you have. You just say "Maximus X" but that's an entire series of boards. You don't say the exact model, but most likely you will be able to use both drives just fine yes. Since both are NVME, and the sata loss only comes into play with sata based m.2 drives (like the Crucial MX500 for example)
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SamuelFDias
Level 7

‎09-07-2019 07:49 AM

You are right 🙂 this is the exact model
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero (Wi-Fi AC) - (6 x PCIe 3.0, 6 x SATA III, 9 x USB 3.1, HDMI, LGA1151, Intel HD Graphics, DDR4 4133 MHz)
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Ch3vr0n
Level 10

‎09-07-2019 08:11 AM

hmm, looks like the X series might be operating differently from the XI series. From your manual:

page x, storage section: When the M.2_2 Socket 3 is operating in PCIEX4 mode, SATA port 5, 6 will be disabled (bottom slot)

So it looks like @Carlyle2020 was half correct. My apologies carlyle

If you insert that 2nd 970 EVO it should normally run in x4 by default (if it properly detects the 970's capabilities) but you will lose the bottom 2 sata ports, not 1 as he states. Looks like the Z370 chipset is different from the 390 in that regard. You will NOT lose GPU capabilities.

The PCIe slot uses CPU lanes, while the m.2 uses chipset lanes

My M11Formula doesn't have that problem. Both my 960 and 970 run at x4 speed and all sata ports are in use (infact i even had to add a sata-port pci-e addin card to connect the 4th hard drive :p)
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SamuelFDias
Level 7

‎09-11-2019 01:51 PM

I have one question, I bought the 970 EVO and had put it in the 2nd slot 🙂 it detects it but now I'm confused... it will work as a raid 0? because the 2nd SSD is associated to the same disk and I can detect it to create a new one...
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Ch3vr0n
Level 10

‎09-12-2019 08:16 AM

You still have to make the raid array manually through the bios, but there's little point in doing it. 1 970 alone is enough to completely fill the maximum speed throughput the PCI lanes allow.
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