I just noticed that my graphic card is running at x8. Upon reading the motherboard's manual again, it seems that if two m.2 drives are installed, the graphic card runs at x8. And judging by the BIOS setting, there is no way to run only one m.2 drive without degrading the graphic card's performance. My question is
1. Since the Intel core i9 11900K has direct 20 PCIE lanes, if I install at least one m.2 drive, will the motherboard run the graphic card at x16? The manual is not clear about it.
2. One of the reasons I bought the expensive motherboard is the ability to run multiple m.2 drives without losing the graphic card performance. The motherboard's specification claims that it supports 5 m.2 drives but I don't see it can even run one without any compromises. Is there any other way to use at least one m.2 drive, where I installed the operating system, without going down to x8?
I can probably use the provided DIMM card to use the other NVME but I would like to know that I am not mistaken
Edit: Sorry about the upside down images. I tried to upload it both way and images is still attached upside down. Here is the motherboard's manual if someone is interested.
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1200/ROG_MAXIMUS_XIII_EXTREME/E17684_ROG_MAXIMUS_XIII_EXTRE...