cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Can we talk Z170 and NMVE SSDs?

bahamut458
Level 7
Like many, I'm trying to make sense of this new wave of NVME SSDs before selecting the appropriate Asus board. As far as I understand there are two implementations of NVME, the PCIE card (Intel 750) and the M.2 (or U.2?) interface (SM 951). I can't seem to find any clear documentation on what's supported and when the hyperlink (edit: Hyper Kit) dongle is needed.

1) Do all the ROGs support both NVME SSDs through PCIE/M.2 natively? If not how does the hyper kit fit in.
2) Does using an NVME SSD consume a PCIE 3.0 Channel? So if I ever wanted to do Dual video cards down the road I would want to make sure I have at least 3 3.0 lanes?
3) Any other complications/issues/questions I should research? Booting issues?

As always, thanks!
9,864 Views
12 REPLIES 12

Menthol
Level 14
They all need pcie 3.0x4 lanes, they are all pcie, SM951 connects to an M.2 slot 3.0x4, Intel has the pcie variation that connects to a pcie 3.0 slot and uses 4 lane. the U.2 connector uses a cable to connect to the Intel 2.5" variation, still uses pcie 3.0x4 lanes. The Z100 chipset has 20 pcie 3.0 lanes so you may not be using lanes from you CPU, so not owning one yet as there is very limited quantities at the moment, there may be many possibilities for multi GPU's and the newer drives

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
See now here's the thing, I have seen a couple Motherboards from other mfrs state that their E-ATX sized Z170 boards can handle up to 4 way VGA CFX/SLI. Which should be impossible because the mainstream boards are supposed to have less PCIe lanes than the HEDT channel of boards...BUT, I did recently read that PCIe lanes are being fed from PCH...soooo maybe there's now a split in PCIe delivery perhaps? I did see one mfr claim they have 40 PCIe 3 lanes on one of their boards....without one of those SLI chips between slots.

Myk SilentShadow wrote:
See now here's the thing, I have seen a couple Motherboards from other mfrs state that their E-ATX sized Z170 boards can handle up to 4 way VGA CFX/SLI. Which should be impossible because the mainstream boards are supposed to have less PCIe lanes than the HEDT channel of boards...BUT, I did recently read that PCIe lanes are being fed from PCH...soooo maybe there's now a split in PCIe delivery perhaps? I did see one mfr claim they have 40 PCIe 3 lanes on one of their boards....without one of those SLI chips between slots.


The CPU has 16 PCIe lanes. Motherboards can support upto dual card (4 GPU, with 2 2-GPU cards) SLI and 4 card CFX. The only way of getting to 4 card SLI is with a PLEX chip on the motherboard to add extra PCIe lanes, but the bandwidth of the CPU will still be limited to 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

Praz
Level 13
Hello

Those boards are using PLEX chips to increase the PCIe lanes from the CPU. Seems to be a misadventure IMO. A PLEX equipped Z170 board and a 6700K will cost as much or more than a 5820K and a X99 board.

Myk_SilentShado
Level 15
Yeah, you're right. One of the boards here in Aus costs $799 AUD, it's full E-ATX and says it can handle up to 4 way SLI. For that price, I could instead get the RVE and for another 30 Dollars, swap the 6700K for at least a 5820K. I thought the $799 AUD was a placeholder price, but the board is available to buy and I was shocked....it seems 1151 makes X99 a more attractive option, for just a little bit more(depending on board too I guess).

Praz
Level 13
Hello

I'm sure people will purchase these boards but it's hard to imagine a situation where this would be cost effective.

Totally agreed, the whole point of the mainstream channel is it's supposed to be cheaper, not the same price as HEDT. I was surprised when I saw the price of the 6700K retail, online.

Praz
Level 13
Hello

Marketing at its best and some will most likely fall into the trap. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

bahamut458
Level 7
I just wanted to circle back to the original topic for those who find this later.

Z170 boards have 20 PCIE lanes. On the ROG boards there are 3 full size PCIE slots, the top two are connected to the CPU and the bottom is connected to the PCH. If two graphics cards are put in the top two slots, they will default to x8 each instead of x16. NVME SSDs require PCIE 3 x4 (connected to the CPU) to get full bandwidth. Therefore the bottom slot is not ideal.

What this means, and please correct me if my research is off, is there is no way to have a single GPU in full x16 and an NVME SSD connected to CPU PCIe lanes. I realize that x8 is more than enough for modern gen graphics cards but I'm thinking forward to Pascal.