PugDog

thanks again, makes sense so for using a standard hdd like the ironwolf 10tb nas drives, assuming their advertised 214 MB/s speed, technically a pciex1 sata card should be able to handle up to 4 (almost 5) of these drives without bottlenecking, and a pciex4 should be able to handle 16-20 of them? and if i use a SATA card i would get full duplex, wheras using a sas card with sata breakout cables i would only get half duplex on the sata drives? sounds like moving the soundcard daughterboard, putting that pciex4 6 port sata card (im not seeing anything with more, definitely not near 16) is probably my best bet for my goals and my current system, right?

makes sense, thanks! i will try to move the DBpro board to the slot above the soundcard, and hopefully that will give me access to the x4 slot would there be any real difference in using a 6 port sata expander card like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7V53ZC?pf_rd_p=183f5289-9dc0-416f-942e-e8f213ef368b&pf_rd_r=EP4S33Y7K6YQ8TMBWM9T https://www.newegg.com/p/17Z-00PR-00JX8?Description=pcie sata 6 port&cm_re=pcie_sata_6_port-_-9SIAKWW9VS4478-_-Product vs a SAS card like these? https://www.amazon.com/SAS9211-8I-8PORT-Int-Sata-Pcie/dp/B002RL8I7M/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=sas+card&qid=1566292088&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&s=gateway&sr=8-3 https://www.amazon.com/Crest-Non-RAID-Controller-Supports-FreeNAS/dp/B07NFRXQHC/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=sas+card&qid=1566292088&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&s=gateway&sr=8-9 i read something about half vs full duplex. also seems like some sata cards only use pcie x1 wheras others use pcie x4. im not sure how much that will matter, especially since i plan to be using standard HDDs (not SSDs), such as the 8 and 10 tb WD Reds and Ironwolf NAS drives which route do you think makes the most sense based on my usage, hardware, etc?

thanks for your patience, you are my hero so just to make sure i didnt misinterpret you somehow: i should probably leave the 2080 where it is, leave the x8 slot unpopulated, and get a pcie riser cable (would that be a x16 cable?) which i would put in the x4 slot, and run it over my sound card to use that spot above the x8 slot between my gpu and sound card? if so, is there anything special i would need to do to secure the end of the riser cable above the existing x8 port and prevent anything shorting out? or am i confused about how riser cables work.. OR find a longer DBPro cable to connect the smaller part of my sound card in a different spot, so that i could access the x4 slot to use a sata or sas card?

Thanks a bunch! the ASmedia controller only has 2 sata ports right? i think when i tried to use them before, it only worked on 1 of the asmedia ports, which confused me that helps a bunch! so just to be clear, are you saying if i use the M2D slot i lose ports 0-3, but if i used M2H instead i would be able to use all the sata ports but not the PCIeX4 slot? also, since i currently am using M2D and have nothing in M2H, i could add a SAS card or SATA card to that x4 slot and have an additional 6-8 sata without bottlenecking? also, seems like i will have trouble getting an additional sas/sata card to fit with my current positioning of the triple wide GPU and double wide sound card.. is there any downside to moving the GPU to the 2nd slot so that i can access the top x1 for the sound card and the bottom x4 for a SAS/Sata card? i greatly appreciate yalls help! please let me know if it sounds like i have anything confused.. thanks!

Hi, i am really confused by "lanes". i am trying to figure out how many HDDs i can run on my workstation. Here is my current build: Gigabyte Gaming 7 z170 motherboard (here is the manual, i think page 32 addresses part of my question but im not sure http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z170x-gaming7_e.pdf ) here is a pic of the layouthttps://images.anandtech.com/doci/9485/GA-Z170X-Gaming%207-Rev10.jpg i7 6700k CPU RTX 2080 (in the first GPU slot) Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe (in first m2 slot) 3 SATA HDDs set up, like this https://m.imgur.com/a/96JgT1V i have a soundblaster ZXR card in the PCIEX1_3 slot ( https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audiophile-Performance-Headphone/dp/B00AQ5PK6I ) my questions: is my current configuration bottlenecking anything? apparently depending on how i hook it up it can cause things to run at x4 rather than x8 right? can i use anymore of the onboard SATA ports (without bottlenecking anything)? seems like they are all disabled because of the M.2 drive Is there anything i could do to add more SATA HDD support without bottlenecking anything? possibly a SAS or sata expander card? would i need to add it to aparticular slot to prevent bottlenecking? here is how i have the ZXR and 2080 cards on the board currently https://imgur.com/a/ZFZuTyf i really appreciate any advice/help figuring this out! i would love to add more internal storage asap but not at the expense of performance