Motherboard with 2x M.2 PCIe 3.1+ x4 slots?

[L. f]

Right! So I'm currently picking parts for my first ever gaming PC. For me, loading times are one of the most crucial part of the experience, so I decided to go for SSD only. Therefore, I picked a Sabrent Rocket NVMe SSD with its beautiful 3450 MB/s read and 3000MB/s write to go along with my Ryzen 5 3600 and graphics card (that's not quite fixed yet, depending on the cyber monday prices somewhere from RTX 2060 Super to RTX 2070 Super). But here's the issue: I'd like 2TB of storage, the Sabrent Rocket 1TB is available for about 120€, the Sabrent Rocket 2TB for about 300€. So to save money and help dissipate heat better, I've decided to buy 2x Sabrent Rocket 1TB rather than 1x Sabrent Rocket 2TB. Now that's all perfect, but in case Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals are not as good as I hope, I need to save some money so I can still afford a good graphics card. Currently, I picked a Gigabyte X570 Gaming X which has 2 M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots (if my datasheet is indeed correct). I now need an alternative AM4 motherboard that features 2x M.2 PCIe 3.1 (or newer) x4 slots. Does anyone know an affordable and good choice? Is this even a good idea in the first place? Last of all, do M.2 SSDs require cooling or is the airflow of the Fractal Design Meshify C case enough? Ask anything you need to know!

Greetings,

L. F.

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, L. f said:

PCIe 3.1

This doesn't exist, the only PCIe standard that doesnt end with a 0 is PCIe 1.1

 

3 minutes ago, L. f said:

Sabrent Rocket

Some sad users have found their Rockets coming with PCIe x2 SSD controllers and performance does take a big hit, I'd stay away from them. If you are buying from the US the Team MP34 is much better deal.

 

3 minutes ago, L. f said:

Does anyone know an affordable and good choice?

I'd go back to MSI B450 ATX boards if 4 SATA ports isnt a problem, since you arent making much use of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Performance wise the Gaming X is not that good anyway, sufficient since 3600 and even the 3700x doesnt need much power but this also means B450 is competitive.

 

5 minutes ago, L. f said:

Last of all, do M.2 SSDs require cooling or is the airflow of the Fractal Design Meshify C case enough?

They require cooling but can go without heatsinks. Meshify C has enough cooling if you add 2 extra case fans to it in the front (comes with 2 fans from Fractal), alternatives will be the Phanteks P400A, Corsair 275R airflow and Cooler Master NR600

 

6 minutes ago, L. f said:

Ask anything you need to know!

The memory kit and PSU?

[L. f]

17 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

This doesn't exist, the only PCIe standard that doesnt end with a 0 is PCIe 1.1

 

Some sad users have found their Rockets coming with PCIe x2 SSD controllers and performance does take a big hit, I'd stay away from them. If you are buying from the US the Team MP34 is much better deal.

 

I'd go back to MSI B450 ATX boards if 4 SATA ports isnt a problem, since you arent making much use of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Performance wise the Gaming X is not that good anyway, sufficient since 3600 and even the 3700x doesnt need much power but this also means B450 is competitive.

 

They require cooling but can go without heatsinks. Meshify C has enough cooling if you add 2 extra case fans to it in the front (comes with 2 fans from Fractal), alternatives will be the Phanteks P400A, Corsair 275R airflow and Cooler Master NR600

 

The memory kit and PSU?

Hey there! I have the 3.1 from a German website called Geizhals, it's usually reliable but sometimes a bit inaccurate.

Otherwise, thanks for the detailed information! I don't know that much about PC parts so every bit of information helps. Memory kit is currently Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB DDR4-3200 and PSU be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Power supply (whatever that means). I haven't really put a lot of thought in either, for the memory I just rolled with something affordable that's okay in specs and for the PSU something that exceeds the pcpartpicker estimated wattage by about 50-100W and that's high enough on the price scale so it's likely it's not gonna kill me. I've been told my PSU isn't  designed for mid tier PCs, but I don't really understand how that would show if the wattage and cooling is fine. Additionally, I don't mind if it's not modular, I'll take it but I wouldn't pay extra for it. My budget is about 1400€, by the way.

 

Greetings, 

L. F.

Quick edit: I live in Germany.

[Firewrath9]

17 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

I'd go back to MSI B450 ATX boards if 4 SATA ports isnt a problem, since you arent making much use of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Performance wise the Gaming X is not that good anyway, sufficient since 3600 and even the 3700x doesnt need much power but this also means B450 is competitive.

B450 boards support 1 PCIe 3.0 4x M.2 maximum. All other M.2 are either 2.0 x4, or 2.0 x2.

 

OP: The ASUS TUF X570 at 165$ is a better buy than the X570 Gaming X.

[Jurrunio]

7 minutes ago, L. f said:

Memory kit is currently Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB DDR4-3200 and PSU be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Power supply (whatever that means).

Both are good enough, 80+ just represents efficiency but not quality nor function. Even 2070S is ok (but not more) if the PSU has enough cables for powering it (havent checked myself)

 

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

B450 boards support 1 PCIe 3.0 4x M.2 maximum. All other M.2 are either 2.0 x4, or 2.0 x2.

 

The chipset doesnt downgrade to PCIe 2.0 for more lanes for all its connections. Sometimes they do for extra PCIe slots or SATA port controllers, not always

[Firewrath9]

7 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Both are good enough, 80+ just represents efficiency but not quality nor function. Even 2070S is ok (but not more) if the PSU has enough cables for powering it (havent checked myself)

 

 

The chipset doesnt downgrade to PCIe 2.0 for more lanes for all its connections. Sometimes they do for extra PCIe slots or SATA port controllers, not always

It does. A320/B350/X370/B450/X470 chipsets do not support PCIe 3.0, only 2.0

[mariushm]

There is no 3.1 when it comes to pci-e slots or lanes.  My guess is the description text got cut off, or they dropped a word.

They're probably referring to USB 3.1 , which is two kinds : usb 3.1 gen 1 (which is basically the classic USB 3.0 5gbps, just rebranded) and there's usb 3.1 gen 2 which is 10gbps speed and there's a different connector on the motherboard for it.

 

The pci-e 4.0 lanes are double the speed of pci-e 3.0... pci-e 3.0 is approx. 970MB/s for each lane, pci-e 4.0 is around 1.9 GB/s for each lane.

A M.2 SSD that supports pci-e 4.0 will work just fine on pci-e 3.0 connectors, and viceversa ... a pci-e 3.0 m.2 ssd will run in pci-e 4.0 slots.

 

x570 motherboards will have two M.2 connectors with pci-e 4.0 lanes, but on some motherboards if you install a SSD in the 2nd connector, one of the pci-e x4 slots may become disabled or reduced to pci-e x1 speeds.

 

B450 motherboards are cheaper, but the pci-e lanes created by the chipset are pci-e 2.0, so even though the second m.2 connector may be pci-e x4, it will only be capable of 2 GB/s maximum speeds (4 x 500 MB/s)

 

These may be worth it :

 

125 euro : https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/zR3H99/adata-sx8200-1-tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-asx8200pnp-1tt-c

135 euro : https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/Ny22FT/corsair-mp510-960gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-cssd-f960gbmp510

 

[L. f]

12 hours ago, Firewrath9 said:

OP: The ASUS TUF X570 at 165$ is a better buy than the X570 Gaming X.

It's a bit on the more expensive side at 200€ in Germany, is there maybe another a bit cheaper alternative? A friend of mine has got an ASRock Phantom Gaming 4, but I don't how good it is.

 

Greetings,

L. F.

[Firewrath9]

3 hours ago, L. f said:

It's a bit on the more expensive side at 200€ in Germany, is there maybe another a bit cheaper alternative? A friend of mine has got an ASRock Phantom Gaming 4, but I don't how good it is.

 

Greetings,

L. F.

skip until he talks about 200$ boards, and see if any of the ones he reccommends are cheap.

Decent ones in germany still seem to be like 200$.

Perhaps go with Z390 then