My motherboard, and PCI Lanes and storage

[Holmes108]

I can build my own computer, and consider myself an advanced user, and I've tried hard to educate myself on this aspect but it's definitely my blind spot. I'm never confident about lane and bandwidth limitations.

 

I'm using: Gigabyte B550M DS3H (Rev. 1.0) along with a Ryzen 5600 (non x)

 

Here's a link to the MB manual: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_b550m-ds3h-ac_e_1301.pdf?v=fea89e8988c2f899ee67f661afc6ad23

 

But I believe the pertinent info is: 

 

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX16), integrated in the CPU

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX4), integrated in the Chipset

1 x PCI Express x1 slot (PCIEX1), integrated in the Chipset

 

1 x M.2 connector (M2A_CPU), integrated in the CPU

1 x M.2 connector (M2B_SB), integrated in the Chipset

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors, integrated in the Chipset

 

I currently have a 1TB Gen 4 M.2 in the faster slot and a 1TB Gen 3 M.2 in the other. My main questions are:

 

1: Would adding a single SATA SSD affect my performance negatively in any meaningful way

2: Would adding a PCI adapter to the X4 slot, for either storage or possibly USB-C affect performance

3: Bonus question: Both my MB specs and the 5600 Specs only mention supporting RAM to 3200mhz... but I appear to be running my 3600mhz RAM fully and properly, am I incorrect?

 

I guess it boils down to, are my lanes currently maxed, and what's the effect if I add more stuff.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Aragorn-]

your total bandwidth between the chipset and CPU is limited to a PCIe3x4 link

 

PCIe3x4 can do a smidge under 4GB/sec.

 

the reality is its unlikely your going to see any meaningful performance degredation unless you have extremely fast SSD's connected to both M2B and PCIEX4 and are simultaneously hitting them at max speed. Somewhat unrealistic for most normal use.

 

For your bonus Q, the CPU's official support is 3200. Speeds higher than this are essentially regarded as overclocking.

[My_Computer_Is_Trash]

Try this: https://duropc.com/32-bit-pci-slots-explaining-the-different-types-of-pci-expansion

[Holmes108]

5 minutes ago, Aragorn- said:

your total bandwidth between the chipset and CPU is limited to a PCIe3x4 link

 

PCIe3x4 can do a smidge under 4GB/sec.

 

the reality is its unlikely your going to see any meaningful performance degredation unless you have extremely fast SSD's connected to both M2B and PCIEX4 and are simultaneously hitting them at max speed. Somewhat unrealistic for most normal use.

 

For your bonus Q, the CPU's official support is 3200. Speeds higher than this are essentially regarded as overclocking.

Thanks so much. 

 

And yeah, I'm definitely not worrying about absolutely min-maxing SSD performance or anything. As long as adding a component doesn't suddenly drop my main drive speed by half or something stupid.

[Aragorn-]

all components will operate at full speed, the only time an issue would occur is if that combined link is saturated, which isnt likely under normal use. And even then, the devices would simply share the bandwidth while it was busy, and then return to normal afterwards.

[Aragorn-]

3 minutes ago, My_Computer_Is_Trash said:

PCI-X – PCI-X is a double-wide PCI device slot and runs at 4x the speed. It enhanced the 32-bit PCI Local Bus for higher bandwidth demands for servers. It has itself been replaced in modern designs by PCI Express.

 

More information: https://duropc.com/32-bit-pci-slots-explaining-the-different-types-of-pci-expansion

No-one mentioned PCI-X....

[My_Computer_Is_Trash]

1 minute ago, Aragorn- said:

No-one mentioned PCI-X....

I edited my post

[Holmes108]

2 minutes ago, Aragorn- said:

all components will operate at full speed, the only time an issue would occur is if that combined link is saturated, which isnt likely under normal use. And even then, the devices would simply share the bandwidth while it was busy, and then return to normal afterwards.

 

I see, so less about what's connected, but more what's actually in full use simultaneously, which with storage specifically, is unlikely to be an issue. For instance I'm unlikely to be using drive 2 and 3 at the same time, unless transferring between them, in which case I'd still expect it to be faster than copying to an external drive.

 

[Aragorn-]

yeah, even copying between them, its unlikely either drive can sustain 2GB/sec anyway.

[My_Computer_Is_Trash]

Yeah. So everything pulls on the mobo bandwidth at the same thing at the same time, it bottlenecks. That's why if you plug in 10 EVs on one street, you blow a transformer.

[Holmes108]

4 minutes ago, My_Computer_Is_Trash said:

Yeah. So everything pulls on the mobo bandwidth at the same thing at the same time, it bottlenecks. That's why if you plug in 10 EVs on one street, you blow a transformer.

 

Thanks again. Lastly, as my case doesn't have USB C, if I got a PCI card with the USB C port, is it possible to get faster charging capabilities than my existing USB ports, given my motherboard? I realize it might not be Quick Charge, power delivery, etc.

 

Even with USB A ports on a PCI addon card, could it be meaningfully different or better than my existing ports, power or speed wise?

[My_Computer_Is_Trash]

Which USB header is your front panel USB C port plugged into, and what else is plugged into that header?

[Holmes108]

11 minutes ago, My_Computer_Is_Trash said:

Which USB header is your front panel USB C port plugged into, and what else is plugged into that header?

 

I have no USB C ports at all (even on my case). I have several USB 3 and USB 2 Type A ports (which I'm confident are connected to the correct headers)

 

My USB 3 ports tops out at about 100MB a second when transferring to an external USB 3 HDD (5400rpm, perhaps this is a typical transfer speed?), and my Quest 2 headset, when playing VR doesn't actually charge, it depletes (albeit very slowly compared to wireless use). 

 

Neither of these are particularly problematic for me, but just curious if a USB adapter card plugged into the motherboard would improve either of these scenarios, or is it just a built in limitation of my board.

[My_Computer_Is_Trash]

I mean it's electricity not data, so yes. However USB-C intelligently changes the voltage and amperage of its output current. I don't know how that would be affected by using a pcie slot. Or even if data transfer is possible like that.

 

For data transfer using USB, USB 3.0 tops out at 600MBps. So you would have to check write speed specs of your hard drive to be certain that your motherboard is not bottlenecking your data rate.

 

How are you charging your VR?

[Aragorn-]

1 hour ago, Holmes108 said:

 

Thanks again. Lastly, as my case doesn't have USB C, if I got a PCI card with the USB C port, is it possible to get faster charging capabilities than my existing USB ports, given my motherboard? I realize it might not be Quick Charge, power delivery, etc.

 

Even with USB A ports on a PCI addon card, could it be meaningfully different or better than my existing ports, power or speed wise?

It will depend on the specific AIC, however some do exist which take additional power:

 

https://www.delock.com/produkt/89001/merkmale.html?g=1112

 

And as a result can supply a wide range of USB-PD outputs.

 

Delock has a wide variety of cards with various configurations.

 

100MB/sec transferring to a hard drive is about all you'll get, especially a smaller/older one.

 

 

[Holmes108]

36 minutes ago, My_Computer_Is_Trash said:

 

 

How are you charging your VR?

 

Just a cable plugged into a wall adapter. Often my Galaxy Note 10+ high speed charger. 

 

I'm not in need of additional ports. But I wasn't sure if a PCI card adapter offered better performance generally then the front/back USB ports. If the answer is generally "no", then I'm not too worried about it. With the wide range of cards out there, and the research required to make sure I was getting one that was "better", it sounds like it's not worth my while, given the low need.

 

Thanks again for the help everyone. Really appreciate it.