Z170 not enough PCIE Lanes

[godzrule]

So the Z170 cpus have only 16 pcie lanes... This means we cant have a sli and a M.2 boot drive(or even better sli +raid 0 m.2)  like we could with the 5820k and more so with the 5830k What are your thoughts or solutions to this if there are any?
Again 16 Pcie lanes why so few??? for a newer chip and with m.2 taking off so fast now??

Thanks for posting!

[79 Potatoes]

So the Z170 cpus have only 16 pcie lanes... This means we cant have a sli and a M.2 boot drive(or even better sli +raid 0 m.2)  like we could with the 5820k and more so with the 5830k What are your thoughts or solutions to this if there are any?

Again 16 Pcie lanes why so few??? for a newer chip and with m.2 taking off so fast now??

Thanks for posting!

Er... I think the chipset gives like 20 Lanes

[Jumper118]

So the Z170 cpus have only 16 pcie lanes... This means we cant have a sli and a M.2 boot drive(or even better sli +raid 0 m.2)  like we could with the 5820k and more so with the 5830k What are your thoughts or solutions to this if there are any?

Again 16 Pcie lanes why so few??? for a newer chip and with m.2 taking off so fast now??

Thanks for posting!

z170 has 20 lanes for m.2 and sata express so the 16 are just for the pcie slots. 

[Curufinwe_wins]

Buy a mobo with a plx chip if you really need 3 way or more sli

[incarnate]

M.2 as stated, doesn't use the cpu lanes. If I'm not mistaken only the gen 3 x16, and x8 slots use the cpu lanes

[godzrule]

z170 has 20 lanes for m.2 and sata express so the 16 are just for the pcie slots. 

okay can you explaining a little more please? i am very interested in this i thought that the m.2 slots used the 4x pcie lanes which i thought meant i had 12 pcie lanes left. If im wrong im delighted to be!

Again thanks for posting and quite quick too

[Sam Z Man]

They have 20 lanes.

[ShaithEatery]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but even if the chipset can support 20 lanes wouldn't it still be a limitation of the CPU only supporting 16?  I just pulled up the Intel specs sheet on the i7-6700k and it specifically lists support for upto 16 lanes.  I would think that this could be a similar situation to the x99 chipset where you can put in a 5820k or a 5930k and have drastically different PCI-E lanes to work with.

 

Edit: I see where people are saying M.2 on this chipset does not use the PCI-E lanes, so I assume this means that M.2 is on the SATA bus then?

[Jumper118]

okay can you explaining a little more please? i am very interested in this i thought that the m.2 slots used the 4x pcie lanes which i thought meant i had 12 pcie lanes left. If im wrong im delighted to be!

Again thanks for posting and quite quick too

no, but i will give you this and you can see yourself.

[ImBleu]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but even if the chipset can support 20 lanes wouldn't it still be a limitation of the CPU only supporting 16?  I just pulled up the Intel specs sheet on the i7-6700k and it specifically lists support for upto 16 lanes.  I would think that this could be a similar situation to the x99 chipset where you can put in a 5820k or a 5930k and have drastically different PCI-E lanes to work with.

 

The lanes for storage (M.2, Sata Express and Hard drives) total 20

 

The lanes for CPU (GPU, Raid Cards, Sound Cards) total 16

 

These are completely different lanes. Storage lanes run off the chipset while GPUs etc run off the CPU.

[godzrule]

So then a sli going x8 x8 for x16 total along with a raid 0 (2xm.2)setup as my boot would be possible with the z17 line? i am looking to build a new system and this is my goals.

[JonU]

The CPU supports up to x16 on the PCI-E slots. The chipset has another 20 PCI-E lanes for things like your m.2 drives. Take a look at this diagram Intel has provided, hopefully this makes it easier for you to understand.

 

[Jumper118]

So then a sli going x8 x8 for x16 total along with a raid 0 (2xm.2)setup as my boot would be possible with the z17 line? i am looking to build a new system and this is my goals.

yes

[godzrule]

The lanes for storage (M.2, Sata Express and Hard drives) total 20

 

The lanes for CPU (GPU, Raid Cards, Sound Cards) total 16

 

These are completely different lanes. Storage lanes run off the chipset while GPUs etc run off the CPU.

Thank you this really made this easy and clear to grasp will the m.2 still have its full speed? being on the same lanes for storage as traditional drives and ssds?

[ImBleu]

Thank you this really made this easy and clear to grasp will the m.2 still have its full speed? being on the same lanes for storage as traditional drives and ssds?

 

Yep, Unlike with Haswell and previous, you can use 2 M.2 SSDs in Z170 motherboards without disabling the Sata Express port. the M.2s will still have their full speeds even if every other lane is used up (which is fairly unlikely).

[Jumper118]

Thank you this really made this easy and clear to grasp will the m.2 still have its full speed? being on the same lanes for storage as traditional drives and ssds?

its upto 32gb/s on most boards so i don't think you'll find a drive to bottleneck them for a while

[godzrule]

My worries and fears have been resolved thank you guys, i really appreciate it!