Is SLI + Intel NVMe possible on this motherboard?

[ApolloEleven]

Not that I can afford a NVMe Intel 750. But I am curious is it possible to do SLI + NVMe PCIe SSD on this ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard considering that Skylake has 4 exta PCIe lanes?

 

What other things I can do with the extra 4 PCIe lanes?

 

UPDATE: Secondary question - Does M.2 affect PCIe lanes in any way? Because in the future I want to do SLI (2 graphics card, not more) + M.2 SSD.

Nvidia requires a minimum of 8x for SLI.

 

Thanks.

[PlayStation 2]

Have a 16x card in and a 4x SSD or anything else.

[kosmic]

so this series has 20pcie lanes so x8/x8 for sli leaves x4 for ssd

and the board has 3 16x lanes cant see why not

[Glenwing]

Not that I can afford a NVMe Intel 750. But I am curious is it possible to do SLI + NVMe PCIe SSD on this ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard considering that Skylake has 4 exta PCIe lanes?

 

What other things I can do with the extra 4 PCIe lanes?

 

Thanks.

Just to be clear, it's a lot more than 4 extra lanes, it didn't go from 16 to 20. The CPU and motherboard chipset both have their own set of PCI Express lanes. On the Z97 platform, the CPUs had 16 Gen3 lanes, and the Z97 chipset also had 8 Gen2 lanes (equivalent to 4 Gen3 lanes). On Z170 the CPUs still have 16 lanes, but the chipset has been increased from 4 (eff.) to 20 Gen3 lanes.

So, yes you can run a couple PCIe-based SSDs without interfering with the main PCIe slots which are handled by the CPU.

[ApolloEleven]

Does M.2 affect PCIe lanes in any way? Because in the future I want to do SLI (2 graphics card, not more) + M.2 SSD.

Nvidia requires a minimum of 8x for SLI.

[Godlygamer23]

The Skylake CPUs have 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes and the chipset has at least an extra 4 for the last slot. So if you did get the SSD with this board, you would still be able to take full advantage of it.

[Glenwing]

so this series has 20pcie lanes so x8/x8 for sli leaves x4 for ssd

and the board has 3 16x lanes cant see why not

The 20 Gen3 lanes on Z170 are in addition to the 16 lanes from the CPU.

[ApolloEleven]

The Skylake CPUs have 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes and the chipset has at least an extra 4 for the last slot. So if you did get the SSD with this board, you would still be able to take full advantage of it.

Hello, are you referring to PCIe SSD or SATA SSD? (or it doesn't matter?)

Sorry, I am still new to the concept of PCI/e lanes.

[Glenwing]

Does M.2 affect PCIe lanes in any way? Because in the future I want to do SLI (2 graphics card, not more) + M.2 SSD.

Nvidia requires a minimum of 8x for SLI.

M.2 slots are wired via PCI Express, they can be wired with either 2 lanes or 4 lanes. All Z170 boards have their M.2 slots wired through the chipset though, so it won't interfere at all with what goes on in the main PCIe x16 slots.

Just to be thorough, I'll add that M.2 slots can be wired to a SATA controller instead of wired to PCI Express, so they can accept certain SSDs that have a SATA controller... Basically because some people wanted to make regular SATA drives in the shape of an M.2 drive for whatever reason. This is uncommon now, it was mostly only done during the early transitional phase of M.2 while it was replacing other standards like mSATA. You're unlikely to see it, but if you do see a footnote saying "SATA port 5 becomes unavailable when M.2 slot is populated" or something to that effect, that's a giveaway that it's wired for SATA.

[Godlygamer23]

Hello, are you referring to PCIe SSD or SATA SSD? (or it doesn't matter?)

Sorry, I am still new to the concept of PCI/e lanes.

I'm referring to PCIe SSDs. SATA based drives don't use PCIe lanes(inherently).

[ApolloEleven]

M.2 slots are wired via PCI Express, they can be wired with either 2 lanes or 4 lanes. All Z170 boards have their M.2 slots wired through the chipset though, so it won't interfere at all with what goes on in the main PCIe x16 slots.

 

I'm referring to PCIe SSDs. SATA based drives don't use PCIe lanes(inherently).

Ah ok, so to clarify (this may look like I am asking the same question again), is it possible to do:

• SLI (2 GPU)
• 2x SATA3 SSD
• 1x M.2 SSD

All at the same time with this motherboard?

EDIT: If any, do I get headroom for more options with the config above?

 

The reason why I specifically ask about this configuration because I am planning to build this in the future so I want to make sure nothing is wrong. I will do more research so I can understand PCI/PCIe lanes better.

Thanks!

[Godlygamer23]

Ah ok, so to clarify (this may look like I am asking the same question again), is it possible to do:

• SLI (2 GPU)
• 2x SATA3 SSD
• 1x M.2 SSD

All at the same time with this motherboard?

EDIT: If any, do I get headroom for more options with the config above?

 

The reason why I specifically ask about this configuration because I am planning to build this in the future so I want to make sure nothing is wrong. I will do more research so I can understand PCI/PCIe lanes better.

Thanks!

That'll work fine, but supposing you're planning on using the 750 drive from Intel, it goes into a PCIe slot. Not the M.2 slot.

[ApolloEleven]

Thanks for the answers people!

 

That'll work fine, but supposing you're planning on using the 750 drive from Intel, it goes into a PCIe slot. Not the M.2 slot.

Nope, I do not plan to buy any form of PCIe SSD any time soon. Maybe in the next PC build.

[Glenwing]

Ah ok, so to clarify (this may look like I am asking the same question again), is it possible to do:

• SLI (2 GPU)
• 2x SATA3 SSD
• 1x M.2 SSD

All at the same time with this motherboard?

EDIT: If any, do I get headroom for more options with the config above?

 

The reason why I specifically ask about this configuration because I am planning to build this in the future so I want to make sure nothing is wrong. I will do more research so I can understand PCI/PCIe lanes better.

Thanks!

Yes that would work.

PCI Express is just an interface for connecting devices to the system, like SATA or USB. "Lanes" are basically how many ports you have, except you can combine ports (up to 16) to combine their bandwidth. PCI Express is designed to be scalable to many different types of devices, some need a lot of bandwidth and some don't.

Though, the number of ports you have is a hardware part of the CPU or chipset, so however many it's designed with is how many you have to work with, period.

[NumLock21]

To help make it easier to understand on the number of PCIe lanes for the Intel Skylake platform

Number of pcie gen 3 lanes from a Intel Skylake cpu = 16

Number of pcie  gen 3 lanes from the Intel Z170 chipset = 20

Total number of combine pcie gen 3 lanes from cpu and chipset = 36

Where does the pcie gen 3 lanes from the CPU go to? To your graphic cards only. So 1 video card will use up all of the 16 gen 3 lanes from the CPU. When 2 cards are plugged in, then the 16 lanes will split into x8/x8.

Where does the pcie gen 3 lanes from the chipset go to? 4 of them are connected to the 3rd PCIe x16 slot, and the rest are distributed through out the motherboard like to the M.2 connectors.

Intel 750 series has 2 types, a PCIe card where you can just plug into a pcie x4 or x16 slot on the motherboard, or 2.5" model that connects through a U.2 connector (also called mini-SAS). Most board will not have a U.2 connector, but if you have a Asus board that supports NVMe drives such as the Z170 boards, then you can buy their Asus Hyper Kit, which coverts the M.2 to a U.2 connector.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995042

The only board I've seen so far with that connector built in is the Asus Maximus VIII Extreme, but it's not out yet.

U.2 connector on the left side of the SATA Express ports