Skylake and M.2 PCIe lanes

[Zelgiusthebrave]

I'm having some conflicts with the new rig that I am building.

 

It will be a Skylake build (6700k) on a Maximus Viii Hero. My issue is I would LOVE to take advantage of the M.2 slot on the board (cause SPEEEEEEEEEEED) but my issue is I don't know if I will have enough lanes to do so.

 

I know that 2 of the PCI slots for the board run off the 16 lanes on the CPU, so I can use my 2 980Ti graphics cards with those in SLI, but I also have an Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro PCI capture/stream card (and if you have been thinking about getting one do it, I love mine) and according to the ASUS website the motherboard has 2 grey PCI slots (the 2 that run on the CPU) and all the others are black (and run on the chipset, or PCH or whatever its called lul) but the M.2 slot runs on PCI 3.0 4x and I'm assuming that is controlled by the motherboard chipset so how will it affect the M.2 slot and the Elgato that are both running off the chipset lanes?

 

Also, the ASUS website says the M.2 has "SATA Mode", what does this mean?

[WhackingCheese]

An m.2 can function as a pci-e device or a sata one. Im not sure about the lanes on that mobo though

[Zelgiusthebrave]

An m.2 can function as a pci-e device or a sata one. Im not sure about the lanes on that mobo though

 

So I'm guessing that if it runs on PCI mode it uses lanes (and this is the fastest means of using it) or SATA mode which is a bit slower but doesn't use PCI lanes?

[crosstiger]

There are two types of m.2 drives. One that will use PCI and one that use SATA. If you want to use PCI for your m.2, you have to buy a PCI m.2 card. Something like this one "Samsung SSD SM951-NVMe". If you’re going to use a SATA m.2 (And buy a SATA m.2 card), the card will use one of the SATA connectors. In case of the Maximus VIII Hero, this will be SATA 1 "*1 When the M.2 Socket 3 is operating in SATA mode, SATA port 1 will be disabled"

https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/specifications/

 

Keep in mind, that SATA m.2 drives are in general not much faster, than regular SSD's.

If you are going to use a PCI m.2 along side 2 980TI’s and a capture card, your 16 PCI lanes from the CPU will split up something like this:

 

PCI CPU: x8 GPU1, x4 GPU2, x4 Elgato

PCI Chipset: x4 m.2

 

…hopefully

 

source:

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/1828/2290/9f/dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/MAXIMUS_VIII_HERO/E10343_MAXIMUS_VIII_HERO_UM_WEB.pdf

[Zelgiusthebrave]

There are two types of m.2 drives. One that will use PCI and one that use SATA. If you want to use PCI for your m.2, you have to buy a PCI m.2 card. Something like this one "Samsung SSD SM951-NVMe". If you’re going to use a SATA m.2 (And buy a SATA m.2 card), the card will use one of the SATA connectors. In case of the Maximus VIII Hero, this will be SATA 1 "*1 When the M.2 Socket 3 is operating in SATA mode, SATA port 1 will be disabled"

https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/specifications/

 

Keep in mind, that SATA m.2 drives are in general not much faster, than regular SSD's.

If you are going to use a PCI m.2 along side 2 980TI’s and a capture card, your 16 PCI lanes from the CPU will split up something like this:

 

PCI CPU: x8 GPU1, x4 GPU2, x4 Elgato

PCI Chipset: x4 m.2

 

…hopefully

 

source:

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/1828/2290/9f/dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/MAXIMUS_VIII_HERO/E10343_MAXIMUS_VIII_HERO_UM_WEB.pdf

 

Why would I need to buy a PCI adapter for the M.2 when there is a slot for it right on the motherboard? Also, how would the Elgato run on the CPU chipset lanes when only 2 of the PCIe 3.0 x16 slots on the board run on the CPU chipset and all the others (x3 PCIe 3.0 1x and x1 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots run on the PCH) unless the motherboard is able to route 1 of the slots for the PCH to run off the CPU instead? And if so I'm guessing that's something found in the UEFI BIOS?

[96Evo]

the m.2 will use the 20x lane available from the chipset and not the cpu so u dont have to worry.

cpu 16x: 8x gpu, 8x gpu
chipset z170 20x: perhiperals

[crosstiger]

Why would I need to buy a PCI adapter for the M.2 when there is a slot for it right on the motherboard? Also, how would the Elgato run on the CPU chipset lanes when only 2 of the PCIe 3.0 x16 slots on the board run on the CPU chipset and all the others (x3 PCIe 3.0 1x and x1 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots run on the PCH) unless the motherboard is able to route 1 of the slots for the PCH to run off the CPU instead? And if so I'm guessing that's something found in the UEFI BIOS?

 

I did not say you have to buy an adapter. I said there are two TYPES of m.2. One that will use PCI lanes and one that will exclusively use SATA. Both look exactly the same. It's a controller thingy… Btw where did you find the info that only the PCIe x16 slots are directly connected to the CPU?

[Zelgiusthebrave]

I did not say you have to buy an adapter. I said there are two TYPES of m.2. One that will use PCI lanes and one that will exclusively use SATA. Both look exactly the same. It's a controller thingy… Btw where did you find the info that only the PCIe x16 slots are directly connected to the CPU?

 

ASUS website. There are 2 slots colored a lighter grey color, they are both PCIe 3.0 x16 and according to ASUS are connected to the CPU and all the rest are black and connected to the PCH.

 

The M.2 socket on the motherboard is M.2 M, so from what I've read on M.2 it will either be PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA [causing 2 (I say 2 because that's what PCPartPicker told me but something about it makes me thing that's wrong....) of the SATA ports to be disabled] but because I'm a dumb I thought that the z170 chipset only had an additional 4 lanes for a total of 20 (including CPU) where as I was wrong (cause I'm a dumb) and the z170 chipset has 20 lanes for itself, plus the 16 on the CPU for a total of 36 so the lanes issue is okay.

 

Then selecting how the M.2 drive runs (PCIe or SATA) is found in the BIOS? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-512GB-PCIe-NVMe/dp/B01639694M and this is the one that I had in mind.

[crosstiger]

ASUS website. There are 2 slots colored a lighter grey color, they are both PCIe 3.0 x16 and according to ASUS are connected to the CPU and all the rest are black and connected to the PCH.

 

The M.2 socket on the motherboard is M.2 M, so from what I've read on M.2 it will either be PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA [causing 2 (I say 2 because that's what PCPartPicker told me but something about it makes me thing that's wrong....) of the SATA ports to be disabled] but because I'm a dumb I thought that the z170 chipset only had an additional 4 lanes for a total of 20 (including CPU) where as I was wrong (cause I'm a dumb) and the z170 chipset has 20 lanes for itself, plus the 16 on the CPU for a total of 36 so the lanes issue is okay.

 

Then selecting how the M.2 drive runs (PCIe or SATA) is found in the BIOS? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-512GB-PCIe-NVMe/dp/B01639694M and this is the one that I had in mind.

 

Your m.2 is a PCI SSD, so you're good to go.

 

I think the mb will automatically detect what drive is in the slot. But if not, you can surely change the settings in the BIOS. Would be really wired if that's not the case… If you install a PCI m.2 SSD none of your SATA ports will be disabled. That’s only the case if you install a SATA m.2 SSD and even then, only SATA-1 will be disabled (according to the mb manual). But because the Samsung 950 Pro is a PCI m.2 SSD you will have 0 problems

[PrimeSonic]

Consult your motherboard manual.

 

On some boards, using an NVMe M.2 SSD will disable some SATAe ports. Yes, I said SATA Express. SATAe looks like two and a half SATA ports mushed together, two normal ones and a half-sized one on the left.

SATAe runs over PCIe lanes provided by the chipset. It's the same speed you can expect out of any PCIe lanes running over the chipset.

 

So, with this lesson over, enjoy your 950 Pro (it's a lovely SSD, I have one myself) and have no worries.

 

Things to consider:

Windows 7 installation ISO's don't natively have support for NVMe drives like this. You'll have to go with 8 or higher.

If you want the fastest boot times with your SSD, check in your motherboard UEFI BIOS for Fast Boot options and if any Windows 8/10 compatibility needs to be enabled.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

Consult your motherboard manual.

 

On some boards, using an NVMe M.2 SSD will disable some SATAe ports. Yes, I said SATA Express. SATAe looks like two and a half SATA ports mushed together, two normal ones and a half-sized one on the left.

SATAe runs over PCIe lanes provided by the chipset. It's the same speed you can expect out of any PCIe lanes running over the chipset.

 

So, with this lesson over, enjoy your 950 Pro (it's a lovely SSD, I have one myself) and have no worries.

 

Things to consider:

Windows 7 installation ISO's don't natively have support for NVMe drives like this. You'll have to go with 8 or higher.

If you want the fastest boot times with your SSD, check in your motherboard UEFI BIOS for Fast Boot options and if any Windows 8/10 compatibility needs to be enabled.

 

Well I don't have the SSD yet (let alone the motherboard) but I will soon. Now that I know I have 20 lanes on the chipset to use alone I know I'll have plenty of room for the SSD and Elgato (and possibly sound card later on, dunno if I want a PCI card or this other one that is rack mountable....like my coworker is currently trying to get me to buy lol...)

 

For good measure, here is the PCPartPicker list I have for the whole build. And for the record, the Acer Predator x34 monitor is the greatest thing since pre-sliced bread.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zelgiusthebrave/saved/MFNhP6

[PrimeSonic]

For good measure, here is the PCPartPicker list I have for the whole build. And for the record, the Acer Predator x34 monitor is the greatest thing since pre-sliced bread.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/zelgiusthebrave/saved/MFNhP6

Very nice.

Though if you want you can go for a H100i instead of a H110i.

The 6700K runs a lot cooler than the 4790K. A 240 rad is going to be more than enough to keep it cool.

 

But with this overkill build, I don't think cost was a problem.

 

Good luck and have fun building this monster of a machine.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

Very nice.

Though if you want you can go for a H100i instead of a H110i.

The 6700K runs a lot cooler than the 4790K. A 240 rad is going to be more than enough to keep it cool.

 

But with this overkill build, I don't think cost was a problem.

 

Good luck and have fun building this monster of a machine.

 

I've thought about it and I'm slowly leaning towards it more, but my thought is the colder I can keep it the higher I can overclock it. Plus it'll keep my room that much warmer during the winter lol.

 

Can't wait to build this thing!

[PrimeSonic]

I've thought about it and I'm slowly leaning towards it more, but my thought is the colder I can keep it the higher I can overclock it. Plus it'll keep my room that much warmer during the winter lol.

 

Can't wait to build this thing!

 

Go for it. Though with the lower TDP of the Skylake processors, you probably won't be hitting the kind of temps that would keep you from overclocking.

I got my 6700K up to 4.8Ghz easily on an H100i GTX. I haven't tried pushing for more cause honestly, it's overkill enough as it is for me.

And temps never really go over 65C at worst.

 

I suspect that getting to 5.0GHz might be possible for those who win the silicon lottery. So, happy overclocking!

 

EDIT:

So it looks like the Task Manager was showing me numbers much higher than I anticipated.

My actual overclock at that moment was 4.4Ghz.

 

I'm testing 4.6Ghz now and it looks stable. But I ran into instability at 4.7 and the temperatures are reaching peaks I'm not comfortable with.

 

So, maybe go for 4.5-4.7Ghz on the 6700K.

[Zelgiusthebrave]

Go for it. Though with the lower TDP of the Skylake processors, you probably won't be hitting the kind of temps that would keep you from overclocking.

I got my 6700K up to 4.8Ghz easily on an H100i GTX. I haven't tried pushing for more cause honestly, it's overkill enough as it is for me.

And temps never really go over 65C at worst.

 

I suspect that getting to 5.0GHz might be possible for those who win the silicon lottery. So, happy overclocking!

 

Here's hoping I keep that luck going strong. The 760 I had before had an ASIC quality of 83% and the 980Ti I have has 81% so I scored with those! If I felt like water cooling them I'd wait till ASUS brings out its Maximus VIII Formula and just overkill everything I can lol.