GPU and PCI-E SSD on a Z170 board

[Andrej]

Hi. I`m planing a purchase - intel 750 SSD on PCI-E x4.

 

So, first slot is occupied with GPU and running at 16x, if i stick intel 750 to the 2 slot will it run at 4x keeping first at 16x, or they both going to run at 8x? What if the 3rd slot? (Asus Z170 pro gaming, 6700K). help. (gpu - gtx 960 - it`s not going to bottleneck even x8, i know.)

[vanished]

You'll have to check the manual for that board as to which slots are primary or secondary.  If you stick it in one of the primary slots with the GPU, it will drop to 8x and the SSD will run at 4x, allowing another 4x card.  If you put it in a secondary slot, the GPU will stay at 16x and the SSD will still be at 4x anyway

[Andrej]

4 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

You'll have to check the manual for that board as to which slots are primary or secondary.  If you stick it in one of the primary slots with the GPU, it will drop to 8x and the SSD will run at 4x, allowing another 4x card.  If you put it in a secondary slot, the GPU will stay at 16x and the SSD will still be at 4x anyway

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-PRO-GAMING/E10719_Z170_PRO_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf?_ga=1.50403945.1955987645.1463146020

[Andrej]

what if i`m using m2 samsung 950 pro? does it mix anyhow my pci-e speeds?

[2FA]

3 minutes ago, Andrej said:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-PRO-GAMING/E10719_Z170_PRO_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf?_ga=1.50403945.1955987645.1463146020

Looks like your GPU will have to run at 8x but there won't be a noticeable decrease in performance.

[vanished]

4 minutes ago, Andrej said:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-PRO-GAMING/E10719_Z170_PRO_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf?_ga=1.50403945.1955987645.1463146020

Looks like the top two are primary for use with a single or dual GPUs, and the third one is electrically 4x even though it's full length.  That's where the SSD goes

[2FA]

1 minute ago, Andrej said:

what if i`m using m2 samsung 950 pro? does it mix anyhow my pci-e speeds?

Depends on the M.2, some use the SATA controller while other use PCIe. You won't get the high speeds if you get a SATA one.

[intelCore]

1 minute ago, Andrej said:

what if i`m using m2 samsung 950 pro? does it mix anyhow my pci-e speeds?

No. The M.2 slot has the PCIe lanes running from the PCH and does not intefere with the Graphics PCIe lanes at all.

8 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

You'll have to check the manual for that board as to which slots are primary or secondary.  If you stick it in one of the primary slots with the GPU, it will drop to 8x and the SSD will run at 4x, allowing another 4x card.  If you put it in a secondary slot, the GPU will stay at 16x and the SSD will still be at 4x anyway

Are you sure the GPU PCIe slot would slow down to 8x if a 4x PCIe SSD is installed in the slot meant for SLI?

[Andrej]

950 pro - nvme based, board supports boot from nvme drives, slot is wired at x4.

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, intelCore said:

No. The M.2 slot has the PCIe lanes running from the PCH and does not intefere with the Graphics PCIe lanes at all.

Are you sure the GPU PCIe slot would slow down to 8x if a 4x PCIe SSD is installed in the slot meant for SLI?

I think it would.  First of all afaik the only modes it can operate in are 16x, 8x 8x, and 8x 4x 4x, so there's that, plus, the CPU only has 16 lanes into it and that's where those slots go as far as I can tell.

[Andrej]

2 minutes ago, intelCore said:

No. The M.2 slot has the PCIe lanes running from the PCH and does not intefere with the Graphics PCIe lanes at all.

Are you sure the GPU PCIe slot would slow down to 8x if a 4x PCIe SSD is installed in the slot meant for SLI?

so, basicaly, the way to do it for sure is to go with m.2 nvme (through PCH lanes), leave sata purely for media storage, and stick to single GPU (sli/cfx not interested - goint to upgrade to rx 480), // my xonar phoebus audio is on second pcie-x1 slot, and runing on PCH lanes already, it sould not interfear anyhow with m.2 at x4?

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Andrej said:

so, basicaly, the way to do it for sure is to go with m.2 nvme (through PCH lanes), leave sata purely for media storage, and stick to single GPU (sli/cfx not interested - goint to upgrade to rx 480), // my xonar phoebus audio is on second pcie-x1 slot, and runing on PCH lanes already, it sould not interfear anyhow with m.2 at x4?

yes

[Andrej]

Thanks a lot, now it`s time to figure out how to save some couple of hundrets EUR-s.