870E chipset lane management ?

[Honkey]

Im looking at a GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7
And a RTX 5090.
I have 3. m2. 2280 ssd drives
1 samsung gen 4
2 hp gen 3
And i need to fit a sound blaster z in here somewhere.
Can i install all this and still keep the PCIE at 16x?
I do need to keep the PCIE at 16x right?
thanks

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

A typical 9in x 12in ATX 870E MB can typically handle 4x NVME SSDs , a GPU at full X16 bandwidth and at least one PCIE X1 or X4 card.

That's only true for X670/X670E boards, not for X870E.
OP can use the X16 top slot, M2A_CPU, M2D_SB, PCIEX4_1(4.0x4) and PCIEX4_2(3.0x4). He's missing two m.2 slot on the typical 870E mobo due to mandatory USB4

[Bad 💀 Motha]

No 870E supports that many NVME at once that's the point its better then X670 any day. Pick a full ATX board that has 4x M2 slots on it.

I've seen the specs sheets for 870 and 870E go look at them please. Now obviously physical support can differ based around actual Motherboard model

[_I_]

the cpu has 24 lanes which are pci-e 5.0
the sb chipset can convert them to more 4.0 or 3.0 lanes if needed

they are always being swapped around from gpu/sb/nvme

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

No 870E supports that many NVME at once that's the point its better then X670 any day. Pick a full ATX board that has 4x M2 slots on it.

I've seen the specs sheets for 870 and 870E go look at them please. Now obviously physical support can differ based around actual Motherboard model

https://i.imgur.com/471PT6i.png

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Ralf:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

No 870E supports that many NVME at once that's the point its better then X670 any day. Pick a full ATX board that has 4x M2 slots on it.

I've seen the specs sheets for 870 and 870E go look at them please. Now obviously physical support can differ based around actual Motherboard model

https://i.imgur.com/471PT6i.png

^ you’re in the wrong here bad motha. Populating the second or third M.2 from the CPU will cut the “GPU” x16 slot down to x8. There are some boards that may forgo one of the extra PCIe slots and rout that to an M.2 or they may put a PCIe switch from the first chipset but the default configuration you’ll only have 2 m.2 slots populated if you want to retain x16 for the GPU.

[Honkey]

all 870e boards are the same right. MSI OR ASROCK. does the same thing.
maybe. it would be best to lose the 2 hp ssd drives. and get a 2 tb.
then i would have two m.2 drives.
i forgot to mention that i have 2 sata drives that are raid 1. but that shouldnt matter right?
so what should i be looking at to get.
im going to need a 1200 watt power supply according to jays two cents
im thinking 32 gigs ddr5 7000 or so.
thanks all for your thoughts. this is more confusing than its was 10 years ago.
ive not done anything with AMD for 15 years. i cant be-leave intel took such a schit

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Ralf:

https://i.imgur.com/471PT6i.png

^ you’re in the wrong here bad motha. Populating the second or third M.2 from the CPU will cut the “GPU” x16 slot down to x8. There are some boards that may forgo one of the extra PCIe slots and rout that to an M.2 or they may put a PCIe switch from the first chipset but the default configuration you’ll only have 2 m.2 slots populated if you want to retain x16 for the GPU.

Why do people keep saying such BS. All those NVME don't come from the CPU. Only some of it. There are more lanes to go around since no PCIE 5.0 SSD being used. And is there a 4090 or 5090 going to be used.... no

PCIE 5.0 dropped to 8X equates to PCIE 4.0 16X

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

^ you’re in the wrong here bad motha. Populating the second or third M.2 from the CPU will cut the “GPU” x16 slot down to x8. There are some boards that may forgo one of the extra PCIe slots and rout that to an M.2 or they may put a PCIe switch from the first chipset but the default configuration you’ll only have 2 m.2 slots populated if you want to retain x16 for the GPU.

Why do people keep saying such BS. All those NVME don't come from the CPU. Only some of it. There are more lanes to go around since no PCIE 5.0 SSD being used. And is there a 4090 or 5090 going to be used.... no

PCIE 5.0 dropped to 8X equates to PCIE 4.0 16X

Look at the block diagram my guy. The 1x PCIe gen5 x4 M.2 from the CPU is direct. The second and third one are also from the CPU and are fed from a switch along with the “GPU” x16 slot. It states clearly in the manual that if you populate either of those M.2 slots that the top “GPU” x16 slot will operate at x8. The fourth M.2 slot is fed from the second chipset.

You seem to have this misunderstanding that somehow PCIe lanes just equate to bandwidth and so if you don’t “use all the bandwidth” then you will magically have more PCIe lanes. That isn’t how it works.

Also no one is saying PCIe 5.0 at x8 doesn’t equate to PCIe 4.0 at x16; that isn’t the topic nor the question asked by the OP. They asked if they populate 3 or the M.2 slots will their top GPU slot be cut to x8; which the answer is yes it will as specified in the manual.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Why do people keep saying such BS. All those NVME don't come from the CPU. Only some of it. There are more lanes to go around since no PCIE 5.0 SSD being used. And is there a 4090 or 5090 going to be used.... no

PCIE 5.0 dropped to 8X equates to PCIE 4.0 16X

Look at the block diagram my guy. The 1x PCIe gen5 x4 M.2 from the CPU is direct. The second and third one are also from the CPU and are fed from a switch along with the “GPU” x16 slot. It states clearly in the manual that if you populate either of those M.2 slots that the top “GPU” x16 slot will operate at x8. The fourth M.2 slot is fed from the second chipset.

You seem to have this misunderstanding that somehow PCIe lanes just equate to bandwidth and so if you don’t “use all the bandwidth” then you will magically have more PCIe lanes. That isn’t how it works.

Also no one is saying PCIe 5.0 at x8 doesn’t equate to PCIe 4.0 at x16; that isn’t the topic nor the question asked by the OP. They asked if they populate 3 or the M.2 slots will their top GPU slot be cut to x8; which the answer is yes it will as specified in the manual.

Then you seem to have a SERIOUS problem understanding WTF you just read and typed.

Do I have to really break down for you?

All 4x M2 can be populated and NOT affect the GPU such as 4090 / 5090 (which needs 16 Lanes) because the OP is not using any PCIE 5.0 SSDs.

If that's a problem for that Motherboard, then choose a different Motherboard. I use ASUS and MSI and they don't have any such problems.

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

X870E can support all those ssd and a sound card and X16 GPU no problem. The sound cards are only PCIE X1

Even if an RTX 50 was to somehow operate at PCIE 5.0 @ X8 that's equivalent to PCIE 4.0 @ X16

There is no such thing as a 1x. Even when using 1 lane 4 lanes are taken out from the pool of available lanes.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

X870E can support all those ssd and a sound card and X16 GPU no problem. The sound cards are only PCIE X1

Even if an RTX 50 was to somehow operate at PCIE 5.0 @ X8 that's equivalent to PCIE 4.0 @ X16

There is no such thing as a 1x. Even when using 1 lane 4 lanes are taken out from the pool of available lanes.

Sound Cards and most consumer LAN/WIFI cards are PCIE X1

Now if the card happens to be an X4, then it's questionable.

Overall, 5090 + 3 older SSDs like that (none are PCIE 5.0) would be just fine.

I honestly would look at other MBs; nothing from Gigagbyte

[The_Abortionator]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Look at the block diagram my guy. The 1x PCIe gen5 x4 M.2 from the CPU is direct. The second and third one are also from the CPU and are fed from a switch along with the “GPU” x16 slot. It states clearly in the manual that if you populate either of those M.2 slots that the top “GPU” x16 slot will operate at x8. The fourth M.2 slot is fed from the second chipset.

You seem to have this misunderstanding that somehow PCIe lanes just equate to bandwidth and so if you don’t “use all the bandwidth” then you will magically have more PCIe lanes. That isn’t how it works.

Also no one is saying PCIe 5.0 at x8 doesn’t equate to PCIe 4.0 at x16; that isn’t the topic nor the question asked by the OP. They asked if they populate 3 or the M.2 slots will their top GPU slot be cut to x8; which the answer is yes it will as specified in the manual.

Then you seem to have a SERIOUS problem understanding WTF you just read and typed.

Do I have to really break down for you?

All 4x M2 can be populated and NOT affect the GPU such as 4090 / 5090 (which needs 16 Lanes) because the OP is not using any PCIE 5.0 SSDs.

You say this so loud and confident yet you seem to have missed the point ENTIRELY even when it was spelled out for you.

The short and to the point:

Pcie 5.0 laines DO NOT magically turn into more Pcie 4.0 lanes.

It doesn't matter that 8x 5.0 lanes push the data of 16x 4.0 lanes you can't magically turn 8x 5.0 lanes into 16x 4.0 lanes. Thats never been a thing.

second the other guy is correct as per the manual is self "When the M2B_CPU or M2C_CPU connector is populated, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode."

This literally means putting ANY DEVICE INTO THOSE SLOTS WILL CUT THE GPU LANES IN HALF REGARDLESS OF WHAT GENERATION THEY ARE. PERIOD.

Each port will get lanes assigned and those lanes will run at the fastest gen both devices support IN THAT ORDER. You don't get more lanes from running at lower speeds.

Nobody is spouting "BS" you seem to be out of the loop on how PCIE lanes work.

[The_Abortionator]

Long story short I don't think you have much to worry about even if you have you GPU slot at 8x (for this generation any ways),

That said I still find it insane anybody is buying over priced gamer garbage sound cards these days when you can nab a DAC thats cheaper and doesn't require special drivers to function.

Not only are all the effects gimmiky and not needed but theres already software solutions for them anyways.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Originally posted by The_Abortionator:

There is no such thing as a 1x. Even when using 1 lane 4 lanes are taken out from the pool of available lanes.

Sound Cards and most consumer LAN/WIFI cards are PCIE X1

Now if the card happens to be an X4, then it's questionable.

Overall, 5090 + 3 older SSDs like that (none are PCIE 5.0) would be just fine.

I honestly would look at other MBs; nothing from Gigagbyte

You’re continuing to show a lack of understanding here. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Gen5 or Gen2 SSD, if one is installed in the 2nd or 3rd CPU M.2 slot that will make the PCIe switch drop the x16 slot to x8 and switch the other 8 lates to the two x4 for those M.2. You again seem to think lanes = bandwidth. You are wrong. That is not how PCIe works and it doesn’t matter what gen the SSD is as to how many lanes there are. Again look at the block diagram. That is from AMD not gigabyte. See where it has the big block that says SWITCH and then goes to the 2nd and 3rd M.2 CPU slots and the “GPU” PCIe slot? What do you think that switch is doing?


EDIT: And since you seem to think this is just a Gigabyte thing and you have a hardon for Asus...

Here is from Asus' ROG STRIX X870E-E GAMING WIFI

Originally posted by Asus:

AMD Ryzen™ 9000 & 7000 Series Desktop Processors*
M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 5.0 x4 mode)
M.2_2 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 5.0 x4 mode)**
M.2_3 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 5.0 x4 mode)**

AMD X870E Chipset
M.2_4 slot (Key M), type 2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode)
M.2_5 slot (Key M), type 2280 (supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode)
...

** M.2_2 & M.2_3 slots share bandwidth with PCIEX16(G5). When M.2_2 & M.2_3 are occupied with SSD devices, PCIEX16(G5) will run x8 only.

Weird that ** note that specifically says if you populate the 2nd or 3rd M.2 slot with "SSD devices", note that it isn't saying some specific gen SSD, then the PCIEX16(G5) slot (the GPU PCIe x16 slot) will run in x8 only.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Look at different Motherboards; such as ASROCK X870E NOVA; it has 5x NVME and you can use # 2 - 5 without any such problems.

https://download.asrock.com/Manual/X870E%20Nova%20WiFi.pdf

But yea in this day and age I would probably ditch any SoundBlaster card and lean towards a USB DAC w/ AMP, easy plug & play, driver-less solution, cleaner power and audio.