M.2 PCI-E Asus Maximus VII Hero

mkelbie

mkelbie

mkelbie

Associate
Joined
24 Jan 2012
Posts
231
I currently have a 250GB Corsair Neutron GTX SSD and I have been looking at my upgrade options. One original idea was an Asus RaidR but these seem quite expensive for what they are.

Then there was the GSKill option which is even more expensive so to keep the cost realistic for me I am looking at a 2nd SSD for Raid or make use of my M.2 slot but want to be sure about the bandwidth before I invest.

I believe the slot will only run a PCI-E 2X and wont impact my SLI 8X Titans?

If the above is correct, would my best option be a 256GB Plextor M.2 SSD or a 2nd SSD? The reason I have opted for the Plextor is because I know there is a a faster Samsung drive but I think that needs 4X so it won't work at full speed on my system.

Thanks
 
Ordering the 2nd SSD, don't want to cause issues with PCI-E bandwidth when I am already running 2 Titans. I think 2x would be fine but if I ever buy a raid card or anything else I think I will run into problems so maybe my best option is to use my existing SATA ports for Raid.
 
It's a shame the motherboard doesn't use the sata m.2. IMO the m.2 slot at the moment is stupid with too many variations on keys/type/size
 
I have actually only seen the Plextor 1 until recently when I found the Samsung 1.

Not paying the premium for the samsung since its 4X which I dont have.

Would you say it is better for a 2nd SSD then and forget I even have this M.2 slot?
 
AS I understand it the M2 Socket 3 is x4 , and from what I can see will disable the PCIe2x16 slot if you use it.

Form the Asus website

1: The PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (PCIEX4_3) shares bandwith with PCIe 2.0 x1 and M.2 slot. The default setting is Auto Mode, which automatically optimizes the system bandwidth. If you install a PCIe 2.0 x4 device, the system will automatically detect and disable PCIe 2.0 x1 and M.2 slot.

*2: The PCIe 2.0 x1 slots (PCIEX1_1/2/3) will be disabled when PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (PCIEX4_3 ) operates under x4 speed or M.2 mode.
Click to expand...

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/specifications/

Are you saying you have 2 x PCIe16x Titans and 1 x SSD PCIe already?

Or have you ran out of CPU PCIe lanes already?

16x & 8x SLI = 24 lanes?

Which may only leave you SATA or having to dual 8x SLI.
 
I believe my 2 Titans are running 8x 8x and they are the only PCI-E cards in my system.

If I was to add a M.2 PCI-E SSD this would run @ 2X.

Not sure what impact this has on the PCI-E 2.0 4X Slot at the bottom of the board?

That is how I read it? I definitely read somewhere the M.2 is only 2X where as on X99 boards it is 4X.
 
Well if you are running 2 x 8x SLI , then you have the PCIe lanes for 4x. assuming you have a 24 PCIe CPU.

You are right about your board and the M.2 slot as I have X99 and it definitely says it is 4x. even though they are both M2 Socket 3. I checked your mobo manual and it states
it shares bandwidth with PCIe x2 slot with data transfer up to 10GBPS
Click to expand...

So I guess the Samsung M.2 SSD would be a waste in that M.2 slot.

So it leaves you x8 lanes for a PCIe on your CPU but only x4 for SSD drive as your mobo only gives you 20 lanes from the 3 x 16 slots, so don't think you could run the G Skill Phoenix Blade SSD as it's PCIe2.0x8.

Yes it is expensive, I know I just bought one, but it is amazingly fast!

I currently run that with 2 x GTX760's SLI x 16 (which is my total 40 PCIe lanes!)

So it's the only fast SSD I can run leaving me with SATA, so I appreciate your dilemma!

You'd need to do some research into what PCIe SSD's you can afford that is x4. I think you will get better performance out of one of those than using the M.2 slot at x2.

However, I don't suppose you got an Asus M.2 PCIe adaptor card with your mobo? one came with mine.

If so you could run the Samsung M.2 x4 card with the adaptor in the remaining PCIe x4 slot.
 
1dmf said:
Well if you are running 2 x 8x SLI , then you have the PCIe lanes for 4x. assuming you have a 24 PCIe CPU.

You are right about your board and the M.2 slot as I have X99 and it definitely says it is 4x. even though they are both M2 Socket 3. I checked your mobo manual and it states

So I guess the Samsung M.2 SSD would be a waste in that M.2 slot.

So it leaves you x8 lanes for a PCIe on your CPU but only x4 for SSD drive as your mobo only gives you 20 lanes from the 3 x 16 slots, so don't think you could run the G Skill Phoenix Blade SSD as it's PCIe2.0x8.

Yes it is expensive, I know I just bought one, but it is amazingly fast!

I currently run that with 2 x GTX760's SLI x 16 (which is my total 40 PCIe lanes!)

So it's the only fast SSD I can run leaving me with SATA, so I appreciate your dilemma!

You'd need to do some research into what PCIe SSD's you can afford that is x4. I think you will get better performance out of one of those than using the M.2 slot at x2.

However, I don't suppose you got an Asus M.2 PCIe adaptor card with your mobo? one came with mine.

If so you could run the Samsung M.2 x4 card with the adaptor in the remaining PCIe x4 slot.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that response :)

No, my board didn't come with an adapter. Do you think I am best buying a PCI-E card than and fitting a couple m.2 devices to that?

I will have to look into this more, I may just getting a 2nd Corsair SSD and keep things simple
 
Well there are some PCIe M.2 adaptors about and assume as OCUK don't stock the XP941 it is ok to mention flexxmemory where I have just purchased a 256GB XP941 SSD drive from.

I have had to send a second G SKill Phoenix Blade PCIe SSD back and they are now out of stock so have opted for a refund and have gone with the XP941 as a replacement until the new Gen 3.0 NVMe SSD's are available next year.

If you decide to go for the Samsung XP941 Gen 2.0 x4 SSD, the retailer I mentioned above auto-offers a PCIe adaptor card to add to the order, so you can get both at the same time.

I guess I'm in the lucky situation that my Mobo came with a Hyper M.2 PCIe adaptor card.

Good luck with what ever you choose and have a great Christmas. :D
 
G Skill not working out so good then?

I think I am going to give the Samsung a miss, it will either be the Plextor or another SATA SSD for Raid.

Thank you for the help and merry christmas to you :)
 
G Skill not working out so good then?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no, looked good on paper, but seem to have had some bad luck with the ones I got.

I also looked at the Plextor M6e, but they have lower specs than the Samsung and are also more expensive, though it does seem they come with the PCIe adaptor, which I don't need.

Let us know if you get one and how it performs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom