m.2 SSD vs GPU is it worth it.

P4Clock

P4Clock

P4Clock

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Firstly posting this here because i dont know if it should go in storage, GPU or motherboard sections.

My question is my new motherboard as dual m.2 32bg/s slots. each slot will use 4x or PCIE lanes. So on a system with an overclocked i5. and a gpu like say 980ti playing games at 1440... should you run m.2 or not.

running an m.2 will drop the gpu to 8X mode and fully rule out CF or SLI.

can you game with an x8 pcie lane @ 1440?
 
Taken from MSI:

Storage

• Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (4 ports reserved for SATAe)
• 2 x M.2 slot*
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**

• 2 x SATAe port (PCIe 3.0 x2) ***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors

* M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs.
** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately.
*** SATAe port is backward compatible with SATA.

That reads to me that only one m.2 port supports x4 PCIE. The second is SATA so will only give you up to SATA3 speeds IF both ports are used at the same time.
 
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OracIe said:
That reads to me that only one m.2 port supports x4 PCIE. The second is SATA so will only give you up to SATA3 speeds IF both ports are used at the same time.
Click to expand...

well spotted

on z170 chip set it would still drop the gpu to 8x, so question is still valid
 
OracIe said:
It is, and I've answered it in my first post! :P
Click to expand...

you have double the pcie lanes to me buddy
your didn't mention gpu performance
you didn't mention gaming performance at 1440
you didn't mention sli/CF performance problems

struggling to see my answer, maybe you want to make it easier to understand in case i am missing something
 
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OK...

Your CPU specification here. - According to this, your CPU supports any combination of PCIE lanes up to a maximum of 16.

Your mobo supoprts 3x 16 slots but you're limited to 16 lanes by the CPU.

If you intend to use an M.2 (The PCIE version that will consume 4 lanes) - which leaves 12 left over, if you install a GFX it will use 16 lanes if they are available, but if you're using an M.2 then its not, so it will use the next config down, x8.

I'm not going to quote you performance figures, its almost 1AM, there's too many variables to go into and you can do a bit of research yourself, however it's quite well known that on a PCIE Gen 3 slot, the difference between x8 and x16 is minimal, certainly not that you'd notice and the bandwidth available is more than enough to game absolutely fine at 1440.

Again, CF/SLI is not without its problems, game profiles that support the config are a big problem, hardware spacing, heat management, cost, yes you double the CPU power but not the memory.
(Yes, I've run SLI before)

If that isnt much of an answer, I'll let someone else pitch in.
 
...the difference between x8 and x16 is minimal,...
Click to expand...

This is what I have always wondered if there is any noticeable difference to performance other than outside benchmarking?
 
ZeroG said:
This is what I have always wondered if there is any noticeable difference to performance other than outside benchmarking?
Click to expand...

About 1% from v3 x16 to v3 x8 last time it was tested.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/23.html

Somebody should do it again with a recent high-end card.

Edit: and this one. Some larger differences depending on game, but not noticeable most of the time

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012...gpu_gaming_performance_review/14#.VwaSOiY9uEI
 
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