M2 pci e 3.0 x4

[Td0g]

Hi guys i posted this thread in motherboards, but then realised its probably more appropriate here, so apologies for double post, don't know how to delete my old thread:My motherboard has this feature http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?id=2121

I was going to sell my 240gb sandisk extreme pro and buy a Samsung sm951 m.2 ssd. This would give me speeds up to 1700+ on the write and 1500+ on the read as opposed to my current 500+.

My question is, will this steal pci e 3.0 lanes / bandwidth from my gpu?
If so, will it limit gpu performance?
Can this be used as a boot drive? (as i want to remove all my drive cages and other ssds). The big one is 512gb which is enough for me.
I have i7 4790k
Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Td0g]

found my answer, kind of disappointing:
"But there is a problem. On the Intel Z97 platform PCI Express 3.0 is only supported by the microprocessor itself. The CPU has 16 PCI Express 3.0 lanes that can be used to connect a graphics card in PCIe 3.0 x16 mode or reconfigured as 8+8 lanes (to support a dual-GPU configuration) or 8+4+4 lanes (to support a multi-GPU or multi-PCIe devices configuration). As a result, once an SSD in plugged into the Ultra M.2 slot, the bandwidth between central processing unit and graphics processing unit is cut-down by half. Therefore, while the end-user gets additional SSD performance, he/she may lose some GPU performance because of insufficient bandwidth between it and the CPU."

as of:
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...m-2-ssds-with-ultra-m-2-but-there-is-a-catch/

 

[Td0g]

ok,
ive now found information to suggest that halving the gpu bandwidth doesnt actually make a difference. you wouldnt however be able to sli, as nvidia has an 8 lane minimum restriction on their cards. This plus 2 cards in sli would force 8 x 4 x 4, as opposed to 8 x 8 in sli, or 8 x 8 1 gpu, 1 ultra m.2.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8045/asrock-z97-extreme6-review-ultra-m2-x4-tested-with-xp941/11

Still undecided though halving gpu bandwidth just feels wrong in a gaming rig lol
it also looks a bit sketchy as to whether it can be used as a boot drive, it all depends on whether asrock update (or have updated) their bios to allow this