HELP!!! with upgrading.

[caddi daddi]

the machine, as it sits.
i7, 8086k
32 gigs 2933 kingston ram
asrock, z370 extreme4, link to manual > https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z370 Extreme4/index.asp
storage, 1 m.2, sata ssd and 5 sata3 ssds
graphics, single titan x.

some most wonderful friends are coming to get me today to get me out of the house today and reconfigure my rig for me today.
i want to go back two,
2 1080s in sli
upgrade my storage with 2 500gig m.2, pcie ssds, these will replace the m.2 sata boot drive and the sata3 drive I have my favorite games on.

my confusion,

when I install the m.2 pcie drives will I still lose the use of the sata ports as stated in the manual?

what effect, if any, will reverting to dual graphics gave on storage? my vpu has only 16 pxie lanes.

what is the difference betwttn the samung 970 evo ans the 970 evo plus?

 

[EarthDog]

1. I'd imagine so. What makes you think the manual isnt correct?

2. I dont think any. You have 16 lanes from the cpu for graphics. Dual cards should split to x8/x8. Confirm in the manual.

3. No clue... but googling it quickly yields it's a change in NAND for power savings, essentially. Heres what I found which should help.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13761/the-samsung-970-evo-plus-ssd-review

I'd ditch sli and just go single card, honestly. mGPU can be a hassle and all games dont scale...etc. but if you need the fps, you do!

 

[caddi daddi]

thank you earthdog,
i have drawn out a diagram of two configuratios for storage.
the first withtwo 500gif pxie drives, with this i am left with 4sata3 ports.
the other a singel 1 tbpcie dirve with 1 space for the os ans a sedind for games, this leaves me 6 sata ports. ithink this looks berret.

 

[EarthDog]

I'm not sure what you have said here... many typos confusing things. Lol.

I see 2 configs...

One using two 500gb pcie based m.2 drives leaving you 4 sata ports. The other a single larger pcie based 1tb drive which leaves all sata ports (how?) But is partitioned for the OS and games? Please clarify...

 

[caddi daddi]

earthdog, im having extreme issues these days, please forgive me.
my bee is helping me now so i should improve.

the motherboard has 8 sata ports.

with a single pcie drive i give up use of 2 sata ports, this leaves me 6.

with 2 pcie drives i give up 4 sata ports, leaving me 4. correct?

 

[EarthDog]

No worries...get well soon!

According to the manual, you are correct. I'm guessing you'll have 2 sata ports fed from the chipset and two more from an asmedia controller leftover.

 

[caddi daddi]

thank you for the wishes.


another question,
either way i do the graphics i will use 16 pcie lanes.
my cpu has 16 pcie lanes, the graphics will use all of these either 1x16 or 2x8.
where do the pcie lanes for the drives come from?

 

[EarthDog]

Post 2, number 2.

The graphics lanes are sourced from the cpu while the sata and m.2 lanes are from the pch/chipset (or asmedia controller since you have 8 ports and 6 are from the chipset).

Look up z370 chipset diagram (im mobile...sorry) and you can see how it's all wired. Some have pcie lanes for m.2 attached to the cpu but since yours is taking sata ports, it's all through the chipset.