How to pick a Z170 motherboard?

[caddi daddi]

I read the manual, you will give up being able to use sata ports, 3-0,3-1,3-2 and 3-3 leaving you with 4 sata ports for ssd, hdd or optical drives.

 

[-Ice]

Thanks for that info. But what will happen if I have two M.2 drives? Will both drives be 32GB/s? Or will they end up around half speed?

Also, what exactly is SATA E? I can't seem to find drives that say SATA E...

 

[EarthDog]

They get full bandwidth I believe.

SATAe is a connector and faster version of SATA.

 

[-Ice]

Hmmm... with 256 of M.2 storage, I think I should be good in terms of speed in that front.

BTW, when caddi says I lose 3-0 to 3-3 of my SATA ports, is it the normal SATA III or the SATA E?

 

[EarthDog]

Not sure offhand. It's in your manual though what they are.

 

[-Ice]

Not sure offhand. It's in your manual though what they are.

Not purchased anything yet so no manual

 

[EarthDog]

They are available online. Just go to the website for the board.

 

[-Ice]

Oh, I did not know that... no, wait, I did, I just forgot. Thanks!