Greetings,
I am about to install a 960 Evo (m.2 2280) in my z370 Gaming 7, i7-8700k, 1080 ti build that I have been working on.
I currently have 2 SSDs, and 2 spinners, and a DVD player, Connected to various SATA ports. I have 6 total SATA ports available, and 3 M.2 Slots. How should I configure this to optimize speed, and SATA availability? (I intend on adding a few more HDDs at a later date.) If I connect it to the bottom m.2 slot, which operates over pcie x4 lane, will that impact performance, or benefit it? Please reference the below information for all of the appropriate lane info.
The Gaming 7 has the following M.2 Configuration....
(M2M_32G) (M2A_32G) M.2 connectors (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support)
(M2P_32G) M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 PCIe x4/x2 SSD support)
The Top Slot M2M_32G: Shares bandwith with SATA3 slots 4/5.
The Middle Slot M2A_32G: Shares Bandwith with SATA3 0.
The Bottom Slot M2P_32G: Shares bandwidth with PCIe X4, which lowers that PCIe to X2. Currently the x4 slot is unoccupied.
The manual describes it this way... "Due to the limited number of lanes provided by the Chipset, the availability of the SATA connectors may be affected by the type of device installed in the M2. sockets. The M2M_32G connector shares bandwidth with the SATA3 4, 5 connectors; the M2A_32G connector shares bandwidth with the SATA3 0; the M2P_32G connector shares bandwidth with the PCIEX4 connector. Refer to the following tables for details."
So after all of the background, the question....
I am about to install a 960 Evo (m.2 2280) in my z370 Gaming 7, i7-8700k, 1080 ti build that I have been working on.
I currently have 2 SSDs, and 2 spinners, and a DVD player, Connected to various SATA ports. I have 6 total SATA ports available, and 3 M.2 Slots. How should I configure this to optimize speed, and SATA availability? (I intend on adding a few more HDDs at a later date.) If I connect it to the bottom m.2 slot, which operates over pcie x4 lane, will that impact performance, or benefit it? Please reference the below information for all of the appropriate lane info.
The Gaming 7 has the following M.2 Configuration....
(M2M_32G) (M2A_32G) M.2 connectors (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2 SSD support)
(M2P_32G) M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 PCIe x4/x2 SSD support)
The Top Slot M2M_32G: Shares bandwith with SATA3 slots 4/5.
The Middle Slot M2A_32G: Shares Bandwith with SATA3 0.
The Bottom Slot M2P_32G: Shares bandwidth with PCIe X4, which lowers that PCIe to X2. Currently the x4 slot is unoccupied.
The manual describes it this way... "Due to the limited number of lanes provided by the Chipset, the availability of the SATA connectors may be affected by the type of device installed in the M2. sockets. The M2M_32G connector shares bandwidth with the SATA3 4, 5 connectors; the M2A_32G connector shares bandwidth with the SATA3 0; the M2P_32G connector shares bandwidth with the PCIEX4 connector. Refer to the following tables for details."
So after all of the background, the question....
