ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

[robman1]

I know the Samsung SSD SM951 needs an adapter to go from M.2 to PCIe 3.0 because this motherboard's M.2 port will strangle the 951's data flow(AHCi or NVMe). I have looked at the spec sheet for board but can't deduce whether there are enough PCIe 3.0 channels for the PowerColor Radeon R9 285 2GB TurboDuo Video Card and the Samsung SM951(128GB) to be slotted in and to work at their maximum potentials. Can someone please tell me if I screwed up buying this board and if not, which PCIe 3.0 slots do I put these two components in?
here is the specs from ASRock: ASRock > Z97M OC Formula

[SandsOfTime]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

This motherboard has a total of 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes. They all can be used if you populate PCIE1 slot only, usually for the graphics card. But if you also populate PCIE3 for a SM951, then PCIE1 and PCIE3 will have only 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes each.

[robman1]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

And I recently found out the Samsung SSD SM951 was tested with only 4 lanes of PCIE 3.0 and achieving the 2K read and 1.4K write speeds. That was on Tom's Hardware site

[SandsOfTime]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

Yes, the SM951 uses only 4 lanes. But the 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes of the motherboard can only be splitted into 16/0 or 8/8. BTW the 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes of the PCIE4 slot provide a 2K speed.

[Joe-912]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

Yes I have the 256GB version of the SM951 in my M2 slot on my Asus Maximus 7 Hero and it gets Seq read 763MB/s Seq write 705MB/s but I don't want to get an adaptor and put in Pcie 3 incase it causes slow down with my 970, for me I just wanted to poulate the M2 socket, and have swapped out my Sata Crucial MX200 to another desktop, I find windows 7 does fly though with the SM951

[robman1]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

That's about 1200 short of SM951 read potential and it will achieve the 2K speed in PCIE 2.0 x4. Tom's Hardware did their spec test with just that. Of course if current read/write speeds are good and you like the M.2 port fill, I get it. I wasn't happy when I learned my ASROCK Z97M OC Formula M.2 port is a darn data stranger lol

[Joe-912]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

Yes it's a bit sad that the M2 slot on Asus Maximus only runs a x2 even though the black x4 slot is not being used

[robman1]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

So that port just sits there not even connected to board circuits?

[Joe-912]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

It connected and its switched to x2 but I ain't got anything plugged into it, so it's a shame the M2 can't run at x4 if you know what I mean

[Joe-912]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use



I brought the Lycom M2 adaptor and put it in the PCIe2 x4 slot, now speeds are a lot better

[robman1]

ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use-BEST M.2 ADAPTER

My SM951 (NVMe) is in the mail and now I hope to do a little future proofing and find either a x8 or x16 PCIe 3.0/M.2 adapter card without software bloating or drivers. So far I've just seen x4 with Addonics and Lycom but I figure M.2s may have a little more to offer later on than even the current 2150 read speed benches. So anyone that has clocked 2K read speed and have 4,8, or 16 lane M.2 to PCIe 3.0 adapter card I'd love to get a URL on that gear. Any opinions or knowledge on this would be cool too.

[Joe-912]

Re: ASRock Z97M OC Formula PCIe 3.0 use

I bet you can't wait to get it delivered hey, One thing to keep in mind the SM951 controller is limited to x4 lanes if i'm not mistaken, but I can't wait to see your benchmarks go all the same if you upload them, What I notice with the SM951 is when you run Anti virus and anti malware scans is just Rapid and installing windows updates is so fast...