Shared Flexible i/o

[Megatron]

I've got a Z97X Gaming 5. I emailed support with a question and got an answer. I want a 2nd opinion.

Question:	From page 105 9-series-chipset-pch-datasheet.pdf Can u make a bios change to give M.2 + 6 Sata ports at once at the cost of 2 USB ports?	5/12/2015 4:17 AM
Attachments:	shared_high_speed_io.jpg
Answer:	Hello, Sorry but we have no method to do this, because it's relate to HW design. If our BIOS only change the setting of ME, but still can't switch due to HW do not support.

From reading that data sheet with a name like flexible i/o, I would doubt the problem is a "H/W design" one.

http://www.intel.co.uk/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/9-series-chipset-pch-datasheet.pdf

[TicTacToe]

Re: Shared Flexible i/o

I'm going to hazard a guess here and say that the Flexibility does exist but it is in Gigabytes favour to do as they wish with it. So once the factory has settled on a technical option for a given board, that is it basically. This may actually account for some of the differences in the board ranges from the Gaming -3, Gaming -5, Gaming -7, through to the gaming GT blacks. Once the board is configured in a particular way from the factory, they will not change it. In some instances, enthusiasts can modify the Bios to achieve certain things not specified by the manufacturer. In such a case, you are taking a personal risk and possibly voiding your own warranty should there be a catastrophic failure.
It is such features that sometimes allows for specs such as twin ethernet connections, whiles sacrificing say a display port or internal wireless adapter port you see in some z97x boards. Probably why some sata ports get nulled when you use the M.2 connection on some baords.

Sometimes they do listen to the users if they keep requesting a certain type of feature or find something more useful than others in the next iteration of the board. Maybe on the future z107x- Gaming -3, but that will not be helpful in your case.