Adding an Optane SSD without Killing PCIe Performance?

[barndawg]

I'm considering a new system build including an Asus ROG-STRIX-Z370-G uATX board ( https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-Z370-G-GAMING-WI-FI-AC/specifications/).

It's specs indicate that it has "2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8)."

I'm planning to install my GTX 980 Ti card into one slot and also to include an Intel 900p SSD (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/gaming-enthusiast-ssds/optane-900p-series/900p-480gb-aic-20nm.html).

If I install those two cards, does that indeed drop the number of lanes available to the graphics card from 16-8? Will that have a performance impact, or is 8 sufficient?

It seems like my alternative option is to buy the u.2 form of that SSD. The motherboard doesn't have a u.2 slot though; can I convert that to m.2 without performance impact?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Why do you need that drive, its a MASSIVE waste of money unless you need some sort of astronomical data rates. That Board has 2 M.2 slots that work off the chipset's PCIe lanes. Get yourself a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 of whatever size you need and be done with it.

Optane is a cool technology, but for anyone other than the most data intensive users, its a useless waste of money.

 

[barndawg]

Why do you need that drive, its a MASSIVE waste of money unless you need some sort of astronomical data rates. That Board has 2 M.2 slots that work off the chipset's PCIe lanes. Get yourself a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 of whatever size you need and be done with it.

Thanks for the feedback! I have some family and friends at Intel so I can get Optane quite cheaply which is the reason I was considering it. Intel 760p SSD's (in M2.) are also an option...

 

[Rogue Leader]

Why do you need that drive, its a MASSIVE waste of money unless you need some sort of astronomical data rates. That Board has 2 M.2 slots that work off the chipset's PCIe lanes. Get yourself a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 of whatever size you need and be done with it.

Thanks for the feedback! I have some family and friends at Intel so I can get Optane quite cheaply which is the reason I was considering it. Intel 760p SSD's (in M2.) are also an option...

I would get the Intel M.2 drive then. Many boards won't let you boot from a PCIe slot drive either so theres that issue. Even at a discount I'd bet the Optane PCIe drive is double the cost of what you'd get the 760p at a discount for, totally not worth it.