ASRock Z170 Extreme4: Possible to have PCI-E GPU at x16 with PCI-E SSD and wifi adapter at the same time?

[Kalrish]

I would like to know whether it would be possible, with the ASRock Z170M Extreme4, to have at the same time:

• 
  ■ a PCI-E 3.0 graphics card at x16;
  ■ an M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 SSD; and
  ■ a TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 (PCI-E 3.0 x1).

The motherboard manual doesn't mention whether the M.2 interface shares PCI-E lanes, hence my doubt regarding the SSD.

 

[clutchc]

Since you've already investigated the manual and came up empty, it may be best to contact Asrock directly. My assumption is that it will still leave the full 16 lanes available using only one gfx card. But I have nothing to show you that verifies that.

The weak link in my logic however, is that there appear to be a total of 20 lanes available overall. You will be using 5 of them with the x1 wifi card and the x4 SSD... leaving 15. Best to contact Asrock for a definitive answer. When not is use, the other devices may give up their lanes.

 

[Kalrish]

Since you've already investigated the manual and came up empty, it may be best to contact Asrock directly. My assumption is that it will still leave the full 16 lanes available using only one gfx card. But I have nothing to show you that verifies that.

The weak link in my logic however, is that there appear to be a total of 20 lanes available overall. You will be using 5 of them with the x1 wifi card and the x4 SSD... leaving 15. Best to contact Asrock for a definitive answer. When not is use, the other devices may give up their lanes.

Thank you. I have just contacted them. I'll post their answer if I get one.

 

[Kalrish]

ASRock support says it is possible.

 

[clutchc]

ASRock support says it is possible.

Good to know. Thanks for the feedback.
Did you mention about the lanes adding up to more than 20?

 

[Kalrish]

Did you mention about the lanes adding up to more than 20?

I described the same setup as here and they explained it would definitely be possible. Apparently, the CPU itself offers 16 lanes and the socket some others (20, the Z170). The lanes are distributed in some way in each motherboard — usually, the 16 CPU lanes go to a PCI-E slot destined to a graphics card and the socket lanes are shared out between additional PCI-E slots, SATA ports and any other expansion options. The M.2 slot in this motherboard shares those 20 socket lanes, no matter if the SSD connected to it uses PCI-E or SATA under the hood. Using the M.2 slot disables two of the SATA ports, though.