ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E Questions

[davidrosen]

So I'm considering doing a new system build and I have a couple questions maybe someone can help with. I'll be using this PC for my Music Studio.

I'm looking at an ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E with an i7 8700k.

Question #1 (the main one)
If I use a Samsung 970PRO 512gb m.2 for my OS drive and a Samsung 970EVO 1TB for my sample drive... And want both to run at the fullest speed possible, that will mean I can only use 3 of my SATA 6gb/s ports for more drives, is that right? I'm pretty sure that's how it works with this motherboard. I'd also need a regular 1TB SSD for one of those for my projects drive and like a 3TB/4TB HDD for all my random other stuff. Everything else is external, so I'd still have one slot for either a DVD-R or I'd use an external DVD-R since I rarely use it anyway and keep one slot open for the future.

Question #2
Video card... I'm looking at a MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card. I won't be playing games with it, but I want a card that's solid because I've found in the past that skimping on the video card can lead to issues. I do do a little light video editing too. Any thoughts?

I may have to ask a couple more questions along the way haha, but for now that should do it. Any input is appreciated 🙂

 

[zyh1987]

you could use a pci-e adapter? since your pci-e slots are almost empty. you can even run the 1050ti off one of the x4 pcie slot.

as for graphic card, the card is pretty good, these graphics tends to
last a long time when you don't put it through heavy use.

 

[davidrosen]

you could use a pci-e adapter? since your pci-e slots are almost empty. you can even run the 1050ti off one of the x4 pcie slot.

Thanks for the response but I don't need extra SATA ports, I just wanted to know if I'm correct in what I think I've figured out about how this particular motherboard works... If I have the 970pro in m2 slot one and 970evo in m2 slot two, I'll only have access to 3 SATA 6gb/s ports... That makes sense?

 

[hendrickhere]

I have this board with one 960 pro installed. I believe your assumption is correct - you'll just have both NVMe's taking up your SATA ports. You may be better off just getting one large drive for both the OS and your sample drive and having fast SSDs for backup.

 

[davidrosen]

I have this board with one 960 pro installed. I believe your assumption is correct - you'll just have both NVMe's taking up your SATA ports. You may be better off just getting one large drive for both the OS and your sample drive and having fast SSDs for backup.

OK Great... And yeah I still am considering that possibility but generally speaking I think most music studios like to keep the 3 drives separate... I wish I could just have like one 6 or even 8TB SSD for everything, but I'll have to wait for my imaginary future for that 🙂 haha

 

[davidrosen]

I just realized a question I didn't ask... Will I be able to boot off the Samsung 970PRO m2 on this particular motherboard?

 

[zyh1987]

you could use a pci-e adapter? since your pci-e slots are almost empty. you can even run the 1050ti off one of the x4 pcie slot.

Thanks for the response but I don't need extra SATA ports, I just wanted to know if I'm correct in what I think I've figured out about how this particular motherboard works... If I have the 970pro in m2 slot one and 970evo in m2 slot two, I'll only have access to 3 SATA 6gb/s ports... That makes sense?

according to manual,

no, i think only sata 5-6 will be disabled for running pci-e x4 on m2_2
sata1 is only disabled if you use a m.2 sata device on the m2_1 slot.

 

[davidrosen]

according to manual,

no, i think only sata 5-6 will be disabled for running pci-e x4 on m2_2
sata1 is only disabled if you use a m.2 sata device on the m2_1 slot.

Right, I'd have an m2 in each. a 970PRO in m2_1 and an 970EVO in m2_2... So I'd lose sata1, 5, and 6. Right?

 

[zyh1987]

what i was referring too is hyper m.2 x16 card, you can plug this onto the pciex16 slot, and that will allow you to run 4 pciex4 m.2 at once.

 

[zyh1987]

according to manual,

no, i think only sata 5-6 will be disabled for running pci-e x4 on m2_2
sata1 is only disabled if you use a m.2 sata device on the m2_1 slot.

Right, I'd have an m2 in each. a 970PRO in m2_1 and an 970EVO in m2_2... So I'd lose sata1, 5, and 6. Right?

sata1 is disabled, if you use m.2 sata device, 970 is pciex4 afaik. so i don't think it will disable the sata1

 

[davidrosen]

what i was referring too is hyper m.2 x16 card, you can plug this onto the pciex16 slot, and that will allow you to run 4 pciex4 m.2 at once.

Oh wow, I didn't even know that was a thing! Haha. Interesting... And just go all m.2 drives, no regular SSD. I'd still probably want to put one big like 6tb HDD in there. Hmm... Is that advisable to go with all m.2 drives for my important drives nowadays? It's been forever since I built a system... SSDs weren't even a thing, I only first added one to my most recent pre-built machine.

 

[davidrosen]

sata1 is disabled, if you use m.2 sata device, 970 is pciex4 afaik. so i don't think it will disable the sata1

Oh ok... So if I stuck with my original plan I'd still have SATA 1-4 all available.

 

[zyh1987]

unless the manual fails to mention regarding pci-e 4x in m2_1 disables sata1, you should be good.

 

[davidrosen]

unless the manual fails to mention regarding pci-e 4x in m2_1 disables sata1, you should be good.

Someone sent me a screenshot of the manual and it actually says if the m2 drive on m2_1 is a sata device it will disable sata port 1... But then it DOESN'T say what happens if its a pci-e device haha. It just says it'll use pci-e mode. But yeah I think you're probably right.

 

[davidrosen]

Thank you for your input everyone. Any other suggestions are always welcome 🙂 This will be my first time ACTUALLY building a PC (not just picking on a system configuration site) in man... Like 15 years at least... So it's gonna be interesting to say the least haha.