[SOLVED] Asus Strix B450-F gaming II Motherboard - a few questions

[Mike2009]

I recently bought this board to upgrade from the MSI A320m A pro max board I have running on my Ryzen 5 3600 build . I havent installed it yet sue to a few more things im waiting on a few other items

to further assist on information on the board ... Manual

1. if i read the manual right ,,, both pci -e 16 x slots that have the metal reinforcement are full 16x output on either one . so i wouldn't have to use the top x16 slot for my gpu in case i wanted to space things out a bit ?

2. the board has 2 m.2 slots (the one nearest the chipset heatsink has a heatshield ). I currently have a WD black SN750 500gb i just g picked up im using for the main drive im gonna put in that heat shielded slot ,, but since it has this second slot,, my original idea was i was going to pick up a 2tb 2.5 inch ssd and use that as my games and storage drive but now im thinking i might just get a 2tb m.2 ssd and eliminate any cable management needed for the storage drive, now I read using t on e of the other eliminates two sata port outputs ,, but does it affect the gpu 16x slots using both m.2 slots?

3. finally since I'm not using AIO , there's a pump header output that is in a convenient area to wire the rear case fan to, can i use this output as a fan header or is there some weird voltage thing with that header ? ill be using a 3 pin non pwm fan in said rear spot. ( just a stock corsair case fan that comes with the corsair 275R airflow case)

 

[white.a.drew]

I recently bought this board to upgrade from the MSI A320m A pro max board I have running on my Ryzen 5 3600 build . I havent installed it yet sue to a few more things im waiting on a few other items

to further assist on information on the board ... Manual

1. if i read the manual right ,,, both pci -e 16 x slots that have the metal reinforcement are full 16x output on either one . so i wouldn't have to use the top x16 slot for my gpu in case i wanted to space things out a bit ?

2. the board has 2 m.2 slots (the one nearest the chipset heatsink has a heatshield ). I currently have a WD black SN750 500gb i just g picked up im using for the main drive im gonna put in that heat shielded slot ,, but since it has this second slot,, my original idea was i was going to pick up a 2tb 2.5 inch ssd and use that as my games and storage drive but now im thinking i might just get a 2tb m.2 ssd and eliminate any cable management needed for the storage drive, now I read using t on e of the other eliminates two sata port outputs ,, but does it affect the gpu 16x slots using both m.2 slots?

3. finally since I'm not using AIO , there's a pump header output that is in a convenient area to wire the rear case fan to, can i use this output as a fan header or is there some weird voltage thing with that header ? ill be using a 3 pin non pwm fan in said rear spot. ( just a stock corsair case fan that comes with the corsair 275R airflow case)

1.) Yes both the ports with metal supports are 16x
2.) Yes you can use two m.2 drives instead of sata drives. If you use both is may affect the speed on some mobo's second 16x bus pcie slot. Reference book for your mono to know.
3.) I honestly don't recommend using the aio port for fans I've heard story's "not that I know for fact"

 

[Mike2009]

1.) Yes both the ports with metal supports are 16x
2.) Yes you can use two m.2 drives instead of sata drives. If you use both is may affect the speed on some mobo's second 16x bus pcie slot. Reference book for your mono to know.
3.) I honestly don't recommend using the aio port for fans I've heard story's "not that I know for fact"

thanks for the reply, according to the manual PCIE 16x slot 1 (nearest the the cpu socket is reduced to 8x when m.2 slot 2 is used(the heatsink covered m.2 slot near the chipset heatsink) and m.2 slot 1 (the one near cpu socket) disable sata ports 5 and 6 ,, ok thank you i just had to dig around for that one and unscramble my brain. so ill us the 16x slot 2 for my graphics card.

and as for #3 i didn't see this before but theres also a fan header right next to the pump header have to pay attention to which header to use there for that fan .

 

[ChangeinPortland]

Be sure you know whether the second M.2 slot is PCIE or SATA, it matters on many boards since many M.2 SSDs will only use one or the other interface. Just a heads up. (though if it disables SATA ports its probably a SATA m.2 interface.)

 

[Mike2009]

Be sure you know whether the second M.2 slot is PCIE or SATA, it matters on many boards since many M.2 SSDs will only use one or the other interface. Just a heads up. (though if it disables SATA ports its probably a SATA m.2 interface.)

m.2 slot 1 disabled sata ports 5 and 6 this slot is the one i want to use as games and storage , i assume this one is the sata m.2 port you were talking about.

m.2 slot 2 reduces PCI x16 slot 1 (nearest cpu socket ) to x8 so thats the one ill be using as my boot drive ,,,,

 

[white.a.drew]

m.2 slot 1 disabled sata ports 5 and 6 this slot is the one i want to use as games and storage , i assume this one is the sata m.2 port you were talking about.

m.2 slot 2 reduces PCI x16 slot 1 (nearest cpu socket ) to x8 so thats the one ill be using as my boot drive ,,,,

Smart man