ASUS X99 Deluxe II: Yet Another PCIE Config Call for Help

[MarcoAustin]

Hello All,

Need some help with ASUS X99 Deluxe II.
Specifically with PCIE lanes.
I am running two GPUs: GTX 1060 on primary monitor and GTX 960 on 2 secondary monitors.

PCIE in slot #3 shows 8X mode. I understand why—M.2 takes 4X.
Anyway, I swapped the GTX 960 to slot #4 which should support 16X, but it still showed 8X and worst: Slot #1 GTX 1060 went from 16X down to 8X!!

Any help greatly appreciated.
My config below:

WIN 10 Pro
i7-6850K CPU
ASUS X99-DELUXE II (BIOS 801)
32GB (DDR4-3200 / PC4-25600) G.Skill TridentZ
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB [GIGABYTE G1 Gaming] PCIE #1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB [GIGABYTE] PCIE #3
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
Samsung SSD 950 PRO 512GB (M.2 MB Slot)
SAMSUNG SSD PM830 256GB x2
Seagate 2TB (ST2000DM001)
Monitor Asus ROG PG279Q (GTX 1060)
Monitor ViewSonic VX2450WM (GTX 960)
Monitor Acer GD235HZ (GTX 960)

 

[Rogue Leader]

Slot 4 will not support 16x, the only way for this to work correctly is to use slot 3 for your 2nd GPU. The second GPU must use the lanes directly connected to the CPU, the system bus lanes won't work with it. So if you have an M.2 drive inserted there is no way around the 16x/8x configuration. Then with the 4x m.2 drive you're taking up a total of 32 lanes of your 40 lane CPU. The other 8 lanes are reserved for the 2 u.2 ports.

Its unfortunately the way that board is designed in its lane allocation, although I would bet most others work that way as well. That said running the second GPU at 8x you are really losing nearly no performance.

 

[MarcoAustin]

Slot 4 will not support 16x, the only way for this to work correctly is to use slot 3 for your 2nd GPU. The second GPU must use the lanes directly connected to the CPU, the system bus lanes won't work with it. So if you have an M.2 drive inserted there is no way around the 16x/8x configuration. Then with the 4x m.2 drive you're taking up a total of 32 lanes of your 40 lane CPU. The other 8 lanes are reserved for the 2 u.2 ports.

Its unfortunately the way that board is designed in its lane allocation, although I would bet most others work that way as well. That said running the second GPU at 8x you are really losing nearly no performance.

Thank you for your quick response Rogue Leader.
Looking again at my MB manual, I think it shows PCIe slot #4 supports 8X in three-way SLI (only?).
Anyway, I suppose I could use the Hyper M.2 x4 card in slot 4 or 5 and recoup those 8 lanes…
I do understand that eight vs. sixteen is not a huge deal performance wise, especially since the GTX 960 is just for running my secondary monitors.

My concern, I suppose is that at some point I will probably get two 1080s (or 1080ti’s—if they ever appear—it’s only money right?) and run SLI.

At that point I will probably be just anal enough to insist on 16X times two for those cards.

Hey, thanks for your answer; it helped a lot. Now I can move on to my ‘other issues’—mostly self-perpetuated—this is my first build and I cannot stop tweaking it!
Hahaha
Thx again.
Cheers

 

[ThomasLeong]

First let's get some labeling and facts straightened out (from pages ix and 1-2 of user manual) -
PCIex16_1 : 1st slot (PCIe 3.0)
PCIex1: 2nd slot
PCIex16_2 : 3rd slot (PCIe 2.0. Shares bandwidth with USB3_34 and USB 3.1_EA34. It runs at x2 mode by default. Max at x4 mode)
PCIex16_3 : 4th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with M.2 and U.2_2. It runs at x16 mode by default)
PCIex16_4 : 5th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with U.2_1. It is disabled by default. Looks like you have to enable it in BIOS)
PCIex16_5 : 6th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with U.2_1. It runs at x4 mode by default with U.2_1 enabled)

So if you are not using the U.2 ports, disable them in BIOS to get back some needed PCIe 3.0 lanes.

I'm not sure why using only PCIex16_1 and PCIex16_4 only would drop PCIex16_1 to x8 mode.

Suggested solution to get both graphics cards at x16:

Remove the M.2 from the vertical M.2 slot and use the HyperM.2 x4 PCIe Adapter in PCIex16_4 or PCIex16_5. This allows PCIex16_3 to run at x16 and not affect PCIex16_1.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Slot 4 will not support 16x, the only way for this to work correctly is to use slot 3 for your 2nd GPU. The second GPU must use the lanes directly connected to the CPU, the system bus lanes won't work with it. So if you have an M.2 drive inserted there is no way around the 16x/8x configuration. Then with the 4x m.2 drive you're taking up a total of 32 lanes of your 40 lane CPU. The other 8 lanes are reserved for the 2 u.2 ports.

Its unfortunately the way that board is designed in its lane allocation, although I would bet most others work that way as well. That said running the second GPU at 8x you are really losing nearly no performance.

Thank you for your quick response Rogue Leader.
Looking again at my MB manual, I think it shows PCIe slot #4 supports 8X in three-way SLI (only?).
Anyway, I suppose I could use the Hyper M.2 x4 card in slot 4 or 5 and recoup those 8 lanes…
I do understand that eight vs. sixteen is not a huge deal performance wise, especially since the GTX 960 is just for running my secondary monitors.

My concern, I suppose is that at some point I will probably get two 1080s (or 1080ti’s—if they ever appear—it’s only money right?) and run SLI.

At that point I will probably be just anal enough to insist on 16X times two for those cards.

Hey, thanks for your answer; it helped a lot. Now I can move on to my ‘other issues’—mostly self-perpetuated—this is my first build and I cannot stop tweaking it!
Hahaha
Thx again.
Cheers

Yes it only supports 8x in 3 way. the best 3 way setup you will get there is 16x/8x/8x.

You can definitely do that and then just put the M.2 Drive into a PCIe slot card to use the system bus PCIe lanes.

 

[MarcoAustin]

First let's get some labeling and facts straightened out (from pages ix and 1-2 of user manual) -
PCIex16_1 : 1st slot (PCIe 3.0)
PCIex1: 2nd slot
PCIex16_2 : 3rd slot (PCIe 2.0. Shares bandwidth with USB3_34 and USB 3.1_EA34. It runs at x2 mode by default. Max at x4 mode)
PCIex16_3 : 4th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with M.2 and U.2_2. It runs at x16 mode by default)
PCIex16_4 : 5th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with U.2_1. It is disabled by default. Looks like you have to enable it in BIOS)
PCIex16_5 : 6th slot (PCIe 3.0. Shares bandwidth with U.2_1. It runs at x4 mode by default with U.2_1 enabled)

So if you are not using the U.2 ports, disable them in BIOS to get back some needed PCIe 3.0 lanes.

I'm not sure why using only PCIex16_1 and PCIex16_4 only would drop PCIex16_1 to x8 mode.

Suggested solution to get both graphics cards at x16:

Remove the M.2 from the vertical M.2 slot and use the HyperM.2 x4 PCIe Adapter in PCIex16_4 or PCIex16_5. This allows PCIex16_3 to run at x16 and not affect PCIex16_1.

Thanks ThomasLeong.
Yeah, the PCIe #1 dropping to 8X threw me.

Anyway, yes: using the HyperX would solve this issue. In fact, I added a second Pro 950 using this slot in hopes of running a RAID 0, but found out too late that RAID is not supported in this config--using the M.2 slot and the HyperX. Huge disappointment! (btw, if there is a work-around for that, I would love to hear it and give it another go)

Thanks again for your response.
Cheers

 

[ThomasLeong]

RAID?...wow, you are loaded with $$? I can only afford one - have the SM951 512GB.
There is a dual M.2 PCIe3.0x4 adapter from -
RamCity - seems to be out of stock; or
direct from manufacturer: http://www.bplus.com.tw/Adapter/M2P4S.html

Does not mention being RAID capable though. So perhaps via Windows Disk Management (software RAID).

cheers!

 

[ThomasLeong]

BTW, why do you need RAID of M.2? Doing 4k or 8K work? With a single unit throughput of 2300MB/s+, that should handle a fair bit, at least 12 layers of full HD fullscreen simultaneously if I'm not wrong.

 

[MarcoAustin]

BTW, why do you need RAID of M.2? Doing 4k or 8K work? With a single unit throughput of 2300MB/s+, that should handle a fair bit, at least 12 layers of full HD fullscreen simultaneously if I'm not wrong.

Don't actually 'need' RAID M.2, just have become obsessed with this (my first) build. Love working on / tweaking it is all.
Wanted GTX 1080 AIO water cooled, but the demand for those cards overtook the supply which is why I first bought a 960 just to get the system built. Then picked up the 1060 when I returned the extra Samsung 950--roughly same price.
Anyhow, now that the supply of 1080's seems to be catching up with the demand, I want to wait a few weeks to see if NVIDIA comes out with a 1080ti.... cannot, will not, buy the new Titan. That would just be ridiculous....
Or not.
Hahaha
Amazon has that dual card you mentioned. Yeah, cannot see if it supports RAID, my guess is no and wondering if it would take 8X lanes... seems it would have to.

Cheers!

 

[Rogue Leader]

Nope, that card still only runs at x4, the controller just splits the bandwidth, Also in RAID the data needs to be routed through the same bus to both drives anyway. I've never seen an x8 m.2 card.

 

[ThomasLeong]

Have a look at the pins on the card. It is only x4. x8 will be double the length. So at a guess, it may actually 'auto-RAID' the two since there are only 4 lanes, if there is such a word...meaning OS sees the two M.2 as one drive. Not expensive. But you have already returned the second M.2 Pro, so it is all conjecture?

On another point, you don't need 2 gfx for 2 monitors. One card should be able to handle two/three monitors easy. I'm not a nVidia guy, more AMD. I use a small AMD Firepro W4100 and 4 monitors are no problem for that small chap.

On another note, the specs you gave initially did not mention cpu cooling. So what are you using, and is it sufficient? The 7 units of X79-X99 I've built for my clients so far, I've used AIO water cooling, specifically the Corsair H80i. For each, had to mod the 19" rack chassis to fit. Bit of work, but so far, no complaints. They use the units for multi-screen output rental work.

cheers!

 

[Rogue Leader]

Have a look at the pins on the card. It is only x4. x8 will be double the length. So at a guess, it may actually 'auto-RAID' the two since there are only 4 lanes, if there is such a word...meaning OS sees the two M.2 as one drive. Not expensive. But you have already returned the second M.2 Pro, so it is all conjecture?

On another point, you don't need 2 gfx for 2 monitors. One card should be able to handle two/three monitors easy. I'm not a nVidia guy, more AMD. I use a small AMD Firepro W4100 and 4 monitors are no problem for that small chap.

cheers!

Right but if he wants to game at 1440p or 4k, especially with multiple monitors, 2 GPUs gives a nice boost.

 

[ThomasLeong]

Have a look at the pins on the card. It is only x4. x8 will be double the length. So at a guess, it may actually 'auto-RAID' the two since there are only 4 lanes, if there is such a word...meaning OS sees the two M.2 as one drive. Not expensive. But you have already returned the second M.2 Pro, so it is all conjecture?

On another point, you don't need 2 gfx for 2 monitors. One card should be able to handle two/three monitors easy. I'm not a nVidia guy, more AMD. I use a small AMD Firepro W4100 and 4 monitors are no problem for that small chap.

cheers!

Right but if he wants to game at 1440p or 4k, especially with multiple monitors, 2 GPUs gives a nice boost.

Fair enough. I don't game, so did not know. Thanks!

 

[MarcoAustin]

Have a look at the pins on the card. It is only x4. x8 will be double the length. So at a guess, it may actually 'auto-RAID' the two since there are only 4 lanes, if there is such a word...meaning OS sees the two M.2 as one drive. Not expensive. But you have already returned the second M.2 Pro, so it is all conjecture?

On another point, you don't need 2 gfx for 2 monitors. One card should be able to handle two/three monitors easy. I'm not a nVidia guy, more AMD. I use a small AMD Firepro W4100 and 4 monitors are no problem for that small chap.

On another note, the specs you gave initially did not mention cpu cooling. So what are you using, and is it sufficient? The 7 units of X79-X99 I've built for my clients so far, I've used AIO water cooling, specifically the Corsair H80i. For each, had to mod the 19" rack chassis to fit. Bit of work, but so far, no complaints. They use the units for multi-screen output rental work.

cheers!

Hi again,

Yeah, guess I should have informed about cooling:

Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2
Overclocking CPU currently at 4.4 with (probably too much voltage) 4.2v.
Temps running RealBench and AIDA64 on all cores under 80c, except core #3 which hit 81c.

I had the extra GPU so decided to utilize it; I like the idea of my main GPU only running the 144hz monitor, although you are correct; it could probably run all three of my displays....
Cheers!

 

[MarcoAustin]

Have a look at the pins on the card. It is only x4. x8 will be double the length. So at a guess, it may actually 'auto-RAID' the two since there are only 4 lanes, if there is such a word...meaning OS sees the two M.2 as one drive. Not expensive. But you have already returned the second M.2 Pro, so it is all conjecture?

On another point, you don't need 2 gfx for 2 monitors. One card should be able to handle two/three monitors easy. I'm not a nVidia guy, more AMD. I use a small AMD Firepro W4100 and 4 monitors are no problem for that small chap.

cheers!

Right but if he wants to game at 1440p or 4k, especially with multiple monitors, 2 GPUs gives a nice boost.

Exactly my thinking!
Cheers!