[SOLVED] Can The M.2 NVME Slots On The ASUS Pro WS WRX80E Only Be Used For Storage?

[TryingToVirtualizeStuff]

Hello,

I wished to purchase the ASUS Pro WS WRX80E:

Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI｜Motherboards｜ASUS USA

ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI is engineered to unleash the incredible power of the latest AMD® Ryzen® Threadripper™ Pro series processors and is a reliable foundation for professional creative workloads that benefit from multi-core CPUs, such as video editing and 3D rendering. Additionally...

www.asus.com

...for a Threadripper Pro (3995WX) workstation build, and wanted to purchase an M.2 to PCIe riser card:

https://www.amazon.com/ADT-Link-Riser-Gen3-0-PCI-Express-Extension/dp/B07Z4S18RB

...to add an additional PCIe 3.0 x4 slot to the motherboard.

However, I heard from a system builder that the M.2 slots on the Asus can only be used for storage (not for PCIe cards when using a PCIe riser).

Does anyone know if this is true?

Thank you,
Nelson

 

[Lutfij]

With all due respect, with the amount of slots you have access to why would you want to reinvent the wheel and break out another PCIe slot off that motherboard?

 

[USAFRet]

Is this related to your previous question?

[SOLVED] - U.2 To PCIE

Hello, I had a question regarding U.2 to PCIE conversion. I wish to purchase the following motherboard: Asus Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI - https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Workstation/Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI/ ...which has 2x U.2 slots and was wondering, is it...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[TryingToVirtualizeStuff]

Is this related to your previous question?

[SOLVED] - U.2 To PCIE

Hello, I had a question regarding U.2 to PCIE conversion. I wish to purchase the following motherboard: Asus Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI - https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/Workstation/Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI/ ...which has 2x U.2 slots and was wondering, is it...

forums.tomshardware.com

Hello USAFRet,

No, this is a different question.

Regards,
Nelson

 

[USAFRet]

Hello USAFRet,

No, this is a different question.

Regards,
Nelson

Same board, just different ports?

 

[TryingToVirtualizeStuff]

With all due respect, with the amount of slots you have access to why would you want to reinvent the wheel and break out another PCIe slot off that motherboard?

Hello Lutfij,

The reason for the additional PCIe slot, is that by having that extra slot, my company doesn't need to purchase a whole new system (for the card that requires the PCIe riser).

A whole new system (with the necessary CPU + storage speed) would likely cost my company an extra 5 to 6 thousand dollars.

I'm just trying to save my company a bit of money.

Regards,
Nelson

 

[USAFRet]

Hello Lutfij,

The reason for the additional PCIe slot, is that by having that extra slot, my company doesn't need to purchase a whole new system (for the card that requires the PCIe riser).

A whole new system (with the necessary CPU + storage speed) would likely cost my company an extra 5 to 6 thousand dollars.

I'm just trying to save my company a bit of money.

Regards,
Nelson

As said earlier:
"The wrong people are setting the requirements for this. "

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/u-2-to-pcie.3750274/#post-22612880

 

[TryingToVirtualizeStuff]

Same board, just different ports?

Hello USAFRet,

The previous post was in regards to finding a M.2 to U.2.

However, with the previous post, the U.2 (connecting to the M.2) would be just a storage drive (so no problems there).

This post is with regards to connecting a PCIe slot to an M.2 (as a system builder told me that unless the card that you're putting into the extended PCIe slot is storage related, putting in something like a GPU, NIC, etc will not work).

I was trying to figure out whether anyone knew whether that was true or not.

Regards,
Nelson

 

[USAFRet]

"M.2" is a common form factor for connecting things.
However, not all M.2 ports are equipped to handle different forms of data.

Some can only do WiFi.
Some, only data from a storage device.
Others, can do multiple things.

What does the spec sheet for your desired motherboard say?
If it does NOT state specifically, ask the manufacturer.

 

[TryingToVirtualizeStuff]

"M.2" is a common form factor for connecting things.
However, not all M.2 ports are equipped to handle different forms of data.

Some can only do WiFi.
Some, only data from a storage device.
Others, can do multiple things.

What does the spec sheet for your desired motherboard say?
If it does NOT state specifically, ask the manufacturer.

Hello USAFRet,

Documentation does not specifically state whether it's just storage or not.

Given that this could end up greatly delaying a system for my company, I've decided to work around the issue and just assume that the M.2 slots are storage-only.

Also, I'm extremely doubtful that I'd get an answer from Asus anytime soon (if at all).

Thank you,
Nelson

 

[tristansummers]

You would probably need to get a bespoke driver. I did that once to use an esata pcie card for optical drives.
Far better to use pcie riser card from the existing 16x slots and enable bifurcation in bios