[SOLVED] Help for my new build

[italian_madness]

Hi All,
I have now made some money and dedcided to spend on a new build.
It's been some time since my first and last build. I used to play and own only gaming laptops but once I fell in love with a HTPC case and decided to build.
My first build was mainly relying on 5930K CPU, Nvidia Titan X gaming at 1440p. I used it for gaming mainly (for the little time I have - I am a grown up nerd with wife and dautghter.
I was vey happy but used it very little, lukcly enough I sold all hardware 2 years ago, loosing as expected a good amount of money.
The only thing I kept and is going to be in common with my previous build is my black HTPC Case from ORiginae, the S16T:

http://www.origenae.co.uk/en/htpc_s16t.htm

Company not existing anymore but yet I believe they did the best looking cases out there. Quite expensive I recall.
Now, hoping not to bother too much, I'd like to start asking for some advise which I will continue to do untill build is finish (and I would be then pleased to show off a bit if I may

Let's start with some needed advise on Storage.

I've chosen ASUS as main brand and I am ordering the
MOBO: Asus ROG Maximus XII HERO Wi-Fi, Intel Z490 Motherboard, RoG - Socket 1200.
Hence my first question, regarding storage, which I plan to be composed by 2x NMVE SSD (1x for OS and 1x GAMES) plus 1x HDD (for media and all files I want to keep overtime : Western Digital WD8004FRYZ WD GOLD HardDisk, 8TB)

Image of MOBO:

Given the setup of the ASUS MOBO I would like to know if it makes sense to place one nmve ssd in the leftmost (in the pic ) M2 Slot and the other one using an adaptor/converter from m2 to Pciex4 placing it at the lowes (leftmost in the above pic) Pcie slot.
This is the adapter:
https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B084GDY2PW/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2F7HEWTTGACU6&th=1

In Particular I own a Gigabyte Aorus NVMe SSD, PCIe 4.0 M.2 Typ 2280 which I know my CPU/MOBO (being gen 3) do not support but shall work just fine for the OS and will probably get for the games a Sabrent SSD PCIe NVMe M.2 2280 4TB Rocket Q.
The main reason for this set up is that I plan on putting some passive cooler on both the SSD and therefore placing one of them below the GPU (where the MOBO offers 2 additional m2 slots) it's not feasible.
(GPU will be be Asus GeForce RTX 3090 TUF Gaming OC, 24Gb GDDR6X).

So questons are:

1. Does this storage setup make sense?Do you see any issue?
2. Will my GPU suffer from using a m2 ssd in the bottom (leftmost in the pic) Pcie slot x16 (but running it at x4)?
3. Can I actually easily install the OS in the 2tb SSD with PCIE adapter?

Many Thanks in advance for your advises/comments.

More to come.
Grazie

 

[Lutfij]

Storage

Total supports 3 x M.2 slots and 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
Intel® Z490 Chipset :
1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*4
1 x M.2_3 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)
6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s),
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
^ From Asus's support site.

I would advise that you remove the heatsinks of any M.2 SSD so that they are cooled by the heatsinks bundled with the board. If you want to still work with the SSD's stock heatsinks, you might want to take into account the clearance under the GPU's.

You should install the OS and app's on a smaller sized SSD, and have the larger SSD as your game library drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Agreed. That board has multiple M.2 ports. No need for an adapter in a PCIe slot.

 

[italian_madness]

Storage

Total supports 3 x M.2 slots and 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
Intel® Z490 Chipset :
1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*4
1 x M.2_3 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)
6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s),
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready
^ From Asus's support site.

I would advise that you remove the heatsinks of any M.2 SSD so that they are cooled by the heatsinks bundled with the board. If you want to still work with the SSD's stock heatsinks, you might want to take into account the clearance under the GPU's.

You should install the OS and app's on a smaller sized SSD, and have the larger SSD as your game library drive.

Thank you.
I am just afraid as the case is very small and with just 3 vents (2x80 and 1x92) I could get heat problems as the MOBO coolers for m2 slots are much smaller than the aftermarket ones, and then sitting right below the big and hot GPU might hurt?
Do you say so because the Pcie adapter may cause issues?

Thanks a lot.