[SOLVED] I just read a post on Ifixit that confuses me.

[cageschiess01]

The post made it seem like just because your CPU can only use up to 16 PCIE you still can use more if your Motherboard supports them and it also depends on your PCH chip. If this post is accurate does that mean I could use an M.2 ssd in my pc because my motherboard supports one? This is the link to the Ifixit post for reference
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/452007/A+question+about+PCIe+lanes+and+how+they+are+divided

My PC has an i7 8700k which they say only supports 16 slots. My gpu takes up 16 lanes.

Thanks cage

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, you can use an M.2 on a motherboard that supports an i7-8700K. The chipset on the motherboard provides the PCIe lanes used by the M.2 drive. Same as it provides PCIe lanes for SATA and USB3. Look for a block diagram of the chipset and you will see this all listed. The chipset has a limited number, and this is why some motherboards lose the use of SATA ports when two M.2 drives are installed.

 

[rgd1101]

and the motherboard make and model?
gpu use the lane from cpu. the rest is from chipset

 

[siaan312]

the lanes are split
a gpu will usually not take the full bandwidth of the 16 pcie's.

if that was the case, pc's would have 1 pcie slot.
even a high end gpu like the 2080ti would probably only use around 8-10 lanes when stressed.

plug as many devices as needed.

tho that is the case if the motherboard routes pcie bandwidth through the cpu.
the pch will usually take care of nvme duty but either way it will be fine.

 

[dorsai]

The post made it seem like just because your CPU can only use up to 16 PCIE you still can use more if your Motherboard supports them and it also depends on your PCH chip. If this post is accurate does that mean I could use an M.2 ssd in my pc because my motherboard supports one? This is the link to the Ifixit post for reference
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/452007/A+question+about+PCIe+lanes+and+how+they+are+divided

My PC has an i7 8700k which they say only supports 16 slots. My gpu takes up 16 lanes.

Thanks cage

Yes you can use an m.2 drive...but it will likely only run at sata ssd speeds and will likely disable one or two of your sata ports.

 

[boju]

Depends on the motherboard. Read the manual on m2 modes regarding each m2 slot (if have multiple) and how/when sata ports may be affected. Not all motherboards disable sata with an pcie ssd. Some can run an nvme pcie ssd in m2_1 slot in pcie mode without disabling any sata ports and some disable sata ports regardless.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, know that "M.2" is merely the form factor. How it plugs in.

There are both SATA III M.2 and NVMe M.2 drives.
Some motherboards take either, some, only one or the other.