Question i9 9900k PCIe lanes

[lordreyrey]

I am an avid gamer, as well as a content creator, using Premiere Pro. I currently have a Windows 10 system with the following setup.

1. i7 6700k on a Maximus Hero VIII board.
2. Geforce1080ti
3. 48gb memory
4. Onboard 970 PRO m.2 drive
5. PCI expansion card with USB 3.0 slots for Oculus Rift.
6. PCI expansion card with 960 EVO m.2
7. PCI expansion card with another 970 PRO m.2
8. SATA HDD and SSD.

Naturally, with this setup, my 1080ti is running at 8x, not 16x. Which I want that card running at 16x for my Oculus, anyone that knows VR can tell me if that will make a difference, I assume it will.

I want to UPGRADE to a i9 9900k processor on a Maximus Hero XI board. And move everything into the board...

My questions are:

1. What configuration can I use to make sure the 1080ti is 16x? Do I have to abandon all my PCI expansion cards?
2. Assuming I have to get rid of the cards, can the onboard USB slots of the Hero XI adequately handle the Oculus Rift USB needs?
3. Also assuming I have to get rid of the expansion cards, would I be able to use my expanded m.2 drives on the board and not take away the 16x from the 1080ti? The onboard m.2 drives would have to be sata and not PCIe correct, to not affect the 1080ti? Or can they run together?

Sorry if I am confusing.

Edit: Also if anyone that uses 9900k for workflow or gaming wants to chime in on if it is a worthwhile upgrade, let me know.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The 9900k has similar PCIe lane limitations to your prior 6700k. Both chips have only 16 onboard PCIe lanes, however the Z390 chipset has 24 PCIe lanes, vs the 20 that Z170 has.

However your configuration here will change.

First off you don't need your USB 3.0 card so that saves you a slot and lanes. The onboard 3.1 ports are enough.

Next the Maximus XI has 2 M.2 slots, so that saves you another slot and lanes. The M.2 slots can run in full PCIe NVMe x4 they are connected to the Chipsets PCie lanes.

So in reality all you need is 1 expansion card and 1 slot not connected to the CPU which that board has (the bottom PCIe slot its a full length slot, but runs at x4 off the chipset). This is where your third m.2 drive will reside.

Configured like this your GPU will run at x16 in the first PCIe slot.

 

[lordreyrey]

Ok cool.

So then what about the m.2 ssds onboard. Running those in PCIe mode wont affect the 1080ti? Im assuming the pcie mode is faster than the sata??

And I shouldn't have any issue running the multiple Oculus usb 3.0 devices on the board, to not need the expanded card?

Thanks again.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ok cool.

So then what about the m.2 ssds onboard. Running those in PCIe mode wont affect the 1080ti? Im assuming the pcie mode is faster than the sata??

And I shouldn't have any issue running the multiple Oculus usb 3.0 devices on the board, to not need the expanded card?

Thanks again.

PCIe is significantly faster than SATA, also the drives you have are PCIe only anyway so youd need to replace them if you wanted to run SATA anyway, but that doesn't matter, the M.2 slots do not take away from the 16 PCIe lanes of your CPU that go straight to the GPU. The reason you lost half your lanes with your old setup is that you were using the second GPU slot in the board which is connected to the CPU. in this case you need only 1 card and you will be putting it in the bottom most slot which uses the motherboard's PCIe lanes.

That board has 6 USB 3.1 ports on the back panel, and an internal header if you wanted to add 2 more. How many do you need?

 

[lordreyrey]

Sounds good.

I use 2 USB for mouse and keyboard, and the Oculus uses 4 total.

I had another question. I have an upgraded windows 10 pro from windows 7 pro. It is a retail version, not OEM. And it shows me that "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your microsoft account." This being the case, do I need to deactivate anything before I put this m.2 boot drive on my new motherboard?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Sounds good.

I use 2 USB for mouse and keyboard, and the Oculus uses 4 total.

I had another question. I have an upgraded windows 10 pro from windows 7 pro. It is a retail version, not OEM. And it shows me that "Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your microsoft account." This being the case, do I need to deactivate anything before I put this m.2 boot drive on my new motherboard?

You REALLY REALLY should just reinstall Windows.

After doing that login during the install with your Microsoft account and follow these instructions to bring the license over.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change

 

[lordreyrey]

Thank you much.

Yeah, I made a bootable Windows 10 USB drive... Ill just start fresh. I just install to formatted m.2, then login to my Microsoft account to update Im assuming..

Also, I have been reading guides, and I plan to overclock my 9900k to 5ghz... I haven't overclocked before, just never bothered with it. (My 6700k is running stock.)

Anyhow, I got the Noctua NH-D15, has anyone overclocked with this air cooler, how is it?

Edit: Any while im looking at components for both gaming and video editing...

I have 48gb RAM:, 4 modules total...

2 8gb modules of Patriot DDR4 2400
and 2 16gb modules of DDR4 2132

Any reason to upgrade these?

 

[mdd1963]

Most consider the RAM speed standard (and sweet spot for speed vs. price) to be ~3200 MHz these days....; you will take a hit on performance with the slower modules, and, unfortunately, your largest sticks are also the two slowest sticks, so, with them installed, the speed will be capped at 2133 MHz to accommodate them.

The NH-D15 is still pretty much the conventional air cooler/sink out there, so, you will soon know if it has the thermal headroom to cope with 135-150 watt loads. (Stock operation will bring but two cores to 5.0 GHz, so you can evaluate if the remaining 6 cores at full turbo speedare even achievable via thermal headroom, depending on what core voltage is required...)

Good luck with the build!

 

[lordreyrey]

Thanks all.

From a RAM standpoint, which sitaution is better?

Would I be better off with the 48gb ram configuration I have now, at a less speed.

Or less ram, 32gb, but with 3200mhz speed?

So, more ram or more speed?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Thanks all.

From a RAM standpoint, which sitaution is better?

Would I be better off with the 48gb ram configuration I have now, at a less speed.

Or less ram, 32gb, but with 3200mhz speed?

So, more ram or more speed?

I wouldn't change the ram you have. Ram speed is MUCH more of an issue on AMD Ryzen Systems. Intel systems have a little speed to gain but it doesn't make worlds of difference. Sure if you have money to burn and you want to get every last bit, do it. Otherwise I would not bother.

The Noctua is a good air cooler, but the 9900k is a hot chip. I think you'll be limited in your overclocking capabilities, but 5 ghz isn't a big bump (it already turbos 2 cores to 5 anyway) so you're probably fine.

 

[lordreyrey]

One last question then. This has me thinking about cooling.
The Noctua is a great air cover from what I have read, but then now I think should I be considering liquid cooling for this chip? I haven't used liquid cooling before. But it looks nicer in the case, as I plan to use rgb fans..


But all the info i read is conflicting. Saying the Noctua is the best cooler... others say liquid...

 

[Rogue Leader]

One last question then. This has me thinking about cooling.
The Noctua is a great air cover from what I have read, but then now I think should I be considering liquid cooling for this chip? I haven't used liquid cooling before. But it looks nicer in the case, as I plan to use rgb fans..


But all the info i read is conflicting. Saying the Noctua is the best cooler... others say liquid...

Noctua is the best air cooler, and for the price the best cooler period.

To beat it you need a serious liquid cooler. Such as at a minimum the Cryorig A80 which is a 280mm radiator. Or of course a custom loop.

The Noctua will kill any 120mm radiator and most 240mm radiators in a test. Also it depends on your case and radiator placement, wrong spot can make it worse as well. Its a balance.

 

[lordreyrey]

Ugh. Now decisions. I've never cared about rgb. Now I'm wanting to return my Noctua and get liquid and a new case for some amazing rgb.. the Inwin 805 infinity front looks amazing. But that's hard to find.

But I also want the best cooling for OC and performance....and that noctua is great... oh decisions decisions.

Any awesome rgb case recommendations if I choose that route?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ugh. Now decisions. I've never cared about rgb. Now I'm wanting to return my Noctua and get liquid and a new case for some amazing rgb.. the Inwin 805 infinity front looks amazing. But that's hard to find.

But I also want the best cooling for OC and performance....and that noctua is great... oh decisions decisions.

Any awesome rgb case recommendations if I choose that route?

Not really however I can tell you I have an InWin 509 ROG case and its awesome.

 

[lordreyrey]

Looks nice. Those seem out of stock.
Hmmm. I dunno. More money for rgb liquid cooler and rgb case.
Or stick with my current case, which is Antec 1100 v2. And have probably better cooling with huge ass Noctua. Hmmm...
Thanks guys.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Looks nice. Those seem out of stock.
Hmmm. I dunno. More money for rgb liquid cooler and rgb case.
Or stick with my current case, which is Antec 1100 v2. And have probably better cooling with huge ass Noctua. Hmmm...
Thanks guys.

Yeah I believe the case I have is discontinued, I bought it a couple years ago. InWin cases in general are pretty sweet, my next build will probably be in one.

You just need to decide how much the looks are worth it to you, and how much you want to OC.

 

[lordreyrey]

Ok. I think the corsair crystal 570x looks like a great beautiful case.... with great air flow...

That being said....How stupid would it look with my brown noctua nh d15 fans??? Lol

Best of both worlds?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ok. I think the corsair crystal 570x looks like a great beautiful case.... with great air flow...

That being said....How stupid would it look with my brown noctua nh d15 fans??? Lol

Best of both worlds?

Thats the major problem with Noctua... they ugly lol

But those who know, know you got some good stuff in there.

Noctua has released a line of more...... looks friendly fans in their Chromax line:

https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/chromax

You can replace the fans with those (NF-A15 HS PWM).

 

[lordreyrey]

Oh nice. I assume those fans are as good as the brown ones lol?

Also I purchased a set of corsair hd120 rgb fans for the case... which dont work with the stock fans in the crystal case...

And I didn't research and realize that the hd120 fans done sync with asus aura... does it matter?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Oh nice. I assume those fans are as good as the brown ones lol?

Also I purchased a set of corsair hd120 rgb fans for the case... which dont work with the stock fans in the crystal case...

And I didn't research and realize that the hd120 fans done sync with asus aura... does it matter?

They are identical other than the colors

Right Corsair has their own Corsair Link RGB Fan controller they also have iCue software which should in theory allow you to control the fans colors through that. If your Board is Aura though and you have any Aura parts you'll need to manually synchronize the colors between the two different softwares.

 

[lordreyrey]

Another silly question. On the noctua.... could I replace those fans with 2 of the hd120 rgb fans?

Or are they not strong enough or anything?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Another silly question. On the noctua.... could I replace those fans with 2 of the hd120 rgb fans?

Or are they not strong enough or anything?

Kinda lose the point of the Noctua. You need to buy Static pressure fans for a CPU cooler, you'd need to look through the line that they sell if they have an SP version that has similar characteristics to the fan I gave you the model number of. If you can find one similar it will work.

 

[lordreyrey]

Awesome thanks. Learning new things all the time.
So static pressure are important for the cpu. But in an put the ram fans everywhere else on the case itself then?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Awesome thanks. Learning new things all the time.
So static pressure are important for the cpu. But in an put the ram fans everywhere else on the case itself then?

Your question doesn't really make sense? But airflow fans are the most common case fans and go wherever you need them.

 

[lordreyrey]

Yeah I'm probably over thinking...
Anyone have an opinion on the corsair hd120 vs ll120?
Or maybe I'll do both and buy a corsair commander pro.