M.2 and disabled SATA3?

[mandreto10]

Hi,

I am purchasing MoBo and I don't know how to interpret "NOTE" under Storage section. Here is description:

"
(1) 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb / s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage Technology 16), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug*
(2) 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb / s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb / s)**
(3) 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2260 / 2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb / s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb / s)**

NOTE: *If M2_1 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_1 will be disabled.
"

I intend to use the four SATA3 sockets for four 3.5 HDD, and the two M.2 sockets for two SSD drives.

What does the "NOTE" mean?

Does it mean that if ANY ONE or BOTH of M.2 sockets are occupied, then ONLY ONE of the 4SATA3 connectors will be disabled (in effect I could only have THREE 3.5HDDs instead of FOUR)?

Thanks!
m.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

If you use M2_1 slot, then one of your SATA ports (SATA3_1) will not work as it pulls bandwidth from that port. So if both of your m.2's are used, you can only use 3 SATA. If only 1 m.2 is used, then you can use 4 SATAs.

If you want to use 4 SATA devices and 2 M.2 SSD, then you will need a different mobo. What is the CPU?

 

[jay32267]

I think it means that if you have a SATA type M2 form factor drive in M2_1....then 1 SATA port gets disabled and you will be left with 3 operating SATA ports.

Although I'm a little surprised they didn't say the same thing regarding M2_2.

 

[jay32267]

If you use M2_1 slot, then one of your SATA ports (SATA3_1) will not work as it pulls bandwidth from that port. So if both of your m.2's are used, you can only use 3 SATA. If only 1 m.2 is used, then you can use 4 SATAs.

If you want to use 4 SATA devices and 2 M.2 SSD, then you will need a different mobo. What is the CPU?

Couldn't he use 4 SATA drives and two NVMe/PCIe drives in the two M2 slots?

 

[volkgren]

What does the "NOTE" mean?

Does it mean that if ANY ONE or BOTH of M.2 sockets are occupied, then ONLY ONE of the 4SATA3 connectors will be disabled (in effect I could only have THREE 3.5HDDs instead of FOUR)?

Thanks!
m.

Not just one, but specifically M2_1 being populated with a SATA drive will disable SATA3_1. You can't use 2x M.2 SATA and 4x SATA3 with that motherboard.

What is the motherboard you are referring to? You can possibly use an NVME in the M.2 and it will use the PCIe bandwidth and still allow you to use all 4x SATA3 ports.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

If you use M2_1 slot, then one of your SATA ports (SATA3_1) will not work as it pulls bandwidth from that port. So if both of your m.2's are used, you can only use 3 SATA. If only 1 m.2 is used, then you can use 4 SATAs.

If you want to use 4 SATA devices and 2 M.2 SSD, then you will need a different mobo. What is the CPU?

Couldn't he use 4 SATA drives and two NVMe/PCIe drives in the two M2 slots?

I would need to know the mobo first.

 

[mandreto10]

Thanks for quick A: Here is MoBo and CPU:
Either
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z390M-ITXac/index.asp
or
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z390%20Phantom%20Gaming-ITXac/index.asp

CPU:
Either
https://ark.intel.com/products/129943/Intel-Core-i3-8300T-Processor-8M-Cache-3-20-GHz-
OR
https://ark.intel.com/products/134854/Intel-Xeon-E-2124G-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4-50-GHz-

RE: NVMe..
Are NVMe, Optane, and SSD the same?
For example this video did not help me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX-1QEnKwuM

I intend to install BARE-METAL (type 1) virtualization, then install few OSs, and I would like hypervirtualization+OS to load from M.2 slot (and not from HDD).

I hope this helps

If you use M2_1 slot, then one of your SATA ports (SATA3_1) will not work as it pulls bandwidth from that port. So if both of your m.2's are used, you can only use 3 SATA. If only 1 m.2 is used, then you can use 4 SATAs.

If you want to use 4 SATA devices and 2 M.2 SSD, then you will need a different mobo. What is the CPU?

Couldn't he use 4 SATA drives and two NVMe/PCIe drives in the two M2 slots?

I would need to know the mobo first.

 

[volkgren]

Intel no longer allows the Xeon on the desktop platform. Neither of those motherboards support the Xeon processors. You basically have to buy a prebuilt workstation to get the latest Xeons.

 

[USAFRet]

RE: NVMe..
Are NVMe, Optane, and SSD the same?

Not even a little bit.
For instance, all NVMe are SSD, but not all SSD are NVMe.

SSD = Solid State Drive. A number of different protocols and formats.

SSD's, in terms of performance and price, increasing:
SATA III
NVMe
Optane

And Optane is a special case. There are Optane modules (16GB or 32GB) used as a high speed cache for an HDD, and there are Optane drives (905p) with sufficient space to be a drive in and of itself.
Disturbingly expensive, though. 1TB = $1200
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167458



Read more here:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-solid-state-drive-definition,5763.html