Maximus Hero VIII with SLi, M.2 SSD and 2x SATA SSDs

[Pulssqt]

Hello guys,

I have few questions about this motherboard.

I have 980Ti and Samsung 850 Pro for now.
I'm planning to add another GPU and SSD, M.2 Nvme, either SM961 or 950Pro.
So in total
980ti
980ti
SM961
850 Pro

I know when i add another GPU they will work x8 x8, and then i have x4 lane trough chipset remaining, which will be used for M.2 Nvme SSD becuase it will work as PCIE not SATA. Correct ?

The question is, will my 850 Pro via SATA take any PCIE lanes and prevent my M.2 Nvme SSD from working properly.

Manual says ''When the M.2 Socket 3 is operating in SATA mode, SATA ports 1,2 will be disabled.''
So if i use M.2 in SATA mode it will disable 2 6Gb/s SATA ports, but if i use it in PCIE mode it will not disable them, and SSDs connected with 6 Gb/s ports will work like they should work and will not take any lanes and prevent M.2 from working properly?

Its a bit complicated but i think you will understand.

Thank you!

 

[photonboy]

1) Just use M.2 in the optimal configuration. If there are SATA connections that get disabled that you missed reading about in the motherboard then you'll find out.

Basically hook up the M.2 and if your additional SATA device doesn't work try another slot (then read the manual again to confirm it's not a defective slot as it should give a reason).

2) Yes, should be x8 + x8. I see no potential issues

3) *However, I do NOT recommend you go with MULTI-GPU. I suggest you get a GTX1080 or GTX1080Ti then sell your older GTX980Ti.

I'll post this then give you some actual HARD BENCHMARK NUMBERS as well as general multi-GPU discussion below.

 

[photonboy]

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080/26.html

1) A single GTX1080 by this AVERAGE is 37% faster at 2560x1440. Modern games will favor Pascal slightly more and some will be closer to 50% advantage.

2) Much better VR SUPPORT, especially if SMT gets used (up to 60% boost) and it's easier to make a game run SMOOTHER on Pascal in VR compared to prior architecture.

3) MULTI-GPU:
First, you have to understand that "AVERAGE FPS" is not the best indicator of the gameplay experience. We need to look at FRAME TIME analysis. Multi-GPU can produce higher FPS in games but tends to produce less consistent frame times which results in stutter or judder.

Some people say it's not a big issue, but all the people I trust won't use multi-GPU even today.

*And NEWER games in the short-term are increasingly dropping support for SLI (more specifically AFR which is Alternate Frame Rendering) because game engine code is starting to optimize for CONSECUTIVE FRAME CHANGES (which helps a form of anti-aliasing for example).

These consecutive frame optimizations are similar to video compression techniques but require the same GPU to work on the data.

(eventually we'll go back to multi-GPU with SFR likely or Split Frame Rendering which a couple games support now. I think CIV 6 does. It's probably at least two years away though as it needs to be built into the game engine or else it's too much work to support.)

4) MULTI-GPU PART 2:
40 to 50% advantage may sound small, but frankly you're lucky to get 70% scaling by adding a 2nd GPU. Many games don't support it at all. Many games stutter.

So it's very difficult to give an EXACT answer on the pros and cons, but again I trust the experts that report it's still an issue.

BUT...

If it comes down to a huge BUDGET SAVINGS and you plan to go with 2xGTX980Ti then let me give some additional advice:

5) NOISE and POWER for 2x980Ti?
- at the very least that's a lot more HEAT dumped into the room. Any power drawn is the same as having a heater of the same wattage dumping heat into the room. My room heats up in the winter and summer as the windows get closed (24degC with air conditioning but can go over 30degC in my room). An extra 100 to 200W+ is pretty significant (hard to guess depending on load of GPU's).

#1 - if the game doesn't need the 2nd GPU disable it (not sure if you can do that on a per-game basis. Probably? If not in NVidia CP maybe NVinspector?)

#2 - some games like Batman Arkham Knight that don't support multi-GPU (or do but it stutters) AND have PhysX can have the 2nd card used for PhysX instead. (again, not sure if that's a simple thing to setup and forget)

 

[Pulssqt]

Yeah, i know that adding another 980Ti is not the best thing you could do, but i got mine as a gift from my fiance and i really dont want to get rid of it xD

Anyway. I'll just make the question very simple.

If i have x8 x8 SLi(cpu lanes) and NVme M.2 SSD x4(chipset), will I be able to use SATA SSD such as 850evo at its full speed ?

 

[photonboy]

Yeah, i know that adding another 980Ti is not the best thing you could do, but i got mine as a gift from my fiance and i really dont want to get rid of it xD

Anyway. I'll just make the question very simple.

If i have x8 x8 SLi(cpu lanes) and NVme M.2 SSD x4(chipset), will I be able to use SATA SSD such as 850evo at its full speed ?

I see no reason why not. Also, you can just run Samsung Magician and check the sequential read/write speeds in the benchmark as they should sit between 500MBps and 600MBps.

The SATA port works or it doesn't. The only reason why you might get different speeds AFAIK is if there was more than one SATA controller.

I believe the COLOR of the SATA connector indicates the SATA CONTROLLER it's connected to, but many of the modern boards just have one controller.

So again, it should be works properly or not at all usually.