[SOLVED] Mixing Gen 4 and Gen 3 drives?

AimlessSerenity

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Mar 2, 2010
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Hi,

I am just about to build a new system using a Gen 4 motherboard that supports 4 m.2 slots, but I am only using two Gen 4 drives. For the other two slots, I'm going to use two Gen 3 drives.

My question is this:

Will the motherboard run each drive to its capabilities i.e the gen 4's as gen 4's, and the gen 3's as gen 3's. Or will it default to the lowest drive in the system and run them all as gen 3?

Specifications:
Motherboard Maximus XIII Hero
CPU 11700k
Drives (Gen 4) WD SN850 x2
Drives (Gen 3) Samsung 950 x2
RAM Crucial Ballistix BL2K16G36C16U4B 3600 MHz 64GB

I'm guessing it should be fine but I don't know for certain. Does anyone out there know the answer please?

Thanks :giggle:
 
Solution
you should have the option in the BIOS to edit the mode at which they run.
M.2_1 & M.2_2 should be available at 4x mode.
M.2_3 & M.2_4 may not even be PCIe. possibly SATA controlled. check the user manual.

AimlessSerenity

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Mar 2, 2010
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you should have the option in the BIOS to edit the mode at which they run.
M.2_1 & M.2_2 should be available at 4x mode.
M.2_3 & M.2_4 may not even be PCIe. possibly SATA controlled. check the user manual.


I downloaded the manual (which in hindsight I should have done first 🙄) and slots 3 and 4 only run in gen 3.

Cheers for the quick response.
 
M.2_1 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 - Only Intel® 11th Core™ processors support PCIe 4.0 x4 mode, this slot will be disabled for other CPUs
M.2_2 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280** - Intel® 11th Core™ processors support PCIe 4.0 x4 mode
M.2_3 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280 (supports PCIe 3.0 x4 mode)
M.2_4 slot (Key M), type 2242/2260/2280/22110 (supports PCIe 3.0 x4 & SATA modes)*

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-xiii-hero-model/spec