Question MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4

[ingeborgdot]

I have been checking and find many contradicting reports about this board. It has 4 NVME slots. As far as I see it all 4 should be able to be used even if connecting all 6 sata. Others say that is not true. I can't find out exactly? What is the actual answer to this? I have looked at the literature and thought I had read that 3 would work for sure, but I can't find that same literature again. Thanks.

 

[rgd1101]

check the manual?

 

[ingeborgdot]

In the entire contents of the manual, this is the only thing it shows at all about the m.2
∙ 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports (From Z690 chipset)
∙ 4x M.2 slots (Key M)
▪ M2_1 slot (From CPU)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0 x4
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280/ 22110 storage devices
▪ M2_2 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0 x4
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready for M.2 slots that are
from Z690 Chipset
∙ Support Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™
processors
No where does it say that when you plug into slot 1 that one of your sata ports goes away or anything like that. I have read the entire manual. But when I go on and read some info on this board, I hear of multiple people having issues with this.

 

[rgd1101]

from all the other msi z690 board. anything over 4 m.2 will disable at least 1 sata port

why are you going to build a server?

 

[ingeborgdot]

I don't need over 4. I will be using 3. And yes, it is an unRAID server. I just can't find any info on if any of the ports. I've been looking for hours. I must be a bad googler.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Just curious, I just noticed that 2 of the slots say

▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices

Does that mean it will take away from the sata ports????? I can find no documentation on this. It doesn't mean it's not out there. I may not be smart enough to do a good enough search.

 

[rgd1101]

didn't find more info on z690.

but sound like it the chipset have more pcie lane to support additional m.2