PCI Express Numbers

trixoworld

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Hello everyone
So am getting an ASUS ROG STRIX H270F GAMING Motherboard and coupling it with Intel Core i5-7500 Processor which says int it's specs "Max # of PCI Express Lanes 16"
I will be running a Gtx 1070 8 gb graphics card which will be using PCIe 3.0 16x, does that mean if i use M.2 SSD i will be over usingg my PCIe lanes and so my performance will be affected?
Thanks in advance
 
Solution
Yes. If you want to get more lanes, you need a better CPU.

With respect, this is not accurate.

Your CPU provides 16 PCIe express lanes. On a H270 board those lanes cannot be split, meaning that all 16 CPU lanes will go directly to the primary PCIe slot, where you put your GPU. That'll work great.

In additional, the chipset provides additional PCIe lanes. Your H270 board provides an additional 20 PCie 3.0 lanes for connecting basically everything (SATA, networking, Audio, M.2 Drives, additional PCIe slots, etc). Those lanes can only provide up to a x4 connection per device, (so can't be combined to provide a single x8 or x16 connection). But that's enough for any M.2 drive.

So short answer - No. GPU gets all the CPU PCIe...
Yes. If you want to get more lanes, you need a better CPU.

With respect, this is not accurate.

Your CPU provides 16 PCIe express lanes. On a H270 board those lanes cannot be split, meaning that all 16 CPU lanes will go directly to the primary PCIe slot, where you put your GPU. That'll work great.

In additional, the chipset provides additional PCIe lanes. Your H270 board provides an additional 20 PCie 3.0 lanes for connecting basically everything (SATA, networking, Audio, M.2 Drives, additional PCIe slots, etc). Those lanes can only provide up to a x4 connection per device, (so can't be combined to provide a single x8 or x16 connection). But that's enough for any M.2 drive.

So short answer - No. GPU gets all the CPU PCIe lanes (the best ones), all other devices including M.2 drives share the chipset lanes which don't affect the GPU.

It's worth mentioning that all the chipset lanes link to the CPU over a single connection which is equivalent to the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 x4. Those chipset PCIe lanes also have higher latency than CPU lanes. There are theoretical cases where that 4GBps (bi-directional) connection can become an issue, given that it's shared between so many different devices. But in reality, unless you're doing some crazy stuff on your PC, those chipset lanes are absolutely fine for high speed storage.

Which SSD are you getting? Are you sure you need an M.2 drive? If you're gaming, that money could probably be better spend elsewhere.
 
Solution

That is wrong - disregard it.

Which M.2 drive are you getting? Because some of them are SATA anyway. All they do is (effectively) re-wire one of your SATA ports to the M.2 slot. They're handy because they are identical performance wise to 2.5" SATA drives, but avoid cable-clutter and are sometimes a couple of dollars cheaper.
 

trixoworld

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Thanks for the answer :D
yeah am going to be gaming primarily , haven't settled on the M.2 ssd for now, but it costs around the same as normal ssd so if it's faster why not :D, am gettin a small capacity one though, just for the windows and maybe a game or 2

Update* just realized that the m.2 i was looking at was SATA, i didnt know that means it reaps the same performance as a normal ssd, what should i be looking for in the m.2 so i know it runs on pcie?

 

Right... was just about to post that, but you got there yourself.

The words you're looking for are "PCIe" or "NVMe" (as opposed to "SATA" and "AHCI"). Technically one is an interface and the other a protocol, so they don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. However in the modern consumer market, every PCIe drive uses NVMe, and vice-versa. They're kind of used interchangeably to refer to the newer, faster tier of SSDs.

What size are you looking at?
Do you realise real-world gains from NVMe drives are very small?
Do you realise smaller drives are slower?
Do you realise there are almost always better ways to spend your money in a gaming rig than an NVMe SSD?

I would get 240GB as a minimum. I think you'll find NVMe drives at that capacity are approaching double the cost. If you have the money for a ~240GB NVMe drive (like the Intel 600p), I would personally choose a ~500GB Sata drive instead. They'll be about the same price, and the bigger drive lets me put some more key games on it to help with load times, rather than boast about my fancy NVMe drive which doesn't make any difference in real-world tasks.
 
Non-issue. Works fine.

Here's how it works: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/74160-intel-kaby-lake-i7-7700k-i5-7600k-review-2.html

As said, the communication to SOME parts are direct from the CPU, whereas other things go through the motherboard CHIPSET. We assign the graphics card to the CPU as that's important to be real-time, low latency.

*Just look at the picture in the link. Start with the CPU. You'll see that it has the up to x16 PCIe direct from CPU at top-left, and system memory (DDR4) is also direct to CPU for obvious reasons.

Below is the CHIPSET.

**Please note this is slightly different between Z270 and Z170, but in general there's NOTHING to worry about in terms of some bandwidth conflict between the graphics card and anything else.

Your graphics card has its own PCIe lanes direct to CPU as said.

There MAY be some potential conflicts between other I/O components such as some SATA ports being disabled in certain circumstances but you'd have to re ad the manual carefully.
 

trixoworld

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aha, i didnt know that :D
sry am kinda new in this whole pc building thing :D
will keep this in my mind thanks :D
this is the build link https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VPBgHN
any other notes sensei ? :D
 

Gaming build? We can do better than that!!

Try this.
6 Core Ryzen 5 which will game similarly at stock clocks, better if Overclocked, and will hold up waaaaay better in future.
Same GPU but just a bit cheaper
Faster and larger SSD (Get that NCIX special - the SU900 is quite a high end drive and for $85 for $256 GB it's a bargain!)
Slightly newer modular PSU.
$30 cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($217.55 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: ADATA SU900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.25 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.66 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($169.95 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Thermaltake Riing 12 LED Blue 40.6 CFM 120mm Fan ($15.88 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Thermaltake Riing 12 LED Blue 40.6 CFM 120mm Fan ($15.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1051.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-28 01:42 EDT-0400
 
The above build is spending $200 just for a case with two fans.

IMO you can get a better case for cheaper, and many come with at least two fans that do a fine job of getting rid of the waste heat.

In fact the case you linked already has FOUR fans so not sure why you added two more.

Overall not a bad build, and I agree with the R5-1600 for that budget. The R5-1600 is more future-proof than a similarly priced Intel setup due to the usage of more threads.
 

Yeah - I should have ditched the fans and gone to cheaper case. But those were the ones OP chose in the original build and I was making the point that you can do better with the same aesthetics and budget.

For sure good catch though. OP - you can easily get a cheaper case and ditch the fans to save some money.
 

trixoworld

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Well actually the case price is around 40 $, i dunno why does it say like 170 usd , it has lots of fans yeah and 2 slots for additional fans, so i thought just hey more air less fire, since it gets really hot in the summer here
but yeah the case costs 40$ not 170$
 

trixoworld

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i will check it out but sadly not every part is available here, but what are the advantages of the amd processors overall?
from what i read they are better for workstation pcs, i will be gaming mainly, also should i consider getting overclock-able processors? am not really a risk taker and i feel overclocking can be risky for the build , that's what i opted for the locked cpu

 

Where is "here"? Someone will be able to find you local pricing. You provided a build in US dollars so I was just re-jigging your build.

RE Ryzen, they've unfairly got a bad reputation. The Intel i7 7700K with its 8 threads and much higher clocks is the best gaming CPU, particularly when it's overclocked. Ryzen CPUs can't keep up with the best Intel has to offer in gaming workloads.
But i5s are a totally different story. People see i7 beating Ryzen 7 in gaming and assume the same will apply for i5 and Ryzen 5... but it's not the case. In fact, while i5s are now significantly slower than i7s in many CPU heavy titles, the Ryzen 5 1600 with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is every bit as fast as the flagship 1800X in gaming once you've applied a slight clock bump to the Ryzen 5.
An i5 and Ryzen 5 are roughly equivalent for gaming right now. But looking forward, the measly 4 theads on the i5 is already starting to limit games, while the 12 threads on the Ryzen 5 1600 gives it plenty of headroom.

RE Overclocking: all Ryzen CPUs can be overclocked, and on relatively cheap B350 motherboards and stock cooling too. That's what makes the 1600 and a B350 mobo such a great combo. You can OC it to 3.8 ish Ghz on the bundled cooler.
To do that on Intel you need to pay more for a "K" series processor, more for a "Z" series motherboard, and you need to buy a cooler. To be fair, Intel CPUs right now overclock much better than Ryzen do. But the Intel becomes a significantly more expensive purchase.
 

trixoworld

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Alrighty i will keep all of this in mind :D
thanks alot for your time my good sir :D :D