Question about consumer i7's PCIe lanes and compatibility.

[MaxTehLegend]

Recently, I've purchased an NVMe M.2 SSD and wondered about how it will effect everything else as it needs gen 3 x4 lanes from the CPU. as the i7 47xx/67xx/77xx/87xx have only 16 PCI lanes wouldn't this mean that it would force the GPU to utilise gen 3 x8 lanes?

 

[k1114]

No, the lanes come from the mobo. Your mobo doesn't have a m.2 slot though.

 

[lumineZ]

No, the lanes come from the mobo. Your mobo doesn't have a m.2 slot though.

Adapter Card?

 

[ko888]

The MSI Z97 GAMING 3, MSI Z97 GAMING 5 and MSI Z97 GAMING 7 all came with one 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen2 x2/SATA) connector. The two PCIe 2.0 lanes, used by the M.2 socket, are directly wired to the Z97 chipset. To get four PCIe 3.0 lanes would require reducing the GPU's lane use from 16 lanes down to 8 lanes so that the other eight lanes can be used for a PCIe to M.2 adapter card.

The Z170, Z270 and Z370 chipsets use PCIe 3.0 so their M.2 sockets use four PCIe 3.0 lanes from the chipset.

 

[k1114]

I must have been looking at the wrong mobo. My bad. Those do have m.2.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

The MSI Z97 GAMING 3, MSI Z97 GAMING 5 and MSI Z97 GAMING 7 all came with one 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen2 x2/SATA) connector. The two PCIe 2.0 lanes, used by the M.2 socket, are directly wired to the Z97 chipset. To get four PCIe 3.0 lanes would require reducing the GPU's lane use from 16 lanes down to 8 lanes so that the other eight lanes can be used for a PCIe to M.2 adapter card.

The Z170, Z270 and Z370 chipsets use PCIe 3.0 so their M.2 sockets use four PCIe 3.0 lanes from the chipset.

so if i were to get a Z170/Z270/Z370 motherboard that has an M.2 socket and install my NVMe SSD in that socket will it force my GPU to run at x8 instead of x16 as the CPU (67xx/77xx/87xx) only has 16 lanes to share in total?

 

[k1114]

No, when the mobo has a m.2 slot, it uses the chipset lanes. Only the pcie x16 slots are wired to the cpu.

 

[ko888]

The MSI Z97 GAMING 3, MSI Z97 GAMING 5 and MSI Z97 GAMING 7 all came with one 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen2 x2/SATA) connector. The two PCIe 2.0 lanes, used by the M.2 socket, are directly wired to the Z97 chipset. To get four PCIe 3.0 lanes would require reducing the GPU's lane use from 16 lanes down to 8 lanes so that the other eight lanes can be used for a PCIe to M.2 adapter card.

The Z170, Z270 and Z370 chipsets use PCIe 3.0 so their M.2 sockets use four PCIe 3.0 lanes from the chipset.

so if i were to get a Z170/Z270/Z370 motherboard that has an M.2 socket and install my NVMe SSD in that socket will it force my GPU to run at x8 instead of x16 as the CPU (67xx/77xx/87xx) only has 16 lanes to share in total?

You would also have to upgrade your i7-4770K and DDR3 memory if you choose to upgrade to a later generation motherboard.

A Z170 chipset has 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

A Z270 and Z370 chipset has 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

The chipsets do not include the 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes wired to the CPU for the discrete graphics card(s).

 

[MaxTehLegend]

The MSI Z97 GAMING 3, MSI Z97 GAMING 5 and MSI Z97 GAMING 7 all came with one 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen2 x2/SATA) connector. The two PCIe 2.0 lanes, used by the M.2 socket, are directly wired to the Z97 chipset. To get four PCIe 3.0 lanes would require reducing the GPU's lane use from 16 lanes down to 8 lanes so that the other eight lanes can be used for a PCIe to M.2 adapter card.

The Z170, Z270 and Z370 chipsets use PCIe 3.0 so their M.2 sockets use four PCIe 3.0 lanes from the chipset.

Even when I don't use my PCIe adapter for my NVMe M.2 SSD and install my NVMe SSD into the slot on my motherboard my GPU still gets reduced to x8 3.0.

 

[ko888]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

Yes.

 

[ko888]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

Yes.

Is the graphics card installed in the PCI_E2 slot?

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

Yes.

Is the graphics card installed in the PCI_E2 slot?

The graphics card is installed in the top PCIe slot.

 

[ko888]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

Yes.

Is the graphics card installed in the PCI_E2 slot?

The graphics card is installed in the top PCIe slot.

The top PCIe slot is a PCIe x1 slot so I highly doubt that you could even fit the graphics card into that slot without modding the physical slot itself.

Did you try clearing the motherboard's CMOS to force re-enumeration of all installed devices on the motherboard?

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Did you remove the PCIe to M.2 adapter card?

Yes.

Is the graphics card installed in the PCI_E2 slot?

The graphics card is installed in the top PCIe slot.

The top PCIe slot is a PCIe x1 slot so I highly doubt that you could even fit the graphics card into that slot without modding the physical slot itself.

Did you try clearing the motherboard's CMOS to force re-enumeration of all installed devices on the motherboard?

lol, ofc i didn't mean... whatever. yes i tried that didn't work.

 

[k1114]

Where are you reading x8 3.0?

 

[ko888]

lol, ofc i didn't mean... whatever. yes i tried that didn't work.

The Z97 GAMING 3 doesn't have lane splitting.

I take it that you have either the Z97 GAMING 5 or the Z97 GAMING 7 or the Z97 GAMING 9 motherboard.

If you have a Z97 GAMING 5 or the Z97 GAMING 7 are both PCI_E5 and PCI_E7 slots empty?

If you have a Z97 GAMING 9 are both PCI_E4 and PCI_E6 slots empty?

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Where are you reading x8 3.0?

GPU-Z, & HWiNFO.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

lol, ofc i didn't mean... whatever. yes i tried that didn't work.

The Z97 GAMING 3 doesn't have lane splitting.

I take it that you have either the Z97 GAMING 5 or the Z97 GAMING 7 or the Z97 GAMING 9 motherboard.

If you have a Z97 GAMING 5 or the Z97 GAMING 7 are both PCI_E5 and PCI_E7 slots empty?

If you have a Z97 GAMING 9 are both PCI_E4 and PCI_E6 slots empty?

No, i have the Z97 Gaming 3. All PCI and PCIe slots are empty.

 

[k1114]

Check your bios settings.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Check your bios settings.

Don't see anything that indicates PCIe lanes being limited or forced to run in a specific gen.

 

[k1114]

In bios: Settings\Advanced\PCI Subsystem Settings\CPU PCI-E Lane Configuration should be set on auto but if it is already then change to x16/x0/x0.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

I don’t get “CPU PCI-E Lane Configuration” in settings > Advanced > PCI Subsystem Settings > I get 3 options. PEGO - Gen X >
Auto
Gen1
Gen2
Gen3

PCH PCI-E Lanes Control > Auto, x4/x0/x0, x2/x1/x1

And PCI Latency Timer >
32 PCI Bus Clocks - (the default)
64 PCI Bus Clocks
96 PCI Bus Clocks
128 PCI Bus Clocks
160 PCI Bus Clocks
192 PCI Bus Clocks
224 PCI Bus Clocks
248 PCI Bus Clocks.

 

[ko888]

In bios: Settings\Advanced\PCI Subsystem Settings\CPU PCI-E Lane Configuration should be set on auto but if it is already then change to x16/x0/x0.

The OP's Z97 GAMING 3 BIOS doesn't have that setting since that model doesn't support lane splitting.