SM950 Pro on Asrock Z97 Professional

[mlamti]

I have Asrock Z97 Professional with 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by Intel® Z97, support RAID
(RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage
Technology 13 and Intel Smart Response Technology), NCQ,
AHCI, Hot Plug and ASRock HDD Saver Technology
• 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by ASMedia ASM1061,
support NCQ, AHCI, Hot Plug and ASRock HDD Saver
Technology (SATA3_A2 connector is shared with the eSATA
port)
• 2 x SATA Express Connectors (SATAE_0 is shared with
SATA3_1 and SATA3_2; SATAE_1 is shared with SATA3_4,
SATA3_5 and M.2 Socket)
plus
1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/
s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x2 (10
Gb/s)
Question: I want to buy Samsung SM950 PRO ssd but I am not sure it will function at full speed. Note I have a GTX 970 on PCIE2 (PCIe 3.0 x16 slot). I know I need an M.2 PCIe adaptor but which PCIe slot to use?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

use one of the X4 slots if you have to do a PCI conversion, but don't you HAVE an M2 slot on that motherboard?

 

[mlamti]

I have an M.2 slot, but it's Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s) not 3 x4. I cannot run the SM95 PRO to full speed.

 

[jimmysmitty]

You would go for PCIE6 which is a x8 PCIe 3.0 lane but you want PCIe 3.0 to get the most if you plan to use a 950 Pro as they require a PCIe 3.0 x4 to get 32Gbps speeds.

As well you need to make sure your BIOS is up to date to have support for NVME, which the 950 Pro is, and be able to properly install and boot from it.

 

[mlamti]

So if I got you right, if I insert the GPU in PCIe 2 it will use x8 lanes and PCIe 6 for the SSD will use 8 lanes as well. The SSD should work at full speed but not the GPU. Is that right? I heard GPUs don't need 16 lanes so will this be an issue?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the difference between x16 and x8 is approximately 1-2% fewer frame rates: if you got 100 fps, you'd get 98 or 99. if you got 60 fps, you'd now get 59

 

[jimmysmitty]

So if I got you right, if I insert the GPU in PCIe 2 it will use x8 lanes and PCIe 6 for the SSD will use 8 lanes as well. The SSD should work at full speed but not the GPU. Is that right? I heard GPUs don't need 16 lanes so will this be an issue?

It will be fine. Most GPUs will run on x8 and PCIe 3.0 x8 is just as fast as PCIe 2.0 x16, which is not even saturated yet.

 

[mlamti]

I got the following from Asrock:
Dear customer,
Thank you for contacting ASRock.


We suggest install M.2 in PCIE4 or 6, but VGA card will run in PCI Express 3.0 x8.




Thanks for your mail.
Have a great day
ASRock TSD