[SOLVED] Will installing NVMe adapter on my H87-Plus reduce GPU performance?

[Shalou]

Hey everyone. My motherboard's PCIE x16s seems to share same buffer. If I install an adapter there to install NVMe drives (Since my MB doesn't have one) will that limit my first x16 slot to x12 or x8?

On H87-Plus' manual:

https://imgur.com/a/mff8SVn

View: https://imgur.com/a/mff8SVn

 

[USAFRet]

First off, why the NVMe drive on such an old system?

 

[DSzymborski]

Hey everyone. My motherboard's PCIE x16s seems to share same buffer. If I install an adapter there to install NVMe drives (Since my MB doesn't have one) will that limit my first x16 slot to x12 or x8?

On H87-Plus' manual:

https://imgur.com/a/mff8SVn

View: https://imgur.com/a/mff8SVn

It shouldn't.

However, an NVMe makes little sense. It's unlikely you'll be able to boot from it, making the whole exercise fairly pointless. A 2.5" SATA SSD would make a lot more sense.

 

[Karadjgne]

Pcie slot #1 is x16/x8/x4. If you put anything into pcie slot #2, both slots will run x8/x8, same as sli or crossfire.

As others have said, there's no gains to be had with using nvme. With a newer motherboard, the pcie lanes are from the cpu direct, or pass through the chipset PCH, just a single dmi bridge. Very little loss if any. Using an adapter, you almost always lose a bunch of bandwidth and the nvme will be effectively running at x2, not x4, making it almost exactly the same performance as a standard sata drive.

First is the interface differences, then the bridge in the adapter, then the PCH.

Sata is cheaper to get realistically the same results.

 

[Shalou]

Pcie slot #1 is x16/x8/x4. If you put anything into pcie slot #2, both slots will run x8/x8, same as sli or crossfire.

As others have said, there's no gains to be had with using nvme. With a newer motherboard, the pcie lanes are from the cpu direct, or pass through the chipset PCH, just a single dmi bridge. Very little loss if any. Using an adapter, you almost always lose a bunch of bandwidth and the nvme will be effectively running at x2, not x4, making it almost exactly the same performance as a standard sata drive.

First is the interface differences, then the bridge in the adapter, then the PCH.

Sata is cheaper to get realistically the same results.

I have one more question.
The NVMe adapter I've found also uses SATA3.0 data cable. Could that help for things like booting and such?

https://imgur.com/a/2tOtOLN

View: https://imgur.com/a/2tOtOLN

 

[USAFRet]

I have one more question.
The NVMe adapter I've found also uses SATA3.0 data cable. Could that help for things like booting and such?

https://imgur.com/a/2tOtOLN

View: https://imgur.com/a/2tOtOLN

No.

That adapter has two slots.
One for an NVMe drive, one for a SATA drive.

You would only use a SATA cable if you also had an M.2 SATA drive connected.

 

[Karadjgne]

And what's worse is both drives will be sharing the same pcie lanes as they both go through the same choke points where the adapter meets the pcie slot. Kiss bandwidth goodbye.

Adapters like that are ok for use when space was needed, drives were smaller and motherboard forms like mITX or mATX or SFF had extremely limited space and available slots for the extra drives. With modern 4Tb-8Tb Sata ssd drives, the necessity for such adapters is basically gone as even mITX will have 4x Sata ports and/or pcie m.2 ports for an OS drive or 3.

A slower drive with fast or direct interface is far superior to a faster drive with its legs tied at the knees and choked by latency to the point it's barely better than a hdd.

NVMe is nice to have, but carries its own set of issues, least of which is the headaches you get trying to get bios to not only recognise the drive and treat it as a Boot drive, but windows to actually accept it. These forums are packed with ppl and nvme issues, you have to search pretty hard to find a Sata ssd problem. Sata is plug and play, requires no tinkering with bios, accepts secure boot without issue, and your motherboard contains all necessary drivers natively. Nvme is not native, even if ports are there.