Z270 Motherboard with i7 6700k (PCIe Lanes)

[IgnitionIWNL]

So my question is, if i buy a Z270 Motherboard and instead of upgrading to a new kaby lake processor, i keep my 6700k, will i be able to take advantage of the 30 PCIe lanes that the z270 chipset give you? Thanks for your time.

 

[elbert]

The Z270 comes with 24 compared to the Z170's 20 PCIE lanes. How the motherboard uses those to support part is dependant on the motherboard in question. The CPU for graphics cards 16 PCIE 3.0 lanes would be the same for skylake. Here is more if you want to research this.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z270-vs-Z170-What-is-the-Difference-877/

 

[IgnitionIWNL]

The Z270 comes with 24 compared to the Z170's 20 PCIE lanes. How the motherboard uses those to support part is dependant on the motherboard in question. The CPU for graphics cards 16 PCIE 3.0 lanes would be the same for skylake. Here is more if you want to research this.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z270-vs-Z170-What-is-the-Difference-877/

Say for example im upgrading from the MSI Z170A-G45 to the Maximus IX Hero Z270?

 

[TJ Hooker]

Say for example im upgrading from the MSI Z170A-G45 to the Maximus IX Hero Z270?

I can't think of any good reason to upgrade from a Z170 to a Z270 mobo. Do you really need 24 chipset PCIe lanes instead of 20? What is making you think you need a new mobo in the first place?

 

[IgnitionIWNL]

Say for example im upgrading from the MSI Z170A-G45 to the Maximus IX Hero Z270?

I can't think of any good reason to upgrade from a Z170 to a Z270 mobo. Do you really need 24 chipset PCIe lanes instead of 20? What is making you think you need a new mobo in the first place?

Well later on down the line i am going to upgrade to a kabby lake processor, so theres that. Also, as of right now i have my GTX 1080, 1 Samsung 950 Pro, 1 Sandisk SSD, and 1 7200RPM drive all connected to the chipset. unfortunately at this time im unable to use the 7200RPM drive due to bandwidth limitations, so for the time being it would be nice to be able to use that extra 4 lanes while im waiting to upgrade the processor.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Spoiler

Say for example im upgrading from the MSI Z170A-G45 to the Maximus IX Hero Z270?

I can't think of any good reason to upgrade from a Z170 to a Z270 mobo. Do you really need 24 chipset PCIe lanes instead of 20? What is making you think you need a new mobo in the first place?

Well later on down the line i am going to upgrade to a kabby lake processor, so theres that. Also, as of right now i have my GTX 1080, 1 Samsung 950 Pro, 1 Sandisk SSD, and 1 7200RPM drive all connected to the chipset. unfortunately at this time im unable to use the 7200RPM drive due to bandwidth limitations, so for the time being it would be nice to be able to use that extra 4 lanes while im waiting to upgrade the processor.

With the set up you described, you'd only be using 6 chipset PCIe lanes. x4 for the 950 Pro, x1 one for the Sandisk SSD (assuming it's a SATA SSD), and x1 for the HDD. According to your mobo manual, you can have up to 6 SATA drives along with a PCIe M.2 drive installed.

 

[IgnitionIWNL]

Spoiler

Say for example im upgrading from the MSI Z170A-G45 to the Maximus IX Hero Z270?

I can't think of any good reason to upgrade from a Z170 to a Z270 mobo. Do you really need 24 chipset PCIe lanes instead of 20? What is making you think you need a new mobo in the first place?

Well later on down the line i am going to upgrade to a kabby lake processor, so theres that. Also, as of right now i have my GTX 1080, 1 Samsung 950 Pro, 1 Sandisk SSD, and 1 7200RPM drive all connected to the chipset. unfortunately at this time im unable to use the 7200RPM drive due to bandwidth limitations, so for the time being it would be nice to be able to use that extra 4 lanes while im waiting to upgrade the processor.

With the set up you described, you'd only be using 6 chipset PCIe lanes. x4 for the 950 Pro, x1 one for the Sandisk SSD (assuming it's a SATA SSD), and x1 for the HDD.

Hmmm, thats quite weird. No matter what configuration for SATA ports i use, i cannot get that HDD to show up.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Does it show up in Disk Management (run diskmgmt.msc)?

 

[IgnitionIWNL]

nope. not even in bios

 

[MikezBikez]

nope. not even in bios

So I have an Asus Z270 Maximus IX Hero, 6700K, Titan X Pascal, and ADATA M.2 PCIE SSD as my boot drive. In trying to connect my storage SSD (2.5" Crucial MX300 525 gb), it doesn't show up in BIOS either... I haven't ruled out the drive being fried (but I highly doubt it is) yet, but the exact same hardware configuration (CPU/GPU/Boot/Storage SSD worked just fine on my last mobo (Z170 Maximus VIII Gene)... is there a PCIE/PCH bios setting that I'm overlooking????