Question Z690 Asus Maximus Hero Motherboard/M.2 Questions...

[Discount Bassy]

I recently purchased a Z690 Asus Maximus Hero motherboard. I have 3x M.2 cards, 1x 2TB Gen3 and 2x Gen4 (1x 1TB and 1x 2TB). The motherboard supports 1x Gen3 and 2x Gen 4. There is an additional Hypercard that can house additional M.2 drives.

My question: From what I am reading in the manual, using the M.2_1 slot causes resource sharing with the PCIE-1 slot where my RTX3080 resides. Will this slow down the graphics card noticeably? I am looking to install as much M.2 as I can on the motherboard before having to resort to 2.5" SSD's for additional space, but I don't want to noticeably slow down my graphics card. My plan was to use the 1TB as a system drive and the other two 2TB drives as scratch and quick access. Does this make any sense? I'd like to avoid using the Hypercard to keep airflow available to the GPU (maybe a moot point with a Fractal Torrent case) and am just trying to figure out how to maximize my fastest memory options.

 

[Lutfij]

My first question is, what are you looking to do with all that storage?

 

[Discount Bassy]

The current plan is to be using the system for gaming and as a DAW. I have a pretty big collection of WAV files and tracks that I access and my previous system's HDD's were maxed out with material and games (6TB). Because I sometimes live in remote areas without internet, it is important to me to keep physical copies of things rather than relying on ready downloads. I'm transitioning into video editing and 3D modeling due to a new physical limitation that is forcing a career change later in life, and working off of the suggestion of a friend who does 3D work for a living, I am opting to get the system squared as much as I can before heading back out into the wild. I have resources now due to the death of a family member that will likely not be available later.

 

[Discount Bassy]

I don't know if it matters in this equation, but I will be living in the desert where the ambient house temperatures can be in the high eighties+ (F) and won't be doing any sort of overclocking.

Additionally, my previous system had 1x 1TB M.2 and 6TB in HDD and I was constantly swapping multiple projects around to take advantage of the faster storage. When I added 3D projects, I was maxing out pretty quickly.

 

[Lafong]

The practical real-world speed difference between 3.0 and 4.0 drives is tiny.

If in doubt about the video card, use a 3.0 drive as your boot drive.....although it may be unnecessarily large?

I think 4.0 drives do run hotter....I don't know how much that might affect your overall cooling situation.

 

[Discount Bassy]

I guess the question is, being that I am drawing on the component listed above, some purchased and some donated from my friend's unused stock, is what is the best usage of things without compromising the GPU's performance? There are 3 M.2 slots on the motherboard and 2 on the Hypercard. I needed the Thunderbolt ports on this motherboard for audio interfaces. I'm trying to maximize the system for a few different foci.

Is there much difference running a 3080 at x8 vs x16?

 

[Discount Bassy]

I wanted to use the 1TB Gen 4 as the system drive. Should I put that in the M.2_1 slot by the video card?