Hey everyone! I'm diving into building a high-performance PC and need some clarity on PCIe 5.0 lanes, especially regarding how they interact with my GPU and M.2 slots. I'm planning to use an ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO motherboard with a 9950x3d CPU and a 5090 GPU. I've heard that if I use the PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, it might limit my GPU to running at x8 lanes based on some resource I found.
However, another spec I looked through didn't mention any downsides to using just the M.2_1 slot. So, I have a couple of questions:
1. If I install one PCIe 5.0 M.2 drive in the M.2_1 slot, will the GPU still operate at all 16 lanes?
2. If the answer to the first question is yes, can I also use the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for more storage without affecting the GPU's performance?
2 Answers
From what I've gathered about your motherboard's specs, if you use the M.2_1 slot, your GPU should still run at full x16 lanes, which is great! Just remember, though, if you enable additional M.2 slots like M.2_2 or M.2_3, that could drop the lanes for your GPU to x8, depending on how they are configured. So, as long as you stick with just the M.2_1, you're in the clear for maximum GPU performance!
You're spot on with your understanding! Using the M.2_1 slot alone means your GPU will continue functioning on all 16 lanes. Plus, you're good to go with using any of the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for extra storage—those won't affect your GPU settings. Just keep an eye on which M.2 slots you start using together to avoid any bandwidth issues down the road.
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