I have an MSI X870E Tomahawk motherboard and I'm looking into some configurations. The manual mentions that the top PCIe slot has 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0, while the middle slot only has a single lane of PCIe 3.0. I'm unable to fit a GPU into the bottom slot due to case limitations. If I put a 3060 in the middle slot, will the single lane of PCIe 3.0 cause any problems? Additionally, I'd like to know if adding multiple M.2 SSDs will affect the 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0.
2 Answers
What do you plan to use the second GPU for? That might help clarify whether the single PCIe 3.0 lane will be a problem. If your main GPU is the one doing the heavy lifting for gaming and the secondary is just for basic tasks, you might be okay.
Regarding the M.2 SSDs, MSI's X870 boards generally won't throttle your PCIe 5.0 lanes just because you're adding SSDs. However, if you do add an M.2 to the second slot, it might cut down on the bandwidth for some USB ports on the back, but otherwise, you should be fine!
It really depends on your workload. The 3060 in that single PCIe 3.0 lane might not be optimal for gaming, but if it's for light browsing and video playback, it should work without major issues.
As for the M.2 SSDs, MSI typically doesn’t combine those lanes, so adding them shouldn't be a problem for your 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0. Just keep in mind that if you want full speed on those USB ports while using the M.2, you might need to adjust some BIOS settings!
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