Hey everyone! I'm building a new rig with the ASUS X870-PLUS motherboard and I'm curious about how using two PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSDs might affect my GPU performance. According to the manual, if I install a drive in the M.2_2 slot (PCIe 5.0 x4), the main PCIe x16 slot (G5) gets reduced from x16 to x8. I plan to run two PCIe 5.0 SSDs (one in M.2_1 and the other in M.2_2) for quicker storage, but I'm worried this could slow down my GPU. My CPU is a 9800X3D and my GPU is a 5080. I get that PCIe 5 offers minimal benefits for gaming, but since I'm investing in a high-end setup, I want to make sure I'm not compromising my GPU's performance. Any insights?
3 Answers
I agree with StorageNinja. For gaming purposes, the Gen 5 drives don't provide a significant performance upgrade, so opting for a good Gen 4 drive would be smarter.
Using a Gen 5 drive in a Gen 4 M.2 slot might not give you a big boost in performance. When it comes to your GPU, dropping from x16 to x8 with the 5080 is likely to have some impact.
If you're mainly gaming, there’s really no need to go for a Gen 5 drive. A decent Gen 4 drive will work just fine, and you’ll save some cash! Let's be real, the performance difference for gaming is practically non-existent. You're likely just wasting money on that.
Yeah, the 870 boards actually do come with two Gen 5 M.2 slots, so at least you'll be using them to their full potential. Just keep in mind that the extra Gen 5 slot could limit GPU performance.