Will Two PCIe 5.0 M.2 Drives Impact My GPU Performance on the X870 Motherboard?
Asked by
GamerChick42
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?
Answers
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.
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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.
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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.
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PCbuilder89: 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.