Fatal1ty Z170 Professional Gaming i7 SATA Question

DonFale wrote: Hey Guys, as mentioned in the Thread title i want to know how many HDDs i can plug in on the MB. It has 10 SATA Boards on the MB and i need at least 8 for internal Hard Drives but as ive read the Manual im a little bit concerned i cant use this Board like i want to use it. The Manual mentions the following: Quote: * M2_1, SATA3_0, SATA3_1 and SATA_EXP0 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled * M2_2, SATA3_2, SATA3_3 and SATA_EXP1 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled. * M2_3, SATA3_4, SATA3_5 and SATA_EXP2 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled. If i read it correctly the lanes are shared and if i plug in a M2 the SATA ports will be displayed and this is fine as i dont plan on using the M2 Connectivity but the text reads like i i plugin a Sata Device on for Example "SATA3_0" then "SATA3_1" will get disabled. Is this really so or can i use all the SATA Ports like i want. Thanks for the Help in advance!

That text is confusing, but it's not as bad as you are reading it. I'll try to explain it better.

The short answer is if you don't use any of the M.2 ports, or don't use a SATA Express connection, ALL six SATA ports will be available. That's what you said you are doing, so you have nothing to worry about.

The Z170 chipset provides the resources for the M.2 slots, SATA Express connections, and SATA ports. They are shared, and the usage of the resources of each type of interface per connection goes like this:

One M.2 slot or one SATA Express connection or two SATA ports use the same amount of resources.

If you don't use any M.2 slots, or SATA Express connections, ALL six SATA ports are available at all times. Using SATA3_0 will NOT disable SATA3_1, or any other SATA port.

If you use slot M2_1, or SATA_EXP0, then SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 will not work.

If you use slot M2_2, or SATA_EXP1, then SATA3_2 and SATA3_3 will not work.

If you use slot M2_3, or SATA_EXP2, then SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 will not work.

The previous generation Z97 chipset boards used the PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU for the M.2 slots. The downside of that is the M.2 slots used the same PCIe 3.0 lanes that are used by video cards. So it was the CPU's PCIe 3.0 resources that were shared between the M.2 slots and the PCIe 3.0 X 16 slots on Z97 boards.

One M.2 slot uses 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes on a Z97 board. Using one M.2 slot on a Z97 board caused a video card to run at x8 electrically. That also meant no SLI if you used one M.2 slot.

The Z170 boards changed all that. The M.2 slot on Z170 boards don't use the PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU. Intel, for the first time, put PCIe 3.0 lanes in the Z170 chipset (Intel calls this DMI3). So Z170 boards do not use PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU for the M.2 slots. Which then allows SLI to be used as well as M.2 SSDs at the same time.

The tradeoff on Z170 boards is the M.2 slots use up resources used by the SATA ports. One M.2 slot uses the resources of two SATA ports.

There are PCIe SSDs like the Intel 750 that connect to PCIe slots, not M.2 slots. There are also adapter boards that let you connect an M.2 SSD like a 950 Pro to a PCIe slot. But that is the only way you can cause the board to NOT use the resources of the Z170 chipset.

Of course, connecting a PCIe SSD to a PCIe slot on a Z170 board would take us back to using the CPU's PCIe 3.0 lanes, and be back to sharing resources with our video cards.

Your board also has four SATA ports provided by two ASMedia SATA chips. They are not used at all by the M.2 or SATA Express connections. The ASMedia chips do not perform at the level that the Intel SATA ports do, so I suggest using only HDDs with the ASMedia SATA ports. Save the Intel ports for SSDs.

Does this make sense?

Thanks for the detailed clarification! Which ports are the ASMedia SATA ports on the MB?

Thanks for the info on the ASMedia SATA ports. Fortunately I was lucky and used these ports for the RAID5 spinning HDDs.

I hear you (re the clarification of the statement), but something that may seem obvious that is also confusing, the paragraph also suggests that by using Sata0 or Sata1 will disable the other Sata(0 or 1) port also.
Common sense suggests otherwise, but the fact is it is a terrible statement for a manual which is meant to help people rather than confuse people.

Now the question remains because of this statement, If I use Sata0 and Sata1 does that mean they share the bandwidth between them?
If so does it matter that they share the bandwidth?
If I use 2 sata SSD drives running upto 600MB/s each then I assume I have plenty of bandwidth on a shared SATA port???