Z170 Extreme 7+ PCI-e lane question

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   Sorry if this has already been asked, but I am trying to understand the capabilities of the Extreme 7+ motherboard.  Is it possible to run a x8 x8 SLI configuration while also running 2 - M2 x4 nvme ssd's in raid0 or will there be a conflict with the number of lanes available?

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jikeller Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote jikeller Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Z170 Extreme 7+ PCI-e lane question Posted: 16 Oct 2015 at 12:20am
	Sorry if this has already been asked, but I am trying to understand the capabilities of the Extreme 7+ motherboard. Is it possible to run a x8 x8 SLI configuration while also running 2 - M2 x4 nvme ssd's in raid0 or will there be a conflict with the number of lanes available?

jikeller Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote jikeller Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Oct 2015 at 2:32am
	I think I stumbled on the answer, but maybe someone can confirm. Appears the storage is routed through DMI 3 which is separate from the graphics cpu lanes.

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Oct 2015 at 12:01pm
	That's right. On the Z170 platform the M.2 slot do not use the PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU. The M.2 slots use the DMI3 resources from the Z170 chipset. All the PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU are available at all times for use with video cards. That is different than the previous Z97 platform that did use the PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU for the M.2 slots. Be sure you do your homework about using PCIe SSDs in RAID 0. That is not plug and play like SATA SSDs. If you are not experienced with RAID 0 and using the UEFI compatible Intel storage Option ROM, I don't recommend you try creating a RAID 0 array of any PCIe SSDs as the first OS installation on your new system. Even if you've used RAID 0 in the past, things are different with PCIe SSDs. Edited by parsec - 16 Oct 2015 at 12:02pm