Z170 Extreme7+ and Intel SSD 750 in RAID

Hello,
I would like to ask for advice. I dont know how to find out information about PCI-E lanes mapping for this MB. So I dont know if there are available lanes for SSD with graphic cards, wifi and SATA drives connected...

My configuration:
Z170 Extreme7+
8GB DDR4 RAM
8*SATA HDD (SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 not used)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (PCI-Express 3.0 x16)
GIGABYTE GC-WB867D-I (PCI-Express x1)

I think I should be able to connect 1x SATA-Express or 1x M.2 SSD (since SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 are not used), but I want something better:
1) Can I add 2x Intel SSD 750 NVMe in HW RAID? (Will it works at full speed x4 & x4 ?)
2) If not, can I add at least one?

Thanks for help.

Edited by Kanalizator - 23 Apr 2016 at 6:18pm

Kanalizator wrote: Hello, I would like to ask for advice. I dont know how to find out information about PCI-E lanes mapping for this MB. So I dont know if there are available lanes for SSD with graphic cards, wifi and SATA drives connected... My configuration: Z170 Extreme7+ 8GB DDR4 RAM 8*SATA HDD (SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 not used) Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (PCI-Express 3.0 x16) GIGABYTE GC-WB867D-I (PCI-Express x1) I think I should be able to connect 1x SATA-Express or 1x M.2 SSD (since SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 are not used), but I want something better: 1) Can I add 2x Intel SSD 750 NVMe in HW RAID? (Will it works at full speed x4 & x4 ?) 2) If not, can I add at least one? Thanks for help.

On the Z170 platform, the 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU are not used by the Ultra M.2 ports. The Z170 chipset provides the resources for the Ultra M.2 ports. That is different than earlier Intel platforms, and a detail we will revisit later.

As you know, the Ultra M.2 ports are shared with the Intel SATA ports. Each one of the three M.2 ports shares resources with two of the Intel SATA III ports.

Your question is, I think, given your current configuration (eight SATA drives, only Intel SATA III ports 0 and 1 unused, M2_1 port unused, M2_2 and M2_3 ports unavailable, one video card in the PCIE2 slot(?)), can you add two Intel 750 SSDs in a RAID array?

The answer is no. Many details and reasons for that.

Intel 750 SSDs come in two interface types: a PCIe AIC, and U.2. Both need PCIe 3.0 x4 connections for full performance.

The PCIe AIC version fits in a PCIe slot, and uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes. That gives your video card eight lanes (x8) instead of 16. Put in two AIC 750s, and you'll still have eight lanes for the video card.

The U.2 750 needs a U.2 to M.2 adapter card to connect to the PC. The adapters are cheap and work fine, but you can only connect one U.2 750 with your current configuration.

The Intel RAID software works fine with M.2 PCIe SSDs, or using a U.2 to M.2 adapter, which are connected to the Z170 chipset.

The Intel RAID software won't work with SSDs in the PCIe slots, the 750 AIC version.

You can add one or two 750 AIC SSDs, but not for use with RAID.

If you can change your current configuration, you can use two U.2 750s with the M.2 adapter cards, in the M.2 ports and use RAID. That means removing two HDDs from the Intel SATA ports.

The PCIe lane mapping is given in the specifications:

- 4 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2/PCIE4/PCIE6: single at x16 (PCIE2); dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4); triple at x8 (PCIE2) / x4 (PCIE4) / x4 (PCIE6). PCIE3: x4 mode)*
- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slot (PCIE5) (Flexible PCIe)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot (PCIE1)
- 1 x Half-size Mini-PCI Express Slot
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX?? 3-Way CrossFireX??and CrossFireX??br>- Supports NVIDIA^® Quad SLI??and SLI??br>- 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE2)