New PC Time

All,
I am looking at putting together a new PC.
Ryzen 5950X
Nvidia 3080
Memory/Case/PSU/Cooler is easy after that spec

I will need a PCie 4 X16 slot for the graphics card

I plan on installing an Asus Hyper M.2 X16 Card V2 that wants a PCIe 3 x16 (or x8) slot for more onboard high speed storage

I will also need a slot (PCIe 2 X8) for the 10Gb fibre card although I could use a 10Gb copper port on the motherboard, if it has one

When I start looking at motherboard specs they confidently headline that they have 2 (or 3) * x16 slots, but when you look deeper they all seem to caveat that with 1 @ X16, or 2 @ X8, or even 3 @ X8 which isn't ideal

If I stick a 3080 in a PCIE 4 X16 (running at X8) slot what sort of performance hit am I going to see?

Ideally I would have 2 slots running at X16 plus PCIe 2*8 slot for the network card - but I can't find one.

Am I missing something, being stupid or what?

Your only need the one X16 slot, the m.2 shouldn't be effected, but some boards take away 1 sata port when you use the m.2, guess it depends on the mobo you get really, if the network card needs X16 then depending on the board it'd be 2 at x8 but i'd be suprised if there wasnt a 2 x16 one out there, but with the newer GPU's being far bigger in size your also have to think about spacing between the slots.

But the hit I don't feel would be much if that was the case.

Personally I'd get the GPU use it and wait for AM5 DDR5 it's pretty much due end of this year and if your PC is decent atm it'd be worth holding off for a bit.

The PCH on Ryzen has lanes for the PCIE SSD so you don't lose any on the GPU. It's deceptive, but in a good way.

You only lose SATA ports sometimes if you use an MSATA SSD. IE if you use an NVME (AKA PCIE SSD) you won't lose any ports. Because it goes through the PCIE bus, not the SATA channels.

Best way to find out is to check the manual, or simply just use NVME drives.

For example. I run a X570 TUF board. £180, IIRC. The GPU is a 2080Ti, and I have two Patriot NVME SSDs *and* a 1tb Samsung MSATA.



At first I bought the MSATA because I was worried that using more than one would eat GPU lanes. Then I found out the chipset does the storage and the CPU does the GPU lanes. So I have the two Patriots (1tb and 256gb) and the 1tb MSATA in there also. I don't lose any SATA ports, IIRC, but that is irrelevant as I don't use any sata drives any way.

I have SATA drives I plan on decommissioning / staying with the the carcass of the current PC
I basically want to use 2 PCIe4 16 at X16 plus 1 PCIe 2 X8 (along with additional lanes for at least 1 * M.2 at 4*4). And I can't find a board that will do that.

Its the same as wanting two graphics cards effectively.

Just to repeat
1 * 3080 PCIe 4*16
1 * Asus M.2 Card in bifurcation slot PCIe 4*16
Either 10Gb on the board or preferably 1 * PCIe2 * 8 slot for a 10Gb SFP+ card so I can use my fibre

Either I am being dumb or these don't exist

That's the catch with Ryzen desktop.

It really is as simple as that. You need a pro setup for those lanes meaning X299 or TR.

I'm not surprised you can't find a board. I would that was done on purpose by AMD (not allowing any one to make board with extra PLX) because it would eat into their pro sales. A area that they now completely dominate in.

The X570 chips come with a caveat emptor which is understandable given their relative pricing.

Look into a 3960x setup.

Ouch - thats a lot of money for a CPU. I think I may have to adjust my expectations and ditch the Hyper M.2 card

Sean

It looks like cheaper 16-core parts will make a come back with Threadripper 5000, though of course not *that* much cheaper, it was kinda crazy that they got rid of them in the first place with the professional licensing complications that introduced.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/int...threads-33ghz-46ghz-turbo-1925mb-cache-165w-r

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...x-series-processor-19-25m-cache-3-30-ghz.html

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asu...e-m2-4-way-sli-quad-gpu-crossfire-usb-32-g2-a

Is about as close as you will get, with the lanes, for about the same amount of cash.

It'll be slightly slower overall, but 48 lanes.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/int...cores-36-threads-30ghz-46ghz-turbo-2475mb-165

Is also an option. CPU and board come to the same price as the 3960x. Again, won't be as fast but will have what you need.

A little late, but the Asus x570 WS has a plx on the chipset lanes to allow pcie 3.0x8 instead of 4.0x4 so you could run your fiber card. You still won't be able to run the hyper m.2 at 16x though, but as AlienALX said, you'll need threadripper or intel HEDT for that. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/All-series/Pro-WS-X570-ACE/

The Asrock x570 creator has 10gbe onboard, so that saves some lanes, though you'd still be limited your GPU, 1 cpu lane m.2 and one chipset m.2 if you want full speed, and I wouldn't want to RAID between the chipset and the cpu lanes (though you can). https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570 Creator/index.asp

If you REALLY need the bandwidth and not the gaming performance, you can pick up first gen TR stuff dirt cheap these days if they're still in stock, or on the used market.