Samsung SM951 and Z97 Bandwidth

[Ctrlaltdenied]

Howdy,

Having watched Tinytomlogan's review of the Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD I have some concerns with my rig.

I would like to upgrade and get those blistering 2GB a sec (or near enough) speeds, however on a Z97 board it seems I won't have enough lanes to achieve this, I eventually plan on having 2 Titan X with the Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER board.

Now this would end up being PCIe 3.0 in 8x speeds for both GPU, and the one remaining PCIe 2.0 x16 slot would be occupied by the Samsung SM951.

I just can't seem to find any info re: benchmarks of this drive at those bandwidth restrictions.

Can any of you guys assist in explaining this or have any experience with the drive with these limitations? I am aware I would be losing a large amount of speed as this drive operates best in PCIe 3.0 slots, which means I'd need to limit myself to 1 Titan X in the longrun.

EDIT: Additionally, will DX12 when Windows 10 arrives (due to the lower overhead) allow for more bandwidth or am I thinking completely wrong about this? (probable)

 

[tinytomlogan]

Ive not tested it in PCIE2 x 16

I think the Ranger will be PCIE3 and when you add the 3rd card both the 2nd GPU and the SSD will have 4 lanes of PCIE each. Thats fine for the SSD but not great for your GPU

 

[Ctrlaltdenied]

So I'm guessing then if I want dual Titan Xs and this SSD to work in full I need an X99 mobo?

 

[tinytomlogan]

So I'm guessing then if I want dual Titan Xs and this SSD to work in full I need an X99 mobo?

I think by the time youve bought dual Titan X's you shouldnt really skimp out and stay Z79 anyways dude

But you will need an X99 with a 40lane CPU so the 5930 or the 5960x will be required


Welcome to the big budget league!

 

[Ctrlaltdenied]

After further consideration, I am going to continue with the Z97 build, obtain 1x Titan X, and use my 2nd PCIe slot for the aforementioned SSD. I am going to stay with 1440p gaming and monitor for now.

Then in 1 or 2 years down the line if X99 comes down in price (as will the Titan X I hope, at least a little) then I will upgrade mobo + CPU + RAM and obtain another Titan X. The performance of these new SSDs is just too good to pass up.

Let's face it, the performance of an i7-4790k, a single Titan X, and this SSD is going to be blistering anyways, right?

 

[tinytomlogan]

After further consideration, I am going to continue with the Z97 build, obtain 1x Titan X, and use my 2nd PCIe slot for the aforementioned SSD. I am going to stay with 1440p gaming and monitor for now.

Then in 1 or 2 years down the line if X99 comes down in price (as will the Titan X I hope, at least a little) then I will upgrade mobo + CPU + RAM and obtain another Titan X. The performance of these new SSDs is just too good to pass up.

Let's face it, the performance of an i7-4790k, a single Titan X, and this SSD is going to be blistering anyways, right?

Might want to wait till the 780 Ti is launched tbh.....

 

[Feronix]

Might want to wait till the 980 Ti is launched tbh.....

Fixed

 

[Ctrlaltdenied]

Just for anyone interested in the SSD, it's currently offered on Ebay (CCL Computers) for £265.79 for the 512GB version. They only have about 6 left right now.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-SM951-512GB-M-2-Solid-State-Drive-/381250426685?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item58c44bd73d