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16x 8x Lanes, NVMe, CPU/SB link

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Hi there,
I recently made a PC with the Z390.
For SSD, it offers 2 M.2 PCI-E slots next to (under) the southbridge cover and 2 PCI-E slots next to the CPU (with the Asus' DIMM.2 invent card)
Apart I got the GPU.
BIOS offers some criptic options I won't comment here but in short it is this:
My 2080 TI GPU runs at 8x speed now because I've two SDD's on the CPU bound DIMM'2 card.
I presume that this way the SDD's run at optimal speed (CPU linked) but my GPU at 8x.

If I move both SDD's to the chipset ports under the southbridge cover (hotter), will GPU speed change from 8x to 16x, but SDD's speed be worse?
Common sense answers needed, I have little time to do full benchmarks with all the options. *I also could put 1 SDD in the DIMM.2 and 1 SSD on the SB...}
Thanks ahead!
 

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Yes, the graphics card would run at x16 if you did that, as the other two slots would be connected to the chipset.
If you do that, you have to shave the DMI 3.0 interface (which is technically x4 PCIe lanes) with everything else that connects through the chipset.
In most instances, this might not matter too much and in everyday use, you're most likely not going to see any performance issues.

Using the DIMM.2 at all, would reduce the bandwidth to the GPU to x8.
 
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If you need max GPU performance, put it in the 16x slot and move the m.2's to the mobo...

If you need max drive performance, reverse the above and put the GPU in an 8x slot....
 
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I am doing some GPU PCI-E saturation benchmarks (3D Mark PCI-E feature Test), but apparently, NO-ONE in the world - as per 3D marks results comparison- has done this test, lol (with my setup)

Walking in the dark regarding x8/x16, people say 2080TI is reaching PCI-E 3.0 limits... no idea if this is urban legend.

Not sure if I need max GPU bandwidth or SDD bandwidth... problem of gaming with work PC... :)
Thanks guys!

The DIMM.2 card is sooo cute it decided my purchase, but on X299 platform it was fully supported. on z390 only halfassed.

As a sidenote, the z390 with the 5000Mhz 9900KS is much more responsive in Windows general use than the x299 with the i9 7900X. but less lanes...
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
Walking in the dark regarding x8/x16, people say 2080TI is reaching PCI-E 3.0 limits... no idea if this is urban legend.
Just look... TPU tested this MONTHS ago... 1-2%. ;)
 
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I wouldn't even bother using the DIMM.2 off the CPU. You'll never notice the difference between the NVMe drive running off the CPU or chipset.
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
I wouldn't even bother using the DIMM.2 off the CPU. You'll never notice the difference between the NVMe drive running off the CPU or chipset.
But if you are pounding on two drives through the dmi....you are limited to 3.0 x4...one drive can saturate that.
 

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But if you are pounding on two drives through the dmi....you are limited to 3.0 x4...one drive can saturate that.

It depends on how you're pounding on the drives. Not all the data being transferred to the drives is going through the link between the CPU and chipset. That's how DMA works, if you're transferring data from one drive to the next, or from the network to the drives(but then even 10Gb/s isn't going to saturate even one drive but whatever), the data flows directly from the source to the destination with very little going over the DMI link between the CPU and chipset.

The only time you're going to see the DMI link become an limitation is if you are transferring data directly from memory to the drives. Like if you are exporting media in Adobe Premier, where it puts everything in memory(as long as you have enough), encodes it in memory, then transfers it all out of memory in one bulk transfer once the encoding is done. But that's kind of a rare situation, and most people that use Premier queue their exports into Adobe Media Encoder to avoid the extremely high memory usage caused by exporting directly in Premier.

Most of the other times you'd be doing heavy data transfer from the SSDs to the CPU, it is because you're doing some kind of render on the CPU and the render is pulling data from the drives. But even then, the CPU is almost certainly going to be the limiting factor on how fast the render can go, and the amount of data it is requesting is not going to saturate the DMI link.
 
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Very interesting comentaries! Thanks.
1 SDD is windows+apps, and 1 is games.

I will try to run some benchies to add drama ;)
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
I'd just put them on the DIMM 2 slot. You aren't losing anything else by doing so...
 
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Well well well!
A shame that 3D Mark doesn't keep track of this PCI-E bench.
And it doesn't save them under any tag.

But I can tell you: HUGE DIFFERENCE IN FAVOUR OF 16X!!!!

When I ran it at 8X, the FPS were around 7 fps and the result 6,5 GB/s.

Now at 16X the results are below, beside that the viewing experience was a bit better, around 13 fps and the bandwidth the double! 13,19 GB/s!
:peace:


1576008416886.png
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
When I ran it at 8X, the FPS were around 7 fps and the result 6,5 GB/s.

Now at 16X the results are below, beside that the viewing experience was a bit better, around 13 fps and the bandwidth the double! 13,19 GB/s!
Cool beans. You understand this doesn't translate to GPU performance, right?

Here, let me get that link I mentioned earlier........
 
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What's the motherboard?
At worst, you might lose some SATA ports if you use both M.2 slots. That's what mine does at least.
 
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@EarthDog thanks great article from @W1zzard Yet I'd like to know and test some more :)
Games, drivers, etc change after months... And freaks like us still will keep tweaking even if it's just for the experience, or?
@gdallsk In my case, the sata ports (5 and6) are shared with PCI-E number 3. I had six drives but I killed one with coolant...... just like my GFX1080 :-(
 

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Cool beans. You understand this doesn't translate to GPU performance, right?

I was just going to say this. Of course there will be a difference in the benchmark, it's designed to show PCI-E bandwidth differences. Artificial tests don't translate to real world performance, just like most storage synthetic benchmarks don't translate to real world performance.
 
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I will test some more at 8X and 16X, can't harm! Now we have Metro Exodus, CODMW... just need to find how to, lol.
 
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Benchmark Scores Faster than yours... I'd bet on it. :)
I will test some more at 8X and 16X, can't harm! Now we have Metro Exodus, CODMW... just need to find how to, lol.
It's only time... your time (ty!). :p

Metro Exodus has a built in benchmark... use it (though it is only 90s long). COD MW... not sure if it has one and MP testing is borderline useless due to the inherent variability of MP.
 
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In my case, the sata ports (5 and6) are shared with PCI-E number 3.
That same pcie slot might be shared with the M.2 slot as well, you still havent told me what motherboard you’re using.
 
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That same pcie slot might be shared with the M.2 slot as well, you still havent told me what motherboard you’re using.
OMG! Maximus XI Extreme. Has lots of slots, but limited by chipset. Gotta update my TPU profile
 
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OMG! Maximus XI Extreme. Has lots of slots, but limited by chipset. Gotta update my TPU profile
Luckily for you, the manual doesnt actually state that its disabling slots or ports, have you actually tried plugging your NVMe drives into those slots?
Something like AIDA64 will tell you what speed theyre running at

1576014883067.png


The DIMM.2 card is working as intended
 
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BIOS, GPU-Z, Aida, tell me the speed. In short, for GPU x16 you do have to not use DIMM.2 and/or PCIE-slot 2.
Specs updated.
Second next step is to bench the SDDs, for now I'm installing some ultra high def games.
cheers there

Annotation 2019-12-11 092655.png


I have repeated these benches at maximum resolution and results are not constante.... tonight I will return to this, now work calls :rolleyes:
 
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