Checking the Asus B650E-E setup - Sanity verification complete.
Checking the Asus B650E-E setup - Sanity verification complete.
Hello, you're looking to upgrade your system for a Ryzen 9 9950x. Your key needs are: multiple x16 slots, specific slot generations, sufficient M.2 space, and enough SATA ports. I couldn't find any affordable x670E boards matching all these specs, but the Asus B650E-E seems like a strong contender. Just double-check if you need any hidden issues after five years since your last purchase. Let me know!
It has the ports yes. But it cannot use them all at the same time. It doesn't have the pcie lanes available for that. The pcie slots are all active as long as not all m.2 slots are in use. The bottom one seems to turn off with 4 m.2 drives. The m.2 drives SHARE bandwith 2 of them are on one link. Depending on what else is in it may be running at 4.0 x1. The second pcie slot is x8 max as long as there are lanes available else it drops to x4. The sata interface seems to be ok and not affected. Speeds will drop to pcie 4.0 except for the top m.2 and x16 when lots are populated. So if you want to use everything there is a good chance it simply will result in some slots not working.
The highest x16 port, the middle x16 port, and an M.2 port all use the same bandwidth. If you want the top slot at full x16, the middle slot and one M.2 port are turned off, while for the middle slot, the top slot is at x8 and the middle slot is at x4. What type of expansion cards are installed on this board? It doesn’t support x8 connections—it only supports x4. I’m unsure about the reason for the drop to 4.0 x1 or why the bottom slot shares bandwidth with an M.2 port. Checking the manual, it only references the top two PCIe slots and the M.2_3 slot.
They mostly focus on lane counts instead of considering the actual bandwidth equivalence between x8 PCIe 5 and x32 PCIe 3. You also need PCIe 5 support for your GPU to make it work, otherwise you're limited to the slower version of your card.
I noticed this on several platforms. The information appears to be missing from the official specs page and the motherboard manual you referenced. It seems the details about X8 mode support aren't clearly indicated there. The Asus documentation mentions it only supports x4 mode, while the site lists compatibility with PCIe Gen 5x4. You might want to double-check the board specifications you're reviewing.
In theory, it seems suitable for the intended use, but whether bandwidth constraints arise when using all slots simultaneously is uncertain. It appears likely to secure the highest lane in 8x4x4x between PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2, and M.2_3. The manual doesn't explicitly confirm this. Asus doesn't provide a detailed block diagram for the motherboard. The two additional 16x slots can hold up to 4 devices each. The top slot competes with the second 16x and the third M.2 slot. AM5 processors support up to 24 PCIe lanes, with 16+4 directly from the I/O and another 4 shared with the chipset. Sharing PCIe 4.0 lanes is acceptable as long as you stay under the 40Gb/s limit, making it less of an issue when lane availability is exceeded.