Ports for high-performance gaming on this Asus device.
Ports for high-performance gaming on this Asus device.
The M.2 port near the CPU features four PCIe 4.0 connections straight to it. The slot adjacent to the chipset provides four PCIe 4.0 lanes feeding the chipset (which functions as a bridge to the CPU). Each PCIe device linked to the chipset shares bandwidth across just those four lanes. Ideally, the lowest M.2 port could power a full-speed PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive if no other devices demand bandwidth—USB ports included. It’s unclear how these numbers apply in real-world performance. Would you like me to run some tests and share results? Feel free to reply.
Did you receive a m.2 cooler connected straight to the CPU? If so, which model are you using? I'm testing the same board with a Samsung 970 EVO and noticing the NVMe drive overheating by around +60°C on the controller due to the aging graphics card. As a temporary fix, I boosted the chassis fans to improve airflow.
Would this apply to GPUs too? I use an M.2 drive as my main storage in the bottom slot, but I’m experiencing crashes when switching to a new drive in the top slot. I’m trying to determine if it’s a lane sharing issue.
Additionally, the highest PCIe port (typically for GPUs) and the top M.2 slot (near the CPU without a heatsink) link directly to the CPU using PCIe 4.0 lanes. All remaining ports (other PCIe connections, additional M.2 slots, USB, SATA, etc.) pass through the chipset, sharing the same connection path from the chipset to the CPU—this port supports four PCIe 4.0 lanes. Sharing occurs whenever several downstream devices require simultaneous communication with the CPU and the combined load exceeds what those lanes can manage. Best, -a-