Search for a Ryzen motherboard supporting X8 and full NVMe features.
Search for a Ryzen motherboard supporting X8 and full NVMe features.
Seeking a board that fits these requirements: 1) PCIe 3.0 GTX1070 or newer GPU, 2) PCIe 3.0 X8 RAID card, 3) full-speed X4 NVMe support for Ryzen with ample lanes. Most boards have the second X16 slot as a hardwired x4 port, sometimes blocked when using M.2. Avoid needing extra SATA ports or a second M.2 slot. Some boards turn off the second PCIe entirely if you use the NVMe M1 slot.
Consider your requirements carefully. Do you truly require ~8GB/sec from your RAID card? Unlikely—what are you aiming for? Are you expecting x16 performance on your GPU? Probably not; most setups run at x8 with only a slight difference in frame rate. My setup includes a B350 board, an x8 GPU, NVMe x4 (via adapter in another x8 slot), NVMe x4 (M.2), and a 10G NIC chipset—no noticeable bottlenecks. If you examine the actual data transfer needs, you might find more flexibility than you think.
It seems there might be some confusion about the specifications. With an X570, you can typically get up to 16 lanes, so having two GPUs with 8 lanes each is feasible. An NVMe with 4 lanes is also possible, though it may limit bandwidth compared to higher lane options.
I’d prefer a 4x3.0 lane setup for the raid card. However, many boards completely block the second PCI-E X16 (physical) port when using an NVMe in the M1 slot. The main culprits are the ASRock 350 and 450 series models. The X series boards tend to work better but cost more. An 8x/8x configuration would be ideal, though it needs an X series board.
This board features a majority of second-generation PCIe X16 slots, each utilizing a 2.0 pin configuration.
Below is the lane distribution for my X570 Strix-E. The X-series and B-series appear to be quite similar, likely with fewer chipset NVMe lanes compared to earlier models. CPU Lanes: 4 NVMe, 16 PCIe (split into two sets of eight if both x16 slots are used). Chipset Lanes: 4 NVMe, 4 PCIe (16 lanes total). Additional ports include SATA and Ethernet options.
I possess this file in my NAS: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4/index.asp - 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (one at x16 (PCIE2); two at x8 (PCIE2) / one at x8 (PCIE4)) * * It accommodates NVMe SSD as boot media 1 x Ultra M.2 slot (M2_1), supports M.2 key types 2230/2242/2260/2280, M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCIe up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) - 1 x M.2 slot (M2_2), supports M.2 key types 2230/2242/2260/2280, M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCIe up to Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s) * * It includes ASRock U.2 Kit Support for NVMe SSD as boot disks