Uncertain about the terminology for M.2 slots in motherboard ads.
Uncertain about the terminology for M.2 slots in motherboard ads.
You're checking if your motherboard supports multiple NVMe drives. The listing mentions 4xM.2 slots, which typically means four M.2 slots available, not necessarily four drives. Each slot can hold one drive, so you'd need at least four NVMe SSDs to utilize all four slots. Confirm the exact slot type and ensure your drives match the required form factor.
Four drives consuming a single 1 x16 lane channel (refer to the third image)
It doesn't explicitly state that it kills the lane, but the number of lanes seems insufficient for all traffic. (I assumed the second slot wasn't a genuine X16, usually they're X4 or at most X8)
Based on what I grasp, using four M.2 cards together might cause one slot to stop working, though a 300$ motherboard could likely manage them and keep the slot operational. It also seems to rely on the CPU being compatible. My Xeons have plenty of PCIe lanes, so this issue probably isn’t a concern for me.
Generally, few people care much about it. The focus is mostly on PCIe lanes, which has become almost a joke.
I'm not sure... the ASUS guide says filling all four M.2 slots won't disable anything. But if you use the Hyper M.2 card and connect it to the bottom PCI-E X16 port (X4), it might force the main X16 slot into a dual-mode setting. It seems the lower PCI-E X16 port can either route through the chipset or draw from the CPU's 16x lanes when the M.2 device is present. That kind of behavior isn't common.