Utilizing the additional four PCIe lanes in the third generation Ryzen processors
Utilizing the additional four PCIe lanes in the third generation Ryzen processors
The Ryzen 5 3600 supports 24 PCIe lanes. With your M.2 slot, you have 20 lanes left. You're wondering if you can use two PCIe slots in 8x and another in 4x on a Gen 3 board. Yes, that's possible with the right configuration.
All Ryzen processors feature 24 PCIe connections. This includes 16 dedicated to the graphics card in either a 16x or 8x/8x configuration, 4 for NVMe storage (or two SATA ports), and 4 for connecting the chipset. You’re effectively utilizing every available lane.
It's a small annoyance of mine that some sources list Ryzen with 24 PCIe lanes. That's accurate, but not helpful for users. In reality, there are 20 usable lanes, as the remaining four are reserved for system components. Typically, you'd opt for 1x16 or 2x8 configurations for GPUs or other high-end cards. The four reserved lanes apply to NVMe drives and other chipset-related devices.