ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme Overview Slots and Storage PCIe Lanes

I was on here looking for info about the on board NIC card (10G) and how it compares to say a seperate 10G NIC, for ultimate online multiplayer latency consideration. But I can't run a seperate NIC card without compromising my x16 lanes? Tho I find the on board NIC a huge upgrade over my old boards 1G in terms of latency.

Can anyone help me?

I need two 4090 for my use case. I know the x16 lane will be split to power the two GPUs. But let's say I decided to power one GPU and utilise full x16 without having to go through the hassle of detaching the second GPU. I do lot of extensive rendering.

If a PCIE Gen 4 M.2 and a PCIE Gen 5 M.2 device are both installed into the ROG GEN-Z.2 card, will the overall speed of both devices be limited to the slower of the two M.2 drives? It seems odd to me that the manual mentions a slot for PCIE Gen 4 and a slot for PCIE Gen 5 when the ROG GEN-Z.2 card shares a single connection to the motherboard near the RAM slots. Thanks for the detailed overview!

Is there diagram that shows the distance between PCIE_1 x16 and PCIE_2 x8? I am trying to see if I can fit two Sapphire Nitro 7900xtx cards (each 71.6mm thick)

Very informative video. I've tried explaining PCI-E lane allocation, bifurcation to people and they look at me I'm some crazy person. I have the Crosshair Extreme..I had it paired to a 7950x but now I've put that CPU in a different x670 system and I'm about to start using the 7950x3d. I'm looking for info on how well 4 dimms of memory will work out with this CPU which is very sensitive to voltage. Any luck getting all 4 slots working at 6000MT with 1.4v or less?

I've been experiencing a consistent trend of intermittent failures/crashes where the fans spin up to full speed, and the system locks. Some require a reboot, some require a complete shutdown, and some require me to reset bios. The other night, I had a failure so bad that none of those would work either. I ended up taking out the RAM and the Z card that had both NVMEs and the 4090 to get the bios to be completely clear. I even tried hitting the Switch bios button. It got stuck on Super IO initialization failure. I eventually got it back up and running but at this point. BIOS 1415 runs on default settings, all power management is disabled, and ASUS Crate is not installed.

I am weary of hooking my 2nd monitor back up and really changing any other settings. I'm not even using the RAM profiles. At one point, it gave me BIOS code 00 or 99 if I had 2 monitors hooked up while having Teams and Outlook on 1 monitor while having a small game or training on the other monitor.

In the evenings playing DIablo with my wife, I would have intermittent crashes that were similar to the other failures. I am confident it has anything to do with the game because it's the same type of failure as the others. I had a spare set of new G.Skill RAM because I bought 4 sticks, not knowing how much AM5 sucks at running 4 sticks. I swapped the 2 sticks out the other night, redid the BIOS, and left everything on default.

I'm starting to think this board can not handle the voltage of running a PCIe5 NVME, a 4090, and a 7950x

Is this a good board for AMD5 Ryzen 9 7950X3D , Strix Geforce RTX 4090, Not sure of the DDR5 Ram thinking of Corsair Dominator 6200(CMT32GX5M2X6200C36) I am so lost regarding the correct DDR5 for stability. I will lightly overclock when gaming, but most of the time operating stock for productivity work. As of today June 6 2023 ASUS BIOS Version 1415 posted on ASUS support page 5/16/2023. supposed to correct issues with CPU and memory.
So my plans is either this board or the Crosshair 670E Hero. AMD R9 7950X3D, DDR5 Still processing the correct one. GPU Strix Geforce RTX 4090 OC Samsung 990 or 980 NVMe 2 TB @ 2 plus 3 970 evo + NVMe 1 TB installed in ASUS GR701 case with ASUS Thor 1200 PSU cooled with AIO until I can save more money to water cool.

So I have this exact board with the 7900x my question is this I have the 4090 on the top PCIe slot a M.2 in the underscore 1 slot and two more M.2s in the top right next to the RAM and I set those two up in RAID 0 but I can’t see them in windows 11 I can see them in the bios. Can you help me out?

I'm really confused as to what to do next. I'm deciding what to do with my PCIe 4 NVME M.2. I'm running a PCIe5 / Gen 5 NVME in the Z card and using a 4090 in my primary PCIe5 slot. I'm considering leaving the Gen4M.2 in the same Zcard as the Gen5 M.2. Before I got the Gen5 NVME M.2 and was running just the Gen 4 NVME in the NVME slot behind the 4090 GPU, my games would occasionally crash.

I've been building computers for 10 years now. I'm reminded that there is still things I don't know and that I will become ignorant on due to constant improvement on current tech. But I'll be damned if this board didn't confuse the ever living hell out of me. This video clarified so much I was shaking my head at the end. This was the first video I've seen by you, and now you have a new sub. Manufacturers really need to be concise on how they word their tech documents and address their information.

So by adding 2 m.2 drives on the rizer card i will still have the first pcie lane slot going x16 for the gpu?

Hello.
Thanks for the video.
Where would you recommend that I put my second (only using 2) M.2 drive on this board for the best performance? To keep the RTX 4090 at 16x?
Im also using Soundlaster AE-7 on the PCI x4 from the botton.

Is the genz.2 card connected to the chipset lanes?

Hello,

May i use igpu on one monitor and dgpu on another monitor at the same time on this mobo? You covered it but i didnt understand. Many thanks

I wish every video I learn from is as detailed as this one, amazing. Question: If I have M.2_1 and x2 M.2 drives via the GEN-Z.2 slot AND a single SSD in the SATA port.... would I still get x16 lanes for the GPU?

Is there a significant difference in overclocking the Ryzen 7950x on apps?

Is it possible to use the PCIX16_2 for a single GPU with full 16 lanes???? Problem is, my 4090 with a mounted EKWB Vector² active backplate needs a lot of space on the top side....

So I have a 4090 I was going to put in the top pcie 5.0 slot. I wanted to put in a capture card in the bottom pcie 4.0 slot. Then m.2 in m.2x1 and gen adapter by ram... My questions are, the 4090 is a pcie 4.0 card, will it use full pcie 4.0 bandwidth being pcie 5.0 x8 or will it be stuck to pcie 4.0 x8? Is their any benefits to having a 4090 on pcie x16 vs x8? Because if not, I wouldnt mind having the 2 extra m.2 slots then for 2x 970 evo plus nvmes.. Thanks again for this great video. Your channel is highly undervalued for subscribers

Subscribed! I have been watching your videos recently and found a lot of info from HBA cards and this! Getting this board and will arrive next week. Can the OS boot on the ROG Gen-Z.2 card? Planning to install 2 m.2s. 1 on the M.2_1 and 1 on the GenZ.2 card. Btw, I will be aircooling the 7950X on this board with a noctua NH-D15. I am not comfortable using an AIO or the likes running 24/7.

Hey, thanks for the video! I'm looking for someone with one of these who can answer a question about the RGB if possible.

If you set the RGB Matrix pattern and OLED and reboot into the bios is the RGB pattern you set still displayed while you're in the BIOS? I'm asking as I run Linux regularly alongside windows so I'd like to be able to reboot from windows into linux and keep the RGB pattern as it was but can't find any info on it :(

Question: The manual is confusing me on the proper placement of 2x32GB, G.Skill RAM modules. If I understand what they are saying (maybe I don't), they are saying that 2 RAM modules should go into slots A2 & B2 for best performance/addressing, not A1 & A2. Does that make sense? Kindest Regards and thank you for answering BuildOrBuy!

Hello!

First of all, thanks for this very informative and clarifying video.
I have still have .. questions though:

1. As far as I can see I would be able to use an Intel optane drive in the 3rd PCIE slot without running in any restrictions regarding my GPU in the 1st slot or am I wrong?
2. Would I be able to run two PCIE 5.0 M.2. SSDs in a Raid configuration when I equip them in the 1st M.2. and the PCIE 5.0 Gen-Z slot?
3. Are the two USB4 a.k.a. Thunderbolt on this board really supplying 40 Gbps as I've heard in a other video that this is not the case. Apparently they've just added the 30 Gbps from the Display Port signal and the 10 Gbps together for one port and the other one is simply specified wrong (this information is from a X670E Crosshair Hero review though, that's why I'm not sure)

Thank's in advance for your answer and the great content you put out!

Where would you recommend that I put my main M.2 drive on this board for the best performance.

Thank you. Wish there was a block diagram as well. Great video.

Thank you for this. I just got this board and wasn't sure how the PCIe lane allocation would all work out.

wow so much for ECC support. thank you for clarifying what no one else has in simple language.

TL;DR — can’t run more than 1x GPUs at the full PCIe 5.0 x16 bandwidth

2x GPUs downgrade to 2x x8’s

Also more than 1 PCIe M.2’s in CPU lanes downgrade the GPUs due to limits on the number of native CPU lanes

I wanted 2x+ GPUs and an Optane boot drive on an ROG Extreme consumer gaming motherboard

Now I realize I need to be shopping Threadripper or Xeon workstation boards

Thanks

Do you know if this motherboard can handle all four DIMM’s filled with memory or would the fastest speeds still be with two slots taken?

Hi, does using the gen-z.2 card will downgrade the performance of either my graphic card or my SSDs if there is a graphic card in the pcie16_1, an ssd in the m.2_1 and a ssd in the gen-z.2 card ? Also is there a better place to put my 2nd ssd in the 2 pcie that are in the gen-z.2 card or are the 2 ports in the card the same ? (Im from France feel free to ask me to clarify if its not understandable)

my english is not 100% perfect. Have I understood correctly that if I install a graphics card plus two m2 cards in the m1 and m2 slots, I will not have any problems with the lanes? I actually wanted to install two m2 cards in the slots mentioned above and two in the expansion slot, but I just noticed that there were problems with the lanes there.

Anyone else playing the “reiterate” drinking game? 🤣 This is a great video series, I’m learning a ton and it’s very much appreciated.

What I’m getting is that there’s a lot of creative allocation management that should be paid attention to depending on the intended use cases. I’m also getting that CPUs really need more and more lanes. Personally I opted for the Hero rather than this board

what if you put an gen4 ssd card in the 16_2 socket will it bring down the 16_1 to 8 lanes? In the manual it only says about a PCIe 5.0 device

If I use an RTX 5090 that has 5.0 PCI-E and M.2 SSD 5.0 and 3x M.2 4.0 that means my RTX 5090 will only run at 8x instead of x16?! Because of the one 5.0 SSD?! :o Did I understand that right?

Hello! Excellent video with very detailed and technical info. I tried the best i could to understand, but i still have to ask. I have a rtx 4090 that needs to run in x16. But i also have two samsung m.2, a 980 pro and a 990 pro. Can i use them both on the motherboard and still get full speed on everything?

Boy did I just get educated. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I could have stayed with my old computer knowing what I know now. It's only built to run MS Flight Simulator 2020 and understanding shared resources made this NEW machine even faster. Running RAID0 would NOT really make it faster sharing resources. So 1 M2-1slot and 1 GPU PCIe x16 would be faster? The EXTREME board "seemed" faster, better and PCIe 5 seemed like the way to go. Live and learn. Thanks Gill!! Much more to learn about this board.👍👍

5 Minutes in, and I've learned more than in a year than by myself. Great video, great channel. Subscribed.

@buildorbuy

Hello, thx for this detailed video, i have ordered this board and after watching your video and checking the documentation, if i understand correctly, if I want to have my GPU running at x16 fully while trying to install the most M.2 drives, and not to impact the x16 lanes, i could in theory have 2 x M.2 in PCIe 5, 1 on the M2_1 & the other on the Gen Z2_1, and then 2 x M.2 PCIe 4 drives, one on the Gen Z2_2 and the other can be on an extra Pcie X4 add in card placed on the x4 PCIe 4 slot. Is my understanding correct ?

Will my GPU stay at x16 if I use two m.2 NVME drives via M.2_1 and M.2_2

Hi my use case is one graphics card 7900 XTX and sound card: Creative SB AE9.
If I use the 7900XTX in the PCIeX16_1
and the Creative SB AE9 in the PCIeX16_2 slot,
does that mean I will lower the x16 for the 7900XTX to x8 and the sound card to x8 ?
2nd question:
How can I get x16 lanes for the 7900XTX and still add in a sound card ?
Thanks.

For gamers who want to keep that juicy x16 speed for their GPU, could you use the one M.2_1 slot and have two other M.2 SSDs on the GEN-Z.2 Riser/adatper card OR only use the GEN-Z.2 card fro M.2 drives to keep the x16 for PCIe?

Wow! So much to Learn about ECC, and how it relates to overclocking. (Will have to see that other video) What I have learned from the comments and replies about M.2 Drives and PCIe is almost over-whelming. The M.2 platform or other PCIe SSD as a whole have blown my mind, when I heard of them sometime ago taking the market and being out of the loop for a while. SO could the Motherboard be overloaded with PCIe assets as(for example) just 2 GPUs on main and second PCIe slot, 2 M.2 SSDs on their on board slots (M.2_1 and M.2_2) and, if physically possible, put a x4 PCIe card of any kind on that last slot? Would the last device on that x4 slot be disabled or "not Seen" by the motherboard to prevent damage or would it just cause damage? However, it does seem the PCIe_2 (8x) slot is placed in such a way that it would block the x4 slot from being used? Just a note for Gamers/Developers, The max use of those PCIe lanes (If my Understanding is right) would be x2 GPUs, x2 M.2 SSDs if you don't mind those all running at x4 each. With additional x2 M.2 drives via the GEN-Z.2 slot and Riser/adapter card if you want to fill out every slot.

This I hear you correct? The GenZ.2 is not a shared resource? So it will not take one of the 24 lanes? So it will not impact PCIEX16_1 or 2?

If nothing else is used, can I put the GPU on the PCIEX16_2 and leave the PCIE16_1 empty and get X16? This is not clearly documented but ASUS support told me I can.

Incredibly valuable video! Thank you! I was confused because of it and as far as I know only this motherboard allows to do that kind of thing. Please telle me if I understand properly and my goal is achievable. I want 3x M.2 gen 5.0 drives (when of course 5.0 m2 would be available) two on motherboard (in m.2_1 and m.2_2 - in raid 0) and one in ROG GEN-Z.2 adapter (in slot supporting gen 5.0). So as far as I understand all 3 m.2 drives will be connected directly to the CPU. Due I'm using theese my main PCIEX_1 slot will run only as 8x. I'm not planning to use PCIEX16_2 nor that 4.0. I just want 3 m2 (two in raid 0 and one not) and decent graphics card (running it as x8 does not affect performace much AFAIK). Do I understand it correcly and my goal is possible? The second thing is RAM - I want 128GB - i heard that on latest Intel platform it would be impossible but on AMD X670 i heard of people that are using all 4 ram slots (even if it is not tested by asus in theri compatibility list). Thanks in advance for your help!

Wow you are so knowledgeable! After watching your video and reading the comments I realized I need to move my second M2 from M2_2 to the GenZ adaptor.

My question is is there any advantage or preference for which GenZ slot I place a pcie Gen 4 ssd in?

Really glad I found your site, have subbed. I have a Gen 3 SSD in the M.2_2 which I will be removing and installing in the Gen-z.2. This memory test is still doing my head In. Have installed the late 0805 bios. I am currently using 4 x 16Gigs of Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz CL36 DDR5 EXPO. Windows 11 Pro install and still random BSOD. Any suggestions. My Specs are Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB, 980Pro 2TB, Asus Strix 3090 OC., 1200w Asus Thor PSU.

Great video! I'm setting up dual 4090's into this motherboard and wanted to know my options for my m.2's. If I put in one M.2 into M.2_1, one into GEN-Z.2_1, and another one into GEN-Z.2_2, will I still be ok for running PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 in 8x mode each? I have two Gen3 M.2 as of right now. Thanks.

I was looking for this board and how it handle M.2 PCie5 and amazing info is given on this video, thank you so much!!! 😉👍

This is a bit off topic, but something you said brings the thought to my head. If you have a mobo, with updated latest gen headers on it, like a USB gen 3 2x2, but are still using an older case that does not have a gen 3 2x2 port on it's panel, can you buy a usb gen 3 2x2 cable with the port on the end, to connect to the mobo header and use loosely?