ASUS Maximus Z690 Extreme Thunderbolt 4 PCIe Resources

We're always eager to look at Motherboards where Subscribers are Asking Questions! Today, the ASUS Maximus Z690 Extreme that has Thunderbolt 4 on it! Lot of Information We're going to go through because this is in Response to some Questions We've had, which got kind of long from Richard Dow. We'll have the Comments up as a Link in the Video Description. We'll go through the Points from Richard, Itemized to expedite. There's a lot of Information being asked. 12 Talking Points of his Questions and Comments.
Note: For Configuration Settings of the the included PCIe 5.0 Hyper M.2 card, see Motherboard Bios Manual PDF under: PCIe Gen5 Redriving. Set to Enable! For Slot PCIeX16_2 Slot. The ASUS Bifurcation chart is relevant to the X16 Quad Hyper card whereas the Bios Manual settings are relevant to the included PCIe 5.0 Hyper M.2 card.
Reference Links:
1. ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 EXTREME - ROG Maximus - Gaming Motherboards
rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog...
amzn.to/3JN6YEc
2. Intel Core i9-12900KF Processor
www.intel.com/content/www/us/...
amzn.to/3BLVKxI
3. Intel Core i9-12900K Processor
www.intel.com/content/www/us/...
amzn.to/3Pf45wJ
4. PC Builder - PCPartPicker ASUS Maximus Z690 Extreme
pcpartpicker.com/list/PpZdp2
5. Intel Z690 Chipset
www.intel.com/content/www/us/...
6. ASUS [Motherboard] Compatibility of PCIE Bifurcation between Hyper M.2 series Cards and Add-On Graphic Cards - Official Support -
www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1...
7. Microsoft announces Windows 10 Pro for Workstations - Microsoft 365 Blog
www.microsoft.com/en-us/micro...
8. Windows 10 Pro for Workstations-power through advanced workloads - Microsoft 365 Blog
www.microsoft.com/en-us/micro...
9. Dell EMC NVDIMM-N Persistent Memory User Guide - Dell US
www.dell.com/support/manuals/...
10. NVIDIA NVLink 2021 Update and Compatibility Chart
www.pugetsystems.com/labs/art...
11. NVLink vs. SLI and Multiple GPUs - Is it worth it-
www.cgdirector.com/nvlink-vs-...
12. Thermaltake Tower 900 Case for Dual Vertical Mount GPUs
amzn.to/3PbVNpo
EVGA 24G-P5-3975-KR GeForce RTX 3090 XC3 Ultra Gaming, 24GB GDDR6X, iCX3 Cooling, ARGB LED, Metal Backplate
amzn.to/3JDMEF7
13. EVGA GeForce RTX NVLink SLI Bridge for RTX 3090, 4-Slot Spacing, 100-2W-0130-LR
amzn.to/3A1MqDx
14. Gigabyte TRX40 Designare Motherboard
amzn.to/3Qw6apm
15. ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI AMD Threadripper Pro EATX Workstation Motherboard
amzn.to/3BRsw0b
16. AMD 5975WX Threadripper Pro CPU for WRX80 Motherboard
amzn.to/3P9Uis1
Happy to also Discuss Your Build Specs for Recommendations and Requirements! Please lave a Comment in the Video for Assistance!
Support BuildOrBuy... www.buymeacoffee.com/gillboyd
www.amazon.com/shop/buildorbuy
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Subscribe, Thumbs Up, Comment! Appreciate Your Support! Thank You for Watching!

[@matchmaster7160]

My type of video great great video.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Match Master, Welcome! Outstanding! I'm honored! Appreciate Your Comments! Right now, We're fielding Questions about X670E Motherboards regarding Slots and Storage for PCIe Resources! We're using 3 AIC Scenarios for Quad cards, GPUs and possibly Thunderbolt/ USB4 AICs! Intel is talking a 24 Core and 34 Core CPU, That should be interesting. We know the Consumer Desktop Motherboard stopped at 16 CPU Cores. These other 2 sound like HEDT and Workstation CPUs based on CPU Core Count! Time will tell! Amazing times right now to be Building a Computer! Whew! Thanks for Watching!

[@JayzBeerz]

I’m your number one fan. :)

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi JayxBeerz, I'm honored! A lot of Information on this one! Two oddities We've never seen before on any Motherboard! Not enough time based on the Questions to full cover everything but enough. Had to stay on point with Answering these 12 Questions Asked! Did not get a chance to talk about the included PCIe 5.0 Hyper card vs the X16 Quad Hyper M.2 NVMe PCIe Adapter. Sparse Bios Documentation on that as well but to reiterate, not part of the Questions, only a reference based on Configuration choices addressed. Appreciate Your Support!

[@clausbohm9807]

FYI for those interested: Just finished rebuilding my system with the 3090 TUF & EVGA 3090 ti hybrid . They fit in the slots provided by the ASUS x299 MB with space for airflow. I undervolted the two graphic cards so they are producing less then 70c in Blender rendering and less then 80c in an hour of playing Total War: Empire (@Max quality). The Blender renders are approx 4.25x faster then the dual 1080 ti's that the 3090's are replacing. What is most revealing is the wattage draw when using MSI afterburner to tweak the cards ... While watching the heavy rendering (Blender Gooseberry demo 35 sec /frame), the UPS shows the power draw never going over 700W (even with the spikes) when running the two graphics cards in under volt mode (3090 @ .900v, 3090 Ti @ .950v). I am very pleased this was all doable with the x299 MB. I am using a i9-7980xe for the processing but not rendering. Finally I have all this stuffed in a Phantek Pro M case. You should see how close the 360mm Rad of the 3090 ti in the top of the case gets to the back case fan and front 240mm H105 Rad for the cpu. I am going to have a bit of a problem getting the back panel on with all the cables in the way, ha ha ha! Oh and the noise level was almost not noticeable, even without headphones on.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Claus, Excellent! Appreciate that feedback! Liquid Cooling, like Building a Swiss Watch! Tight fit! Did You NVLink the 2 GPUs? You've met Your Price / Performance ratio! Success Rendering!

[@clausbohm9807]

@@BuildOrBuy Thanks, NvLink won't work due to where the connectors are on the cards, but 24Gb is good enough.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@clausbohm9807, NVLink not possible Due to PCIe Slot spacing on X299 Motherboard? Thanks for Sharing!

[@clausbohm9807]

​@@BuildOrBuy No, its because of the cards, they have to be same make and model. The connecter location has not been standardized across companies.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@clausbohm9807, Got it! Thanks! Did not realize that. Makes sense though.

[@yakacm]

I have 2x1Tb Gen4 NVME SSDs in RAID0 on my z690 Hero. I tried setting it up using the Intel rapid storage, but ran in to issues with it. Intel RST was a lot of work to setup, having to change setting in the BIOS to change the drives to VMD, in the end it just didn't work, and was hecka slow, well compared to the speeds I should have been getting. In the end I scrapped the Intel RST setup and set the 2 SSDs as RAID 0, via good ole, striping via Windows, and wow are they fast, I get 14,000+ MB/s sequential read speed.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi diecast jam, Welcome! Interesting experience with Intel RST. RST VMD Driver in Bios, Yes. More Details to work through with Intel. Curious Your Performance with Intel Hybrid Bios Bootable RAID was less than satisfactory. Hassle setting up. A Windows RAID, although not Bootable is a whole lot easier to Configure as You have experienced. Both Intel RST and VROC are a hassle. In the end, Good numbers! Based on Your Results, are You using 3rd Generation M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD Drives? Phenomenal Results! Our experience on a Quad card using 1st Generation PCIe 4.0 Drives would be with 4 Drives in RAID, the Speed of 3 Drives hence 5,000MBps x 3 = 15,000MBps. And You're getting 14,000MBps with 2 Drives in RAID 0. Really Nice performance Stats and a much better Value considering the Requirements. Thanks for Sharing! Which M.2 NVMe PCIe Drives are You using?

[@yakacm]

@@BuildOrBuy They are 1Tb Samsung 980 pros. Yes not bootable, but I have a 500Gb 980 pro for my OS. The sequential read speed is pretty impressive, not too sure how good the random speeds are thou. I wonder if I can share a screen shot and let you have a look? I actually started watching your video as I was interested in the Thunderbolt port as I have just got an iPhone14 and was wondering why the download speeds were so dismal when I am downloading photos. But I have just done a bit of reading, and it turns out the IPhone 14 still uses USB2!!! TBH I wish I had got another Google phone, but for reason too boring to go in to I didn't.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@yakacm , Easier to just Post Your Numbers here. Email is for Clients. Thunderbolt, Interesting. And only using TB2 on an iPhone. Curious. We use Android. USB-C 10Gbps which is so much easier to implement. Even USB-C 20Gbps 2x2 is easier to implement that Thunderbolt anything. Thanks for Sharing Your Stats for Your M.2 NVMe Drives. Be sure to check Your Firmware on Your Samsung Drives. Right now only the Samsung 990 Pro was having Firmware issues causing Drive Lock. Not good!

[@damienshannon8954]

Thanks very much for the video! Came across this while trying to gain some education /understanding of CPU & chipset bifurcation, etc. Would very much appreciate if you could clarify an aspect for me - In regards to this motherboard if you were to have only one gpu and didn't use the m.2 slot that is shared with the other gpu slot, would you be able to use the all the other m.2 slots at their full PCIe 4 x 4? ie could you have 4 of m.2 drives running at PCIe 4x4 with a gpu running at PCIe 5x16?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Damien Shannon, Welcome! Yes! Appreciate Your Comments! Thanks for Watching! Bifurcation is a fascinating Topic! Consumer Desktop Motherboards are always a problem with Shared PCIe Resources since there are never enough!

[@damienshannon8954]

@@BuildOrBuy Excellent! Thanks very much for the prompt reply. That being the case; while not the best motherboard for Richard's application it seems that in other ways this would be a good board for other uses (thinking of myself), where I want high clock speed, plenty of fast drives. With the limitation of 20 PCIe lanes on consumer Intel CPUs it seems this board is providing a lot from the chipset (2 m.2 drives at gen 4x4, thunderbolt 4, 10Gbit & 2.5 Gbit ethernet...) (so long as one can live with the 128 GB & non ECC RAM limitation). Not as much room for expansion as a proper Workstation platform, but since it already has the beefy ethernet, thunderbolt, etc, there probably would be too much needed down the road. If then if something new or a 2nd GPU was needed, even with the 4 m.2 gen 4x4 drives, it would have still 1 PCIe 3 slot and also have 1 PCIe gen 5 slot (for whatever might be wanted down the road) . Granted if the second PCIe 5x16 slot was used then both those PCIe 5x16 slots would be brought down to PCIe 5x8, but from what I understand even next gen (RTX 4XXX) cards would have a hard time saturating PCIe 5x8. Keep up the great videos, and again thanks very much!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@damienshannon8954, If 16 CPU Cores are enough, Ok. You know the limitations therein for CPU PCIe Lanes and Chipset PCIe Lanes! Appreciate Your Comments! PCIe 6.0 is the real change in technologies! That will dramatically affect NVMe Storage! Success on Your Build!

[@damienshannon8954]

@@BuildOrBuy PCIe 6 and some 4 x 64GB DIMM support would be nice :). Thanks again!!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@damienshannon8954, Denser Memory absolutely! That's a Problem even now! NVMe is the bigger deal going forward. NVMe Key Value Command Set Provides the Key to Storage Efficiency - NVM Express nvmexpress.org/nvme-key-value-command-set-provides-the-key-to-storage-efficiency/ Wild stuff!

[@devaxionrl8189]

Great review! I know this is a sidetrack from your video, but what would you recommend for an nvme heatsink in terms of cooling? I had seen your other videos and they were very detailed but I want to know what you’ve noticed from your tests?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Devaxion RL, Welcome! Appreciate Your Comments! Excellent Question! We definitely need better Thermal Designs! Passive, so far has Tested better than Active Cooling! Two stand out, Acidalie and Jeyi FinsCold iGlacier8. And We've just been informed about a new one even taller but have no idea of its Thermal Conductivity. None of these work unless We have room overhead. Unobstructed. We have 2 options going forward. Either Motherboards need to be Designed to accommodate Taller M.2 Heatsinks or M.2 Heatsinks need to be Designed to fit under I/O Cards. 1. Acidalie amzn.to/3zSJ1H4 2. Jeyi FinsCold iGlacier8 amzn.to/3zGYABo As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases! Hope that helps!

[@devaxionrl8189]

@@BuildOrBuy Thank you so much! Headroom is an important factor indeed. I had thought about getting an adapter for multiple nvmes and it might just do the trick to reduce amount of space needed for spare ssds. Thanks for the info! Really appreciate it. Passive cooling seems to be more effective.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@devaxionrl8189, Absolutely! Here to help! Great idea! What's Your Motherboard? Do You have enough PCIe Resources to Add a X16 Quad M.2 NVMe PCIe card? We cover a lot of that in Detail on most Motherboards!

[@devaxionrl8189]

@@BuildOrBuy I have a z690 a-pro msi ddr4 board. I have it empty at the moment!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@devaxionrl8189, Please confirm, is this Your Motherboard? MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-Z690-A-DDR4 And which CPU are You using? This may require a Video Response!

[@anthonyraker2980]

Can you recommend motherboards that allow the full bandwidth of thunderbolt without loosing gpu/m.2 resources

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hello Anthony, Tall order! Any Motherboard with Thunderbolt 4 either as an Add-on or Built-in will Dedicate 4 PCIe 3.0 Lanes to Thunderbolt thus taking PCIe Lanes from something else. Consumer Desktop Motherboards have limited PCIe Resources to go around. And not everyone can be used simultaneously. Choices have to be made as to the allocation of PCIe Resources. And every Motherboard is different in the use of those Resources. Any Motherboard with Thunderbolt will dedicate 4 PCIe 3.0 Lanes to Thunderbolt as is required but something else will not be usable as a Result! To reiterate, any Motherboard with Thunderbolt will require 4 PCIe 3.0 Lanes Dedicated to Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt cannot share PCIe Lanes. Hope that helps!

[@anthonyraker2980]

@@BuildOrBuy I’m sry for the confusion. I meant not taking or sharing lanes with the video card or m.2 drive

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hello@@anthonyraker2980, To reiterate, Thunderbolt of any kind does not Share PCIe Lanes. Thunderbolt requires Dedicated PCIe Lanes. However due to limited PCIe Resources something else will not be usable. Consumer Desktop Motherboards have limited PCIe Resources. BTW: The Z790 Chipset by Design suffers from bandwidth issues even without introducing Thunderbolt 4. A Z790 Motherboard with 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Drives will suffer in performance. Only 3 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Drives can attain full specification performance. Bummer right.

[@mqcapps]

Motherboard requirements: Assuming I need a new motherboard, the manufacturer first because I've had bad experiences with some brand names. Unlike like some folk, I plan to keep the motherboard for years and I don't want to spend time tweaking it and tuning it every weekend and fussing with screws and things like that. I want to build it and on my way. The next thing is the CPU, pretty picky about these because I do not want overkill or under kill. Then the chipset and I look at what it will not do before I look at what it won't do. Motherboard construction as I won't buy a motherboard that doesn't come with the rear shroud because I'm tired of those tinfoil I/O shields. I/O connectors and whether or not they are useful or gimmicky. At this point I look at price to see if it's worth it, do I have to buy all new stuff or can I use my existing gadgets. Next is layout because some of the motherboards had a double slot GPU over a PCI slot, how much RAM it can hold, layout of SATA drives as indicates if the manufacturer looks at this motherboard as a tinker toy. Header location and how many specialized headers are there. All and all, do I have to supplement capability or is it all there.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Mike Quinton, Excellent! Thanks for Sharing Your Process! 1. Motherboard Brands. Agreed! We've had technology issues with certain Brands as well that a Bios Update will not change! Some Brands have Design issues. Their implementation of certain features are not User friendly! Yes, We Build for longevity! After all, We have work to accomplish! Build and move on! Upgrades, as needed and if required! 2. CPUs now are about Core count. But my perspective on that is jaded. I think of CPU Cores like Hard Drives on a price per MB number. Keep it Simple! Max made a distinction on that very Subject! 3. Chipsets Rule! This is the 1st thing We focus on! A Motherboard is the Foundation of a Computer. Whereas the Chipset is the Foundation of the Motherboard! 4. Construction, yes. PCB layers. An expectation but still should be checked and verified! The already mounted I/O Panel Shield! Seemed odd at 1st. However, that should be mandatory! What a time saver! Less hassle! 5. Price is very important. Features 1st then Compare that price point. This Motherboard in this Video is the perfect example. A Workstation Motherboard offers more value based on the Questionsand Comments. The difference is in the CPU. And that is so much per Core as Max highlighted. Hence Core count. 6. Motherboard layout is becoming a glaring problem. We know there are Design restrictions due to physical size but PCIe Slot placement and M.2 Connector placement are becoming a problem. Those should not overlap. Even PCIe Slot width. We're seeing how that affects GPU Slot Width. Started noticing that on the TRX40 HEDT! 7. RAM - Very hood point. A convenience of using PCPartPicker System Builder as well as verifying CPU and Chipset Specs. Like ECC as outlined in this Video per Q&A! 8. Motherboard Headers - Especially along the edges where either the PSU or Case or both are tight! You're right! All of those Details matter! Thanks for Sharing!

[@mqcapps]

@@BuildOrBuy One of the neighborhood kids used his Taco Bell money to buy a R9 5950 X. He didn't know that he also had to buy additional gear to run the thing. He didn't know he needed a first-class water cooler, really good RAM, a better than average motherboard and is SSD have to be in the 7K class and not the Walmart class. I told him that, unlike a lot of what he sees on KZbin, that a water cooler may occasionally leak and they definitely have to have maintenance every so often to clear out the crud and check the pump. I further told him that PC building is a holistic effort, not just the impact of single part. Bragging rights get old real quick.

[@mqcapps]

Core account is not as important as utility. The software that you run on your rig determines if the thing is any good and some software just isn't written very well or it doesn't take advantage of all the horsepower that is crammed inside the case. One of my senior PMs has a PhD in computer science and told me that there is a speed limit on CPUs the way they are currently manufactured. He told me that base clock and turbo boost are things that he looks at first as a CPU is going to have his own qualities. There's nothing wrong with an RGB centered build, if that's what the user wants. There's nothing wrong with trying to put monster racing tires on a Volkswagen beetle, just don't try to drive to 7-Eleven in it.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@mqcapps, Unfortunate for that Young man. An expensive lesson! Glad You've brought that issue up! Not only holistically but also visionary. Like being able to visualize the end Result. And that goes back to being Purpose Built! Doing, what if, scenarios for possibility thinking! We most often go at this from the Hardware but the Project or Software is the key to the End Result hence knowing the Render engine! Hope he was able to Appreciate what You tried to empart. Knowledge! Results! Thanks for Sharing! This helps Us to make better Videos!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@mqcapps, Very good point! We're Building technology most software cannot use yet but will later, We hope! That's always been the race of Hardware vs Software. One is usually behind the other. Eventually they line up. As for Core Count, that's why We reference the Adobe After Effects Multi Frame Rendering CPU Optimization Formula for a Purpose Built Computer! The most impressive change We experienced in Performance on the HEDT TRX40 for Video Rendering in Vegas Pro was changing from a Radeon Pro WX7100 with 8GBs VRAM to a Radeon Pro WX9100 with 16GBs VRAM once Vegas started using GPU Rendering! Talk about software catching up! Now, the GPU does 80% of the Rendering! Big difference in GPU expense! Big difference in Performance with GPU Rendering! On the WRX80, referring to CPUs based on Core count makes for easier math in understanding Platform costs and value. Max, one of Our Subscribers pointed that out, 12 Core, 24 Core, etc. Yes, Function over Form! I'm just not a Fan of Liquid even though We may have to due to heat. Still not a Fan of it if We have alternatives! Those RGB Lights remind me of something from the 70s. Very Dated.

[@jollygreen4662]

Hi

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Jolly Green, Welcome!