ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme Thunderbolt 4 X570 Motherboard PCIe Resources

What's the first thing You think about when You're looking at a new Motherboard? Are You thinking about CPU or Chipset? And if You're thinking about Chipset, are You thinking about Design or Implementation? PC Part Picker System Builder has almost 4,000 Motherboards Listed. And in that List, We're going to take a look at one Brand, ASUS. One Chipset, X570. And of that We have 19 Products. Today We're Answering Another Subscriber Question and We want to verify PCIe Resources. One, to the CPU and Two through the Chipset.
- 24 PCIe Lanes to CPU
- 36 PCIe Lanes through the Chipset
Links mentioned in Video:
1. ASUS ProArt X570 Creator WiFi Thunderbolt 4 Motherboard Storage Options - KZbin
• ASUS ProArt X570 Creat...
2. ASUS X570 Choose A Motherboard - PCPartPicker
pcpartpicker.com/products/mot...
3. ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme
rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog...
4. ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VIII EXTREME AM4 Extended ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg.com
www.newegg.com/asus-rog-cross...
5. SATA Controller - ASMedia Technology Inc-
www.asmedia.com.tw/products-l...
6. AMD Ryzen 9 5950X - Gaming Desktop Processors - AMD
www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/a...
7. AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core AM4 Processor
bhpho.to/3IEnhlN
amzn.to/3NK8iZp
8. AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core, 32-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor
amzn.to/3Mk23tR
9. X570 Motherboards - AMD
www.amd.com/en/chipsets/x570
10. Seagate FireCuda 530 PCIe 4.0, 3rd Generation M.2 NVMe PCIe Drive
amzn.to/3MkSCKS
11. AMD Socket sWRX WRX80 Motherboards
www.amd.com/en/chipsets/wrx80
12. MSI WS WRX80 - AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO
www.msi.com/Motherboard/WS-WRX80
13. Dell Newest Precision 7865 Tower Powerhouse Features AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro
www.dell.com/en-us/blog/newes...
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Subscribe, Thumbs Up, Comment! Appreciate Your Support! Thank You for Watching!

[@PAIN-ot4cj]

This is an amazing video, I have this board and you gave a great explanation of everything.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi PAIN, Welcome! Excellent! Appreciate Your Comments! Thanks for Watching!

[@PAIN-ot4cj]

@@BuildOrBuy you give an entire different type of pc information and it’s on the infrastructural level it is pretty amazing

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@PAIN-ot4cj, We think these Details matter very much! For the What, Why and How this works! That's Why We Answer Subscribers Questions with a Video for an Explanation! Appreciate Your Comments!

[@chrisk6474]

Most people don’t really understand how these boards work. The difference between workstations and a regular pc is how they are able to access the high end storage most folks try to populate these boards with due to use case. You’ll have creators that will use the m.2’s instead of a NAS. Then wonder why they aren’t able to get the advertised speeds which leads to subpar performance. The marketing is misleading for most folks and it takes someone like you to do explain how everything is allocated. Bottom line if you want a production workstation go with threadripper or the equivalent. It’ll make the roi on the high end storage worth the investment. Good content as always.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Chris K, Absolutely Agree! And Motherboard Manufacturers don't want most people to realize that fact! Yes, You're spot on with that! HEDT TR40 or preferably a WRX80 Workstation for PCIe 4.0. This Fall is going to get even more interesting if everything We're aware of becomes available as We're expecting! A Busy Christmas Season this year! Appreciate Your Comments! We're all about Answering Subscribers Questions to reach as many Viewers as possible! Not everyone reads the Comments! Thank You for Watching! Every Motherboard is absolutely Fascinating at the choices being made from the Chipset Design to the Chipset Implementation. We need more Chipset Block Diagrams!

[@maxhughes5687]

I can't verify that AMD claim that an AM4 socket has 36 PCIe GEN4 lanes. 16 to the PCIe sockets, 4 to a single M.2 drive and 4 to the chipset is 24 total available. I don't know how many go to I/O on the back of the MOBO. ?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@maxhughes5687, That makes two of Us! That's why We don't! We focus on the PCIe Slots, M.2 NVMe Drives and then Devices as asked, in that Order. And stop there. Just the I/O, on Back of Motherboard: 10GbE, 4 PCIe Lanes; Thunderbolt 4, 4 PCIe Lanes; 8 USB 3.0 Ports (5Gbps), 16 PCIe Lanes; ASUS WiFi Module, 1 PCIe Lane. Does that help? Double check me and verify please. BTW: There's also a single USB-C Front Panel Connector for USB-C 2x2 hence 20Gbps USB-C! Just now noticing that but since it was not asked, Ignored. Fascinating! Details matter! www.everythingusb.com/speed.html A Chipset implementation Block Diagram would do wonders for knowing all of that! This next Motherboard Video will have that, Chipset implementation Block Diagram! But it's Intel so You know the end Result before We start.

[@iamionscat9035]

Great video! This solves a lot of questions I had

[@Ji-uv8pw]

Very detailed and informative, good video.

[@UnniG]

Thank you⭐️

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Mee 2# G, Appreciate Your Support! Thanks for Watching!

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Great video.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi John Paul Bacon, Excellent! Appreciate Your Comments! Thanks for Watching!

[@maxhughes5687]

My first mobo with SATA was an INTEL 875 chip set in the year 2002. If you can aford a Crosshair get some GEN4 NVMe drives. $150 a terabyte for 7000/6600MB/sec throughput.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Max Hughes, Takes me back a bit! Was that SATA or SATA II? We did not embrace SATA until SATA II even though We had the SATA Ports. PATA was just fine. Or so We thought! Now look at what We're doing! With Phison E18 Controller - 3rd Generation, Good call. Those can sill be used on a WRX80!

[@maxhughes5687]

@@BuildOrBuy SATA I to HHD replaced the ribbon cables from the mobo. In 1994 One SCSI card with an external port for a Cannon scanner and one SCSI card with an internal port to a Cannon 8X C/D R/W drive. It was the super expensive printer memory that made the rig so expensive.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@maxhughes5687, Fascinating! You're the 2nd person today referencing SCSI. We had the HP SCSI Flatbed Scanner. Amazing and remarkable Tool for the time frame! Yes, We can relate to expensive and very specific Printer Memory as well. Crazy stuff!

[@mas921]

One cool thing about the Marvell/Aquantia AQC113CS 10gbe controller is that it supports 4.0 x1! So if it's integrated in the motherboard it won't waste lanes. And that's how Apple integrated it in the M1 too according to the guys at serveTheHome. One Chinese OEM called sunrich Tech even states in a spec of an add on board (part no: N-760) with the same chipset that it requires a slot that is PCIE 4.0 x1/3.0 x2/2.0 x2. Would be very cool if it really works on a 4.0 x1 slot. 4.0 x1 should be more than enough for 10gbps.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi mas921, Welcome! Built-on is more likely using 2 PCIe Lanes. Have not seen any PCIe 10GbE Adapters using only 2 PCIe Lanes. They all use 4 PCIe Lanes. Does not matter. Either way, those are Chipset Lanes. To Add Storage and to Bifurcate requires CPU PCIe Lanes. That's like asking about SATA3 Speeds. SATA3 6Gbps, built-on or SATA3 5Gbps if on an Add-on card. Either way is Burst mode and not actual throughput. I digress. A Specific Motherboard Chipset Block Diagram would be helpful. Otherwise PCIe Resource allocations are up for conjecture depending upon how We count PCIe Resources and What Specs We're using. And until We get that, We allow for the possibility for 4 PCIe Lanes. Marvell Aquantia AQC113CS www.marvell.com/products/ethernet-adapters-and-controllers/fastlinq-edge-ethernet-controllers.html Product Comparison Chart - Product Brief. AQC113CS Product Brief www.marvell.com/content/dam/marvell/en/public-collateral/ethernet-adaptersandcontrollers/marvell-fastLinq-edge-aqc113-aqc113c-aqc113cs-aqc114cs-aqc115c-aqc116c-product-brief.pdf Furthermore, the Block Diagram indicates x4 PCI Express Gen 4 PHY. Anyway, 10GbE would be preferable using a different Chipset. Thanks for Pointing that out! Every Motherboard should have a Chipset Block Diagram in the Manual! That would simplify everything! Appreciate Your Comments! Thanks for Watching!

[@mas921]

@@BuildOrBuy oh, yes Sir you are right. Was confused by that other article from serveTheHome. Gotta to depend on the manufacturers own documents from now on. Thanks you for the clarification!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@mas921, All good! We always need to Test and Verify when We can! Sometimes seems to be just more obfuscation from Vendors! However, sifting through those Specs are always helpful as well! We just really need the specific Motherboard Chipset Block Diagrams for how everything is plumbed in Our Motherboard Manuals! Appreciate Your Comments! Thanks for Watching! BTW: We've seen Manufacturers who utilize that newer Marvell Chipset stating PCIe 3.0. Go figure. Gigabyte comes to mind. Gigabyte Vision 10G LAN Card www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/VISION-10G-LAN-Card#kf Note: Interface - PCI Express 3.0 x4 Users are complaining about lousy Drivers on Amazon for this Add in card using that Chipset. Whereas ASUS was using the older AQC107 10GbE Chipset for their 10GbE PCIe Adapter. Let's hope the ASUS Drivers are better! For this Motherboard, ASUS has a newer Driver than Gigabyte. rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-crosshair/rog-crosshair-viii-extreme-model/helpdesk_download Note: Marvell Ethernet connection Driver V3.1.3.0 for Windows 11 64-bit. (WHQL) Listed under Windows 10 Drivers! Version 3.1.3.0, Dated: 2022/02/15. Good to know! Your Comments help Us to make better Videos! You're right, Details matter!

[@tommcqueen2840]

Just bought this motherboard for a new build. Using a 5950x and an EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 ULTRA HYDRO COPPER 12GB GPU. Dual cooling loops. Lots of good info here.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Tom McQueen, Welcome! Outstanding! Nice setup! Success on Your Build! Thanks for Sharing!

[@cthis4786]

I was able to get my hands on the new Thermalright HR-09 2280 PRO SSD heatsink and compare it to my current Acidalie heatsink, surprised that there wasn't huge drop in idle and load temperatures considering how large the Thermalright is. Dropped idle and load temps by about 3-4 degrees on new heatsink, there must be some kind of barrier as to how much you cool these SSDs.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Cthis, Welcome! Interesting Results! After having tested 14 M.2 NVMe Heatsinks, We've learned enough to always Test and Verify! And not assume anything! We've been surprised at Our Results as well. We have one other M.2 Heatsink that performed as well as the Acidalie to Our surprise! Thanks for Sharing! Appreciate Your Comments! We have to keep searching for a better Design especially with PCIe 5.0 which will definitely run hotter! Maybe more exotic Cooling Solutions are in order. Passive Cooling still beats Active Cooling from what We've seen in Our Testing.

[@OGHawkeye]

so can i use tne ONE m.2 slot that is under that "extreme" lcd display and then still run my GPU the way it is intended with the 16 lanes?

[@OGHawkeye]

so wait a second....i got my board refurbished and it didnt come with the dimm.2, so at this moment im forced to use those bottom 3 m.2 slots. your telling me that i wont be able to run my graphics card correctly if i use ANY of them? If im using 1 of those m.2 slots what exactly does that do to my graphics card, if im using a 4070 OC 12GB???? will it not work? i do not understand this. If it is running only 8 lanes how does that affect performance?

[@mqcapps]

I used the supermicro adapter to add another M.2 drivce, but only put one SSD in it because I wanted to see if SATA ports 5/6 would be disabled once I use the extra X 16 slot. Even on a supercomputer or Star Trek, there's no such thing as "everything" or "unlimited". I installed a GEN 4 1 TB M.2 SSD. I already have a 980 Pro GEN 4 as my boot drive in slot 1. So this is going to be in addition. The Asus manual says that if I use the number 2 M.2 slot on board, that SATA slots 5/6 would be disabled. I wanted to find that out. What I found out was that even with updating the bios settings (Asus B550, 64gb DDR4, R7 5800X), and using the supermicro adapter, that the SATA slots were NOT disabled. HOWEVER, the second M.2 drive ran at just above SATA saturation speeds. I swapped out the second GEN 4 SSD with a GEN 3, much less expensive and slower, SSD. The speed on the second SSD did not improve and the Western Digital dashboard said that it was only using one lane although it is capable of using four lanes. ****So what Gil is saying about lane management is right on target.**** I am NOT disappointed given that I have 10 SATA ports in use plus optical drives and other stuff hanging off of USB slot cards. If I were to trim all of the devices down to one or two devices, I would get the speed. I'm not going to do that! I got the thing working the way I want it to work and THAT’S MY NUMBER ONE BENCHMARK!!!!! My main concern is whether or not I want to go to the trouble of taking the thing out and dealing with those microscopic M.2 screws of which I have a 10 K year supply of. I think I'm going to let this run a while just to see what happens.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Mike Quinton, Excellent! No matter what the Documentation tells Us, best way is to always Test and Verify! Knowing what to Expect and How that Happens and Why that might happen is a helpful expectation! That means there's a Bios setting to change that default behavior. You're only using 2 PCIe Lanes by Default. To get Full Speed on that Connected M.2 NVMe PCIe Drive, there's a Bios setting for that! That's a lot of SATA Ports in this day and time! If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Yes those M.2 Screws are PITA! Thanks for Sharing!

[@mqcapps]

@@BuildOrBuy thanks...yep...got the bios right....P4 lanes all worked....bifurcation settings...it works like it was supposed to...BUT...it's a lesson on limitations AND reading the manual. It said if you populate all the stuff, except for x16_1, they all convert to pci 1 and not to use 8x8 except for...and that's what it did...no complaints. So many sata drives... cause they still work...scsi was like that to.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@mqcapps, Absolutely! Who would have ever thought that SCSI would not survive on the Desktop! The Hassle is in those Details! We just have to Dig for it! Glad You're in Business! Success!

[@PAIN-ot4cj]

If you wanted to run your GPU @ full 16x with one m.2 being used you would have to use your dimm.2 that way you are using the chipset lane

[@BuildOrBuy]

Either M.2_1 to CPU or DIMM.2_1/2 though Chipset. Crazy Layout of PCIe Resources!

[@2684dennis]

So i got this motherboard en 3 NVmE's so if i occupie m.2 /1 and put the other 2 in the dimm.2 i should not lose speed on my gpu?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@2684dennis, Welcome! Unfortunately You would. The Problem - Not enough CPU PCIe Lanes. The Solution - Do not use M.2_2 nor M.2_3. Here's the layout for Slots and Storage. Supports 5 M.2 NVMe Drives. M.2_1 to CPU. Also M.2_2 and M.2_3 are also allocated to be to CPU. Whereas, DIMM.2_1/2 through Chipset. And 6 SATA Ports through Chipset. Another way to look at this, Page 13, Look in PDF Manual under Connectors with Shared Bandwidth. To reiterate, M.2_2 and M.2_3 are to CPU. Therefore if used, GPU will be X8. Bummer, right. This is always going to be the problem with Shared PCIe Resources on a Consumer Desktop Motherboard. To get everything requires dedicated PCIe Resources. And since the HEDT is past tense, the only Solution is a Workstation Motherboard like the WRX80 Workstation Chipset! Hope that helps! Thanks for Asking!

[@2684dennis]

@@BuildOrBuy thanks for writing back, So to have it straight and clear, if i put one NVmE in M.2 /1 using cpu lanes and i put 2 NVmE's in the dimm.2 using chipset lanes. my gpu wil stil run 8X?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@2684dennis, You're welcome! To reiterate, CPU Lanes use ONLY M.2_1!!! IF You want Your GPU in X16 Slot, electrically, do NOT use M.2_2 NOR M.2_3!!! For Chipset Lanes Yes, use DIMM.2_1/1. Working with Shared PCIe Resources is much more complicated. That's why We make these Videos Answering Subscribers Questions! Hope that helps!

[@OGHawkeye]

im trying to build with this thing RIGHT NOW if someone can please help me

[@PeterMarszalkowski]

I know that the latest Rade controllers can only reach 28,000 mb/s, max 55,000 mb/s and are really expensive, I'm laughing my ass off

[@PeterMarszalkowski]

and can you only do it until rade5 this is embarrassing is so sorry i'm just telling the truth

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Apo - Shower, Yes! Very pricey for what You get! Highpoint is now talking about combining two of their 8 Port RAID Add in Cards for increased throughput! We may have to do a Video on that technology later on! Those Cards have a Bios making them Bootable. They Append the Motherboard Bios! We have not seen that capability in a very long time! Fascinating technology!

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@PeterMarszalkowski, Even though a Bios can do RAID 5, the purpose of RAID 5 is not realized in a Bios RAID since Hot Swap is not recommended. Go figure.

[@PeterMarszalkowski]

sokel 1366 i have mastered over 20gb type.c adapter to usb .3.0 cable to pcie 2.0 over 80,000MB/s over usb 4.0vc driver and 3.02 tuner together i haven't tested anything faster but i'm sure the 160,000 to 180,000MB/s s are inside via adapter cards usb 3.2 type-c to pcie 2.0 das.only with 6 cores 😂👌 believe me or not t4 is dead too slow I haven't been able to test it until now it has already flashed me I have 3x 16 2x 8 1x4 occupied and rade 0 to 10 6xsata for usb 3.1 drivers which are now 4.0 yes I can not boot with x4x4 nvme but otherwise use for gpus onboard graphics I have and gpus with dps and I can 3gb to 6gb drivers to boot win 11 with ssd with 6x i just have to adjust the tempo and can shoot everything together in a rade way that's sick bios rade 5 party 😂 I can do that in the duall board 12/24 with oc the best stories I've ever bought. today something like that works no more. I wish the manufacturers would do that possible there are only buyers and advantages with something like that. I say no more.

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi Apo - Shower, Good to hear from You! Looks like We need to do a Video about 20Gbps USB-C for the What, Why and How. As for RAID, I did not expect there to be so many interested in RAID. Amazing to see what's going on now with RAID both Internally and Externally! Thanks for Sharing!

[@maxhughes5687]

20GB USB is great but 4 GEN4 lanes run at up to 32GB. How you clock USB throughput that tops 32GB beats me. ? 80GB throug a 20GB port?

[@BuildOrBuy]

Hi@@maxhughes5687, We may be losing something in translation. Hopefully We can cover this 20Gbps USB-C and explain how that works and what to expect. Could be Bits and Bytes type of situation. We should show both for clarity.

[@OGHawkeye]

your below comments are confusing and hypocritical. if i think im understanding you correctly ur saying that there is 20 available lanes and that if i use only the m.2_1 slot than i should be completely fine and my gpu will run its full 16 lanes CORRECT?!