ASRock Fatality Gaming Z170 ITX + PCI-e SSD = how many SATA ports?

[Lil'John]

Subject states it but for some more information.

I've got an ASRock Fatality Gaming Z170 ITX with 6700k CPU that I am going to be repurposing here shortly (Windows Server 2012 + Active Directory + file/media VM)

My current hard drive setup is as follows:
Intel NVMe SSD as boot drive in M.2 socket.
Four Intel SSDs in raid

Problem: Running a single NVMe SSD in the M.2 socket takes two out of six SATA ports.

I'm curious if running a PCI-e based SSD will work with the motherboard and if it will resolve the above issue.

 

[UsandThem]

My current hard drive setup is as follows:
Intel NVMe SSD as boot drive in M.2 socket.

I'm curious if running a PCI-e based SSD will work with the motherboard and if it will resolve the above issue.

An Intel NVMe drive is a PCIe based drive.

Are you asking if you move your NVMe drive on to an add-in PCIe M.2 card, if that will free up your SATA ports? If that is what you mean, then yes it will allow all of your SATA ports to work. However, the performance of your NVMe drive will decrease on an add-in card compared to using it on your motherboard's M.2 slot. How much? It differs with every card since they all use different controllers and components. Although the performance decrease is very minor if you get a quality card.

However, since you are currently using four drives in RAID, and with the NVMe drive installed you still have four working SATA ports, you don't really have any issue right now with your setup. Are you wanting to add more SATA drives?

 

[Lil'John]

I think you are confusing form factor(packaging; m.2 slot vs a pci-e slot) and protocol(NVMe vs pci-e).

In my case, I'm trying to diagnose changing form factor (m.2 slot vs a pci-e slot)

With the Fatality motherboard, it has a total of six SATA ports that could be used. However, if an NVMe version of an m.2 SSD is used, two of the SATA ports will not work. This is according to ASRock documentation as well as accidentally confirmed

What I'm curious about is if I use a pci-e form factor SSD like the Intel 750 series, will I be able to use all six SATA ports.

 

[UsandThem]

I think you are confusing form factor(packaging; m.2 slot vs a pci-e slot) and protocol(NVMe vs pci-e).

In my case, I'm trying to diagnose changing form factor (m.2 slot vs a pci-e slot)

I am not confused about anything I said. The Intel 750 is a NVMe drive already installed on an add-in card:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-750-series-ssd,4096-2.html

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-750-series.html

Experience the future of storage performance for desktop client and workstation users with the Intel® SSD 750 Series. The Intel SSD 750 Series delivers uncompromised performance by utilizing NVM Express* over four lanes of PCIe* 3.0

If you take your NVMe drive and put it on an add-in card, it is exactly the same thing as an Intel 750.

With the Fatality motherboard, it has a total of six SATA ports that could be used. However, if an NVMe version of an m.2 SSD is used, two of the SATA ports will not work. This is according to ASRock documentation as well as accidentally confirmed

What I'm curious about is if I use a pci-e form factor SSD like the Intel 750 series, will I be able to use all six SATA ports.

The Intel 750 is a NVMe drive, just like your current SSD. If you put your NVMe drive on a PCIe add-in card, it will not disable your SATA ports. However, it will still count against the overall 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes available.