If I edit my z77 bios to allow nvme, will there be enough PCIE lanes?

[utahraptor]

My motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH. I will be receiving a new Nvidia 1080 today and now my eye is towards improving my storage performance.

Assuming I am able to make the NVME bios hack function to allow bootable nvme, will there be enough lanes for the card and the ssd?

I want to use a pcie to m2 converter card to use the new Samsung SM961. I understand that ideally it pulls 4x 3.0 lanes. Is that correct?

That should allow the 1080 to have 8x 3.0 lanes. Should I receive full performance from both the SSD and the video card? I don't have any other pcie cards in use.

 

[Burpo]

"Usually, on motherboards based on the Z77 chipset, only the first two PCI Express x16 slots are controlled by the CPU. The other PCI Express x16 slots are controlled by the chipset, operating at a lower speed (almost always x4) and only compatible with the 2.0 specification, which offers half of the 3.0 bandwidth. On this motherboard, however, the three slots are controlled by the processor.
However, since socket LGA1155 Intel CPUs only offer 16 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, the speed configuration for these slots are as follows. If only the first PCI Express x16 slot (“PCIEX16”) is used, it operates at x16. If the first and the second PCI Express x16 slots (“PCIEX16” and “PCIEX8”) are used, both operate at x8 speed. And if the three PCI Express x16 slots are used, the first operates at x8 speed, but the other two operate at x4 speed. Also, the third PCI Express x16 slot only works when an “Ivy Bridge” CPU is installed; it is incompatible with “Sandy Bridge” processors."

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/gigabyte-z77x-up5-th-motherboard/2/

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Assuming I am able to make the NVME bios hack function to allow bootable nvme, will there be enough lanes for the card and the ssd?

While the performance is a bit lower, have you considered the Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe? Its fully bootable on any system, since it has its own OROM.

Performance is between the XP941 and SM951/950PRO.

I'm using one of those on my own Z77 system (P8Z77V Deluxe) and I'm pretty happy with it.

I want to use a pcie to m2 converter card to use the new Samsung SM961. I understand that ideally it pulls 4x 3.0 lanes. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct, but do note that any PCH provided lanes are 2.0 only. As Burpo pointed out. Which leads to;

That should allow the 1080 to have 8x 3.0 lanes. Should I receive full performance from both the SSD and the video card? I don't have any other pcie cards in use.

Depends on your definition of "enough". While the GPU only has 8 lanes if you use the other 16x slot, the performance penalty for PCIe 3.0 x8 and PCIe 3:0 x16 is on the order of 1%...

 

[utahraptor]

Yes, that's correct, but do note that any PCH provided lanes are 2.0 only. As Burpo pointed out. Which leads to;

I was hoping to avoid the PCH restrictions by using the nvme and pcie slot. Will this not work?

 

[Burpo]

On your board, yes, it should..