Question MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4

ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
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I have been checking and find many contradicting reports about this board. It has 4 NVME slots. As far as I see it all 4 should be able to be used even if connecting all 6 sata. Others say that is not true. I can't find out exactly? What is the actual answer to this? I have looked at the literature and thought I had read that 3 would work for sure, but I can't find that same literature again. Thanks.
 

ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
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I have been looking for hours. It doesn't mean there isn't info out there, it could mean I'm just not smart enough to find it. I did find this in the manual.

n the entire contents of the manual, this is the only thing it shows at all about the m.2
∙ 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports (From Z690 chipset)
∙ 4x M.2 slots (Key M)
▪ M2_1 slot (From CPU)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0 x4
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280/ 22110 storage devices
▪ M2_2 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0 x4
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
▫ Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ Intel® Optane™ Memory Ready for M.2 slots that are
from Z690 Chipset
∙ Support Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™
processors
No where does it say that when you plug into slot 1 that one of your sata ports goes away or anything like that. I have read the entire manual. But when I go on and read some info on this board, I hear of multiple people having issues with this.


Just curious, about what 2 of the slots say. If anyone can help me, or knows anything about the MSI Pro board, please let me know.

▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
 
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ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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Usually it says this nvme slot takes up this port, but I didn't see this. I wanted to make sure before I bought 2 more NVME drives. Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.
 
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It does have three PCIe slots so you have two spare slots that you can put to good use with an NVMe to PCIe 4.0 adapter card if the M2_3 and M2_4 slots don't work with all SATA ports populated.
 

Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
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Typically you get to safely use 2-3 NVME / PCIE drives and then anything else will disable a pair of SATA ports w/ a SATA M2 inserted into the remaining socket. There aren't enough PCIE lanes off the CPU or DMI to support more drives with adequate bandwidth.

▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices

So, both of those are being pushed through the DMI which has roughly 16GB/s of speed available which is why you have Gen 3&4 depending on the slot as Gen3 tops out at 3.5GB and Gen4 7GB/s which would still leave you with ~5GB/s for other devices like SATA spinners @ 300MB/s / 1.8GB/s for 6 of them. or if you go SSD you're pushing the limits at 500MB/s per drive / 3GB/s

Then you have all your other misc. functions tied to DMI.

1670205427687.png
 

ingeborgdot

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Jan 12, 2005
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ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
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Typically you get to safely use 2-3 NVME / PCIE drives and then anything else will disable a pair of SATA ports w/ a SATA M2 inserted into the remaining socket. There aren't enough PCIE lanes off the CPU or DMI to support more drives with adequate bandwidth.

▪ M2_3 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 3.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices
▪ M2_4 slot (From Z690 chipset)
▫ Supports PCIe 4.0x4
Supports SATA 6Gb/s
▫ Supports 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices

So, both of those are being pushed through the DMI which has roughly 16GB/s of speed available which is why you have Gen 3&4 depending on the slot as Gen3 tops out at 3.5GB and Gen4 7GB/s which would still leave you with ~5GB/s for other devices like SATA spinners @ 300MB/s / 1.8GB/s for 6 of them. or if you go SSD you're pushing the limits at 500MB/s per drive / 3GB/s

Then you have all your other misc. functions tied to DMI.

View attachment 72306
I won't fill all 4. Only 3. And if I had to I could add another LSI card if I had to. I think I'll go ahead and get the 2 NVME and go from there.
 
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Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
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Safe bet start w/ 2 and if you need more then try adding a 3rd and see if things get disabled in the process or not. It's murky at best compared to my ASR board that clearly states how ports are handled as sockets are filled and by which types.

1670206710161.png

It's one of those pesky little details you have to look into before picking a board. Every OEM is different in how they route the lanes and if they use an extra bridge/controller to add more SATA lanes / ports to the DMI for spinners.

HBA / Raid though is always an option at the sacrifice of a slot being available for something else. Since Intel doesn't do bifurcation freely it complicates things further when it comes to where you want to use your bandwidth for storage or GPU.
 

bba-tcg

Senior member
Apr 8, 2010
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Safe bet start w/ 2 and if you need more then try adding a 3rd and see if things get disabled in the process or not. It's murky at best compared to my ASR board that clearly states how ports are handled as sockets are filled and by which types.

View attachment 72309

It's one of those pesky little details you have to look into before picking a board. Every OEM is different in how they route the lanes and if they use an extra bridge/controller to add more SATA lanes / ports to the DMI for spinners.

HBA / Raid though is always an option at the sacrifice of a slot being available for something else. Since Intel doesn't do bifurcation freely it complicates things further when it comes to where you want to use your bandwidth for storage or GPU.
This verbiage is not in the manual for his board. So, it may, or may not be correct. But it easy enough to find out.

Edit: after rereading what you quoted, it isn't relevant to what he asked anyway.
 

Tech Junky

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Edit: after rereading what you quoted, it isn't relevant to what he asked anyway.
Simply giving a different POV not trying to contradict the MOBO he specifically has. It's an issue that resides with the CPU / DMI and every OEM takes a different approach on how they allocate M2 / SATA lanes off the DMI beyond the initial M2 NVME.
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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You will never run into that SATA port disabling situation because no one in their right mind today will buy an M.2 SATA drive.
Unless you're a miner. The ASRock H110 BTC PRO Plus uses an M.2 slot that is ONLY SATA, such that it can direct the rest of the PCI-E lanes to the primary x16 slot, and then 12x other x1 slots. 13 GPUs total support.
 

ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
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This verbiage is not in the manual for his board. So, it may, or may not be correct. But it easy enough to find out.

Edit: after rereading what you quoted, it isn't relevant to what he asked anyway.
So, you don't find it either? I was on another forum, and the response was use the manual. I DID.
 

ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
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And if for some reason, I run into the problem where the sata port on my board shuts down, I'll just get another LSI card and call it good I guess. Thanks all.

The manual isn't very descriptive though, that's for sure.