10-29-2020, 12:22 AM
(10-28-2020, 06:33 PM)almandin Wrote: I also see many motherboards with nvme ssd using the same lanes as a pcie slot, thus reducing a slot to a 4x or even disabling it. Are there any motherboard in ATX format that I could use with 4 RTX 3080 and at least one nvme SSD, without having to worry about wasting money because a slot is in fact at 15% performance because of beeing an actual 8x pcie slot, reduced to 4x thanks to the nvme ssd ?
Consumer-grade/gaming platforms like AM4 and Intel 1151/1200 do only support 24 PCIe Lanes. Usually motherboard manufacturers do not support a splitting of these lanes in such a way, that it would make sense for 4 GPUs plus an NVMe. (It would also not really make sense for a Gamer, since quad SLI really is dead).
You should head for a Workstation/enthusiast platform like TR4/TRX40 or Intel 2066. Threadripper has 64 Lanes and Intel Core X CPUs hover around 28 to 48 Lanes, depending on the model. That allows for a lot more room to split these lanes in a way that makes sense and you don't have to worry about M.2 Slots disabling each other or one of your PCIe slots. If you want to cheap out on your CPU/Mobo I can recommend First-gen/Second-gen Threadripper. If you want to max out your capacity in terms of GPUs, there is the Asus WS SAGE X299, which supports seven GPUs at once, runnig at 8x thanks to PLX chips (PCIe Lane Multiplexer).