How come ASUS X870e board has only 2 PCIE slots but same price or better Gigabyte and MSI boards have 3 slots?

[philb2]

I've been an ASUS customer since probably 2002, with the A7M-266D but. But I just watched that impressive review of 21 X870 and X870e motherboards. Gigabyte and MSI x870e and MSI boards have more PCIE slots than their ASUS equivalents, at the same or better price points So I'm wondering. Maybe it's time to say Hasta La Vista to ASUS. I do like the ASUS BIOS designs.

What do you guys think? Are there serious downsides to leaving ASUS for Gigabyte or MSI?

 

[LigTasm]

Why bother? There aren't enough lanes on B650+Premium X870 to worry about it.

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

Without knowing what specific models you're looking at, my guess is that Asus probably decided to dedicate connectivity to m.2/NVMe or USB3 instead.

 

[philb2]

Without knowing what specific models you're looking at, my guess is that Asus probably decided to dedicate connectivity to m.2/NVMe or USB3 instead.

ASUS ROG Strix E-E and MSI Carbon, and Gigabyte Aorus (forget the specific model)

 

[philb2]

Why bother? There aren't enough lanes on B650+Premium X870 to worry about it.

I'm still trying to sort all this out.

I wish there were more lanes but I also read (another thread) that each lane needs 4 CPU pins. And adding too many new lanes would break compatibility with socket AM5.

 

[LigTasm]

I'm still trying to sort all this out.

I wish there were more lanes but I also read (another thread) that each lane needs 4 CPU pins. And adding too many new lanes would break compatibility with socket AM5.

Is there something you need to add to the machine that you don't have the slots for right now?

 

[philb2]

Is there something you need to add to the machine that you don't have the slots for right now?

Actually, yes. I have 2 16x slots, both filled, and 1 1x slot. I have a USB multiple A and C ports card in that slot, but I would really like a USB card that uses 4x.

 

[daglesj]

ProArt has three workable slots.

 

[philb2]

ProArt has three workable slots.

Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[daglesj]

Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks.

Yeah I've looked over the specs a few times and downloaded the manual. I still think you might be compromised in the number of M.2 slots but I only need 2 of those. You might also have to switch off the USB4 if you want the full M.2 with all slots used.

It's a mess! But most likely the board I'll be getting. I just wish they dropped the wi-fi and 10G ethernet off it and cut the price, oh and added a LED readout.

 

[daglesj]

Actually page 14 of the manual seems okay.

As its PCI5 even at x8 its fine for a PCI4 x16 GPU and my PCI3 x4 Optane drives.

So you can do -

Slot 1 PCI 5 x8
Slot 2 PCI 5 x8
Skip M.2 PCI 5 2.2
Slot 3 PCI 4 x4

or
Slot 1 PCI 5 x8
Slot 2 PCI 5 x4
M.2 2.2 PCI 5 x4
Slot 3 PCI 4 x4

I think...

 

[philb2]

Yeah I've looked over the specs a few times and downloaded the manual. I still think you might be compromised in the number of M.2 slots but I only need 2 of those.

I need at least 3, so I can get rid of a bunch of SATA SSDs.

You might also have to switch off the USB4 if you want the full M.2 with all slots used.

It's a mess! But most likely the board I'll be getting

Yeah, if I do get an X870e board this would be the one. Thanks for this info. Yes it's a mess, but as long as AMD doesn't replace AM5 with AM6, wiht more pins, that's what we are stuck with. Maybe what I really want is an AMD HEDT board, but that doesn't exist for now.

. I just wish they dropped the wi-fi and 10G ethernet off it and cut the price, oh and added a LED readout.

Yeah, I agree. But we can't pick and choose, like it's a restaurant menu. If we could, we would probably have a lead time of weeks, for our "custom order."