Hello everyone,
I have questions that I hope some experts around here will be able to answer!
I'm on the verge of buying the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 in replacement for a ASRock Z97 Extreme9 graciously "lost in the mail" by Canada Post service.
I was looking for a mobo that has a PLX chip along with a second Sata controller support raid for a specific storage setup. The Gaming G1 offers the PEX and 2 x Marvel 88SE9172 raid 0/1.
First, the reason of the second raid controller, is to be able to run my Samsung 850 Pro as a main bootable SSD on the Z97 Sata port in AHCI mode while I would setup 2 x 4To in raid 1 configuration on the marvel.
It is stated on gigabyte websites that you can only enable raid on the marvel or the Z97 but not both, which is fine with me... I absolutely want my 850 Pro in AHCI mode.
Question1:
Does enabling RAID on the marvell will let me use AHCI on Intel's Sata ? I know for a fact that some motherboard (Older chipset though..) with extra onboard raid controller force the Intel's Sata in IDE mode. I absolutely want my Intel Z97 Sata in AHCI.
Question2:
Is the PEX chip ONLY usable for multi GPU/Card setup ? Let me explain more where I'm going with this... I'm planning for an eventual upgrade (Maybe 6 to 8 months from now) to use a PCIe NVMe SSD Gen3 4X... Most likely the upcoming Samsung SM951... With that in mind, would the Gigabyte Gaming G1 with its PEX chip be able to run a PCIe Gen3 16X graphic at full speed while running the PCIe NVMe SSD at Gen3 4X speed (Or even 2 graphics and the PCIe SSD at 8X / 8X / 4X) ?
Question3:
Would that PCIe NVMe SSD would be bootable ? This of course is assuming I would use a NVMe native OS support (Windows 8.1) with a full UEFI installation.
Question4:
This one is tricky.... If all scenarios above works, would using that main bootable PCIe NVMe Gen3 4X SSD force my Marvel RAID to be disabled ? I know that for some board (older chipset maybe ?) an additionnal controller or SSD in a PCIe slot disable any RAID possibility on Intel's Sata or other onboard RAID Sata controller. However I'm not quite sure if this has to do with having multiple raid controller on the same DMI Link (for instance, placing a raid controller or SSD on a Gen2 PCIe which is fed by the DMI link that also feed all other RAID Sata) or simply the system seeing multiple raid controllers... ? I plan to use my PCIe SSD on a Gen3 directly fed by the PEX linked to CPU.....
Bottom line, I'm hoping I can have my 16X graphic running full speed (or 2 at 8X, I'm considering this upcoming upgrade too...) along with a Win 8.1 bootable PCIe NVMe SM951 at full 4X Gen3 speed, along with my 4To raid 1 on the marvel chip.
Thanks for reading, and ty in advance for any useful response!
Regards,
Vince
I have questions that I hope some experts around here will be able to answer!
I'm on the verge of buying the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming G1 in replacement for a ASRock Z97 Extreme9 graciously "lost in the mail" by Canada Post service.
I was looking for a mobo that has a PLX chip along with a second Sata controller support raid for a specific storage setup. The Gaming G1 offers the PEX and 2 x Marvel 88SE9172 raid 0/1.
First, the reason of the second raid controller, is to be able to run my Samsung 850 Pro as a main bootable SSD on the Z97 Sata port in AHCI mode while I would setup 2 x 4To in raid 1 configuration on the marvel.
It is stated on gigabyte websites that you can only enable raid on the marvel or the Z97 but not both, which is fine with me... I absolutely want my 850 Pro in AHCI mode.
Question1:
Does enabling RAID on the marvell will let me use AHCI on Intel's Sata ? I know for a fact that some motherboard (Older chipset though..) with extra onboard raid controller force the Intel's Sata in IDE mode. I absolutely want my Intel Z97 Sata in AHCI.
Question2:
Is the PEX chip ONLY usable for multi GPU/Card setup ? Let me explain more where I'm going with this... I'm planning for an eventual upgrade (Maybe 6 to 8 months from now) to use a PCIe NVMe SSD Gen3 4X... Most likely the upcoming Samsung SM951... With that in mind, would the Gigabyte Gaming G1 with its PEX chip be able to run a PCIe Gen3 16X graphic at full speed while running the PCIe NVMe SSD at Gen3 4X speed (Or even 2 graphics and the PCIe SSD at 8X / 8X / 4X) ?
Question3:
Would that PCIe NVMe SSD would be bootable ? This of course is assuming I would use a NVMe native OS support (Windows 8.1) with a full UEFI installation.
Question4:
This one is tricky.... If all scenarios above works, would using that main bootable PCIe NVMe Gen3 4X SSD force my Marvel RAID to be disabled ? I know that for some board (older chipset maybe ?) an additionnal controller or SSD in a PCIe slot disable any RAID possibility on Intel's Sata or other onboard RAID Sata controller. However I'm not quite sure if this has to do with having multiple raid controller on the same DMI Link (for instance, placing a raid controller or SSD on a Gen2 PCIe which is fed by the DMI link that also feed all other RAID Sata) or simply the system seeing multiple raid controllers... ? I plan to use my PCIe SSD on a Gen3 directly fed by the PEX linked to CPU.....
Bottom line, I'm hoping I can have my 16X graphic running full speed (or 2 at 8X, I'm considering this upcoming upgrade too...) along with a Win 8.1 bootable PCIe NVMe SM951 at full 4X Gen3 speed, along with my 4To raid 1 on the marvel chip.
Thanks for reading, and ty in advance for any useful response!
Regards,
Vince