need a pci-e lane explanation

[benniebeeker]

first, my rig:

980x
asus r3e
2x gtx 580
asus xense sound card
ocz revo x2 360

i just got the revo drive and tossed it in... im not entirely happy with the speeds... i want to get the most bang for the i can out of this ssd as it was a pretty penny...

im cuious about using all 4 pcie x16 lanes vs using only 3 of them and the x4 slot... i understand that the board only supports 32 lanes so by using all 4 x16 slots im only going to get x8/x8/x8/x8 out of the cards... not a big deal... my question is: if i use the first 3 x16 lanes for the ssd and the video cards (potentially x16 x8 x8) would this be affected if i put the sound card in the x4 slot???

i read through google that the ssd performs best in an x16 slot on the r3e... im assuming that if i put the ssd in the first x16 slot and the video cards in the second and third x16 slots, the ssd would get x16 and the video cards would get x8/x8... is this a safe assumption????

the ssd itself only uses x4, so im confused as to why ocz recommends NOT putting it in the x4 slot and using an x16 slot... technically, it should work fine in the x4 slot...

as most of you know, the revo drive uses a sandforce raid controller and the array comes with 64k block size preconfigured out of the box... do you think that if i dropped it down to 4k i would see a huge gain???? i don't deal with large files on the ssd... this is a gaming rig... i have an external storage solution for large files...

any advice would be greatly appreciated....

[benniebeeker]

nothing here guys???

[scottbenson8]

im cuious about using all 4 pcie x16 lanes vs using only 3 of them and the x4 slot... i understand that the board only supports 32 lanes so by using all 4 x16 slots im only going to get x8/x8/x8/x8 out of the cards... not a big deal... my question is: if i use the first 3 x16 lanes for the ssd and the video cards (potentially x16 x8 x8) would this be affected if i put the sound card in the x4 slot???

----Yes you would have x8 on all 4. with out the sound card you would have x8 x8 x16 and the 4th one unused.

i read through google that the ssd performs best in an x16 slot on the r3e... im assuming that if i put the ssd in the first x16 slot and the video cards in the second and third x16 slots, the ssd would get x16 and the video cards would get x8/x8... is this a safe assumption????

----No, the first two red slots split x16, if you use the first slot but not the second you get the full x16 in the first slot. The minute you use the second slot the first slot drops down to x8.

the ssd itself only uses x4, so im confused as to why ocz recommends NOT putting it in the x4 slot and using an x16 slot... technically, it should work fine in the x4 slot...

----If I were you I would put my video card in the first slot and then my sound card in the second and the revo in the x4 then put your second video card in the 3rd slot which will now run at x16 since the 4th red slot is now empty.

----I would also test drive the revo in a x16 slot and see if it performs any different than having it in the x4 slot.

Hopefully that helps you out a little.

[benniebeeker]

[QUOTE=scottbenson8;4702797]
----If I were you I would put my video card in the first slot and then my sound card in the second and the revo in the x4 then put your second video card in the 3rd slot which will now run at x16 since the 4th red slot is now empty.

Technically, my revo should be running @ 16 now as it is in te 3rd slot with the 4th slot empty... the sound card is in the x4 and the video cards are in slot 1 and 2 x16's...

does having a card in the x4 slot have any effect on the x16 slots???

[scottbenson8]

Yes with the way you have it set up your second video card is now running at x4 :(. You need it to run at x8 to get the performance out of your second vid card. Thats why I recomended that you not put the second vid card in your second x16 slot.

[benniebeeker]

Yes with the way you have it set up your second video card is now running at x4 :(. You need it to run at x8 to get the performance out of your second vid card. Thats why I recomended that you not put the second vid card in your second x16 slot.

right now im 8x 8x 8x 8x as i have 4 pcie devices... doesn't matter what slots they are in as one or the other will be cut back to x8...

i found out that the r3e shares 16 lanes between slots one and 2 and 16 lanes for 3 and 4... there is no way to configure what slot gets what in the bios...

if i have a video card in 1 and slot 3, one of them will be kicked back to 8 regardless because i will need to add an additional card in either slot 2 or slot 4...

anyways, i reset the bios and now im up and running with the ssd!!! its amazing what a bios reset will do sometimes!!!

however, i don't want to make a new thread

im blown away by the speed as it is my first ssd, but what doesn't blow me away is my results as a whole... theoretical read up to 720 and write up to 690 read is what ocz specs... of course no one ever see's those speeds so i didn't set my expectations TOO high but reviews (other reviews below) i have read out there are getting 660+ read with these things... im only getting 557... but im average or above average on everything else (especially write speeds)

is there anything you guys can think of that would be my limiting factor??

663 (http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-revodrive-x2-240gb-review/10)
700 (http://www.myce.com/review/oczssdpx-1rvdx0240-review-ocz-revodrive-x2-240gb-pcie-ssd-review-37199/Benchmarks-4/)
691 (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=635&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=5)
644 (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1460/5/)