ROG X870e Hero ssd slots

[ROGn825w08que4u]

Hello! What is the correct layout for 3 SSDs on the X870E Hero motherboard? I'm a little lost in the manual and I want the best performance. The processor is a 9950X3D, the video card is a Strix 4090OC, custom water cooling on everything.

-system SSD (Windows, programs) Seagate Firecuda 530 I think directly above the PCIE slot / M.2_1 /
-990 Pro 2Tb reserved for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - which slot?
-Other games also a 990 Pro 2Tb - which slot?

I would be grateful if you could help me find my way! Thanks!

[Silent_Scone · Accepted solution]

Hi @ROGn825w08que4u 

Best performance for what, exactly? The drives, or system performance? As M.2_1, 2 and 3  utilise CPU lanes. You will only be able to use one of these three, as using more than this will drop the PCIE_16G1, dropping to 8X lanes for the GPU. 

In my experience, the performance penalty for this is within 1-2%. However, if a gaming system it would be preferable to install the second NVME drive in M.2_4, or 5.

[Nate152 · Accepted solution]

Hello ROGn825w08que4u

You can use slots 1, 4, 5, this should keep your gpu at x16.

[ROGn825w08que4u]

Thank you, that makes sense now! 🙂