Can I use 4 Intel 760p drives on PCIe Slot with 12 lanes

[FHuss2]

My system specs:

Motherboard: Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 XE

CPU: Intel I9 7900x

Asus Hyper M.2 Expansion Card

4 x Intel 760p 256 GB

VROC Key: VROCISSDMOD

PCIe 1st Slot x16 lanes: 1080 Ti

PCIe 2nd Slot x12 lanes:

PCIe 3rd Slot x16 lanes: 1080 Ti

Due to slot spacing, I can only use PCIe 2nd Slot which has 12 lanes for VROC using Asus expansion card. But when I bifurcate PCIe 2nd slot & enable Intel VMD on that slot, I get three 4x4x4 lanes. So, I can only see 3 of the Intel 760p drives and not 4. Technically, 12 PCIe lanes should be enough to get the maximum out of Raid 0 of 4 x 760p. But due to 12 PCIe lanes, I only see 3 drives.

Just to test, I installed Asus card on 1st and 3rd PCIe slots with 16 lanes and I can see all 4 Intel 760p drives.

Is it some kind of VROC restriction that only 1 drive per PCIe x4 can be used?

If not, can you please suggest a solution?

[idata]

Hello FidaGillani.

Thank you for contacting Intel Technical Support.As we understand you are seeking compatibility guidance about your Intel® SSD 760p Series (256GB, M.2 80mm, PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D2, TLC) to work with an Asus Hyper card. If we inferred correctly, we would like to inform you that the Intel® devices are not tested or validated to work with third-party adapters (PCI-E, USB or others).Take into consideration that your Intel® SSD 760p Series interface is a PCIe NVMe 3.1 x4. Based on the information you provided you are using the "PCIe 2nd Slot which has 12 lanes."Based on your motherboard specifications if you install CPU with 44 lanes, PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE5 will run at x16/x8/x16/x0 or x8/x8/x16/x8.This being said we cannot assure you that this configuration will work or not.We hope you find this information useful.Thank you for your patience and understanding.Best regards,Josh B.Intel Customer Support

[FHuss2]

I am not asking about compatibility. I am running x16/x8/x16/x0 configuration. This makes it 40 lanes and the last 4 CPU lanes are allocated to the M.2_1 slot. But these extra 4 lanes are also available to PCIe_2 slot. This makes it 12 lanes for PCIe_2 slot.

If I install all 4 drives in Asus expansion card, and plugged in PCIe_2 slot, I can only see 2 drives in bios because PCIe_2 slot has only 8 lanes of its own. However, if I install one 760p drive in M.2_1, and the remaining 3 in Asus expansion card, I can see 3 drives, one from M.2_1 slot and two from Asus Hyper M.2 expansion card.

However, if I install all four SSDs in Asus expansion card and install the card in either PCIe1 or PCIe3 slot (which has x16 lanes), I can see all 4 SSDs because these PCIe slots have 16 lanes. But due to spacing between slots, I can't use PCIe_1 & PCI_2 slots for 1080 Ti SLI leaving PCIe_3 for RAID using Asus expansion card.

Therefore, I am stuck with PCIe_2 slot for Asus expansion card which in total can use up to 12 lanes.

That is why I don't see more than 3 SSDs in this case. So, my question is

If I have a PCIe slot with 8 or 12 lanes, Can I still access 4 Intel 760p drives installed within Asus M.2 expansion card or the number of drives available for RAID depends upon the number of PCIe lanes divided by 4 rule?

[idata]

Hello FidaGillani.Thank you for your reply.The Intel® SSD 760p Series (256GB, M.2 80mm, PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D2, TLC) are not tested or validated to work with third-party adapters (PCI-E, USB or others).This being said your current configuration is not supported or validated by Intel® and we advise you to contact the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for further support and compatibility on your third-party products.As a best effort to provide you with information please take into considerations the following:HYPER M.2 X16 CARDExternal Connectors4 x M.2 Socket 3 with M Key design, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (Support PCIe SSD only)Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 XESlots- 4 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots*- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot*If you install CPU with 44 lanes, PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE5 will run at x16/x8/x16/x0 or x8/x8/x16/x8.If you install CPU with 28 lanes, PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE5 will run at x16/x0/x8/x0 or x8/x0/x8/x8.If you install CPU with 16 lanes, PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE5 will run at x16/x0/x0/x0 or x8/x0/x4/x0.The Intel® SSD 760p Series is a PCIe 3.0 x4 and needs 4 lanes to work this being said you may need a port x16 to use this drives ( we advise you to contact Asus for further information and compatibility)We hope you find this information useful.Thank you for your patience and understanding.Best regards,Josh B.Intel Customer Support

[FHuss2]

Thanks for the reply but it didn't help. and I've figured it out myself.

Currently, I am running bootable Raid 0 with VROC using VROCISSDMOD key with 3 x Intel 760p drives using Asus Hyper M.2 card. I am using PCIe_2 slot with 12 PCIe lanes (8 its own and 4 from the M.2_1 slot). I get around 7.5 GB/s sequential read speed and around ~4GB/s sequential write speed. So, compatibility is not the issue.

However, despite I have 4 intel 760p drives installed (3 inside Asus Hyper M.2 card and 1 on M.2_1 slot), only 3 are available for Raid 0 is because I have only 12 PCIe lanes available for the PCIe_2nd slot.

Once I install all 4 drives inside Asus expansion card and install the card in either PCIe_1st slot or 3rd slot (both has 16 PCIe lanes), I can make bootable RAID 0 using all 4 drives. So, it seems like the

Number of drives usable in VROC RAID 0 = Number of PCIe Lanes / 4

So, thanks for trying to solve the issue.

But I would kindly suggest that VROC support should have more expertise. Most of the answers throughout this forum are merely copying pasting from other documents.

[idata]

Hello FidaGillani.

Thank you for your reply and your feedback. We are glad to hear you were able to resolve the issue you were experiencing. If you need further assistance regarding an Intel® product on a supported environment do not hesitate to contact us back. Best regards, Josh B.Intel Customer Support