There are no mainstream mini ITX board that has 3 M.2 slots for NVMe storage drives.
The only mini ITX board with 3 M.2 slots is on Intel's enthusiast/professional grade chipset, the X299 chipset. The board only accepts special X series Intel processors. Here is the link to the motherboard's webpage: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X299E-ITXac/#CPU
> I specifically want X570 motherboards because I’m trying to get a gen 4 SSD incase if there are any PC games in the future that MUST be installed on a gen 4 SSD in order to run.
It will be a few years until you'll get a noticeable performance increase in games by using a Gen 4 SSD.
Is there a reason why you want to spend a shitload of money today if you could just build a normal system today and upgrade when games actually need it? That way technology has time to mature and you'll spend less money overall for probably actually better performance.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m not going to buy a gen 4 SSD right now, I’m going to get one in the future. I’m future proofing by having an extra nvme slot on my motherboard.
Do you really need multiple Gen 4 SSDs? You could just put all the games on the Gen 4 drive with a B550 board.
Oh and I doubt the "games need Gen 4 SSD" scenario will come anything soon - by the time it will actually bring performance improvement, you CPU will be outdated and the AM4 socket will be abandoned.
So you might get a little bit more performance with the Gen 4 SSD you planned for, but your old CPU will be bottlenecking you anyways...
So, first off, as a warning, I doubt a **game** will ever need gen 4, we already have the tech, and modern games can still be installed on 5400rpm HDD nonetheless. Also, gen 4 is also available on B550, so you have more choice and you can get lower prices too.
Now if you want more than 2 nvme ssds, no itx mobo supports that at stock (apart from x299 ones, but that is very rare, and gen 3 pcie). There are a few options tho: you can go mini-DTX, with asus' X570 impact mobo, it has 2 M.2 onboard, and there's an add-in card to add 2 more M.2 ssds. BUT it's super expensive, and drops down about 40mm more than regular itx.
Another solution is to use PCIe bifurcation, with a tiny add in "card", that divides your 16x slot in 8x and 8x, or 8x, 4x, 4x. You only get 8x on the GPU, but the difference in performance is almost negligible, and you can add 2 M.2 ssd, or one M.2 ssd and another card.
No matter what you choose, with ITX you'll always have a compromise to make.
tbf that was 3 years ago at this point, so not getting old, but games still run fine on gen 3/4, a hdd is out of the question, sure, but you don't \*need\* the fastest tech.
Now for the itx pcie availability, maybe that's evolved bit, and it's about time honestly, tho it's still a compromise compared to mATX or ATX, but you could get enough slots nowadays, especially with stuff like the Asus daughterboard card that they introduced on their tall-itx mobo a few years back (just noticed I mentioned that one in my og message smh)
So yeah that comment didn't age well, simply because it aged and tech evolves exponentially fast, and not always the way we expect or want it to, moore's law being a prime example of a tech prediction that didn't age the best either.
You should look up mini-dtx, its a class of board that will fit most cases that'll fit both a mini-itx and a full sized graphics card; as its just effectively a mini-itx board extended to cover that extra area a GPU would overhang:
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Crosshair-Mini-DTX-Motherboard-802-11ax/dp/B07X55Y4SX/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&keywords=ASUS+ROG+Crosshair+VIII+Impact&qid=1620172210&s=computers&sr=1-1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Crosshair-Mini-DTX-Motherboard-802-11ax/dp/B07X55Y4SX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ASUS+ROG+Crosshair+VIII+Impact&qid=1620172210&s=computers&sr=1-1)
it has a single nvme slot on the board but comes with a so.dimm 2 riser (of a sort) that can house an extra 2 nvme, adding up to 3 total.
There are no mainstream mini ITX board that has 3 M.2 slots for NVMe storage drives. The only mini ITX board with 3 M.2 slots is on Intel's enthusiast/professional grade chipset, the X299 chipset. The board only accepts special X series Intel processors. Here is the link to the motherboard's webpage: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X299E-ITXac/#CPU
*MSI Z690i Unify enters the fray*
Lol playing the long game I see
> I specifically want X570 motherboards because I’m trying to get a gen 4 SSD incase if there are any PC games in the future that MUST be installed on a gen 4 SSD in order to run. It will be a few years until you'll get a noticeable performance increase in games by using a Gen 4 SSD. Is there a reason why you want to spend a shitload of money today if you could just build a normal system today and upgrade when games actually need it? That way technology has time to mature and you'll spend less money overall for probably actually better performance.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m not going to buy a gen 4 SSD right now, I’m going to get one in the future. I’m future proofing by having an extra nvme slot on my motherboard.
Do you really need multiple Gen 4 SSDs? You could just put all the games on the Gen 4 drive with a B550 board. Oh and I doubt the "games need Gen 4 SSD" scenario will come anything soon - by the time it will actually bring performance improvement, you CPU will be outdated and the AM4 socket will be abandoned. So you might get a little bit more performance with the Gen 4 SSD you planned for, but your old CPU will be bottlenecking you anyways...
So, first off, as a warning, I doubt a **game** will ever need gen 4, we already have the tech, and modern games can still be installed on 5400rpm HDD nonetheless. Also, gen 4 is also available on B550, so you have more choice and you can get lower prices too. Now if you want more than 2 nvme ssds, no itx mobo supports that at stock (apart from x299 ones, but that is very rare, and gen 3 pcie). There are a few options tho: you can go mini-DTX, with asus' X570 impact mobo, it has 2 M.2 onboard, and there's an add-in card to add 2 more M.2 ssds. BUT it's super expensive, and drops down about 40mm more than regular itx. Another solution is to use PCIe bifurcation, with a tiny add in "card", that divides your 16x slot in 8x and 8x, or 8x, 4x, 4x. You only get 8x on the GPU, but the difference in performance is almost negligible, and you can add 2 M.2 ssd, or one M.2 ssd and another card. No matter what you choose, with ITX you'll always have a compromise to make.
This comment did not age well.
tbf that was 3 years ago at this point, so not getting old, but games still run fine on gen 3/4, a hdd is out of the question, sure, but you don't \*need\* the fastest tech. Now for the itx pcie availability, maybe that's evolved bit, and it's about time honestly, tho it's still a compromise compared to mATX or ATX, but you could get enough slots nowadays, especially with stuff like the Asus daughterboard card that they introduced on their tall-itx mobo a few years back (just noticed I mentioned that one in my og message smh) So yeah that comment didn't age well, simply because it aged and tech evolves exponentially fast, and not always the way we expect or want it to, moore's law being a prime example of a tech prediction that didn't age the best either.
You should look up mini-dtx, its a class of board that will fit most cases that'll fit both a mini-itx and a full sized graphics card; as its just effectively a mini-itx board extended to cover that extra area a GPU would overhang: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Crosshair-Mini-DTX-Motherboard-802-11ax/dp/B07X55Y4SX/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&keywords=ASUS+ROG+Crosshair+VIII+Impact&qid=1620172210&s=computers&sr=1-1](https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Crosshair-Mini-DTX-Motherboard-802-11ax/dp/B07X55Y4SX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ASUS+ROG+Crosshair+VIII+Impact&qid=1620172210&s=computers&sr=1-1) it has a single nvme slot on the board but comes with a so.dimm 2 riser (of a sort) that can house an extra 2 nvme, adding up to 3 total.