Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming build with working NVRAM

[pastrychef]

Got my Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 installed, but the thing is so wide, the fan rubs on my Fenvi bluetooth card that is in the 3rd slot. I don't really need wifi, but are there any options for bluetooth that doesn't require PCIe? The other PCIe slot is consumed with the Titan Ridge card. I guess if flashing it doesn't end up working I can pull it out and put my bluetooth card there.

Others have reported that some Bluetooth dongles work but I don't have much experience with these.

You don't really need to flash the Titan Ridge card for it to work.

 

[justseeby]

Got my Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 installed, but the thing is so wide, the fan rubs on my Fenvi bluetooth card that is in the 3rd slot. I don't really need wifi, but are there any options for bluetooth that doesn't require PCIe? The other PCIe slot is consumed with the Titan Ridge card. I guess if flashing it doesn't end up working I can pull it out and put my bluetooth card there.

There are NVMe adapters for the Bluetooth cards; I don’t have any experience with that and don’t know if this mobo supports it. I’d hate to lose an NVMe slot for this!!

Consider switching GPUs? I have the sapphire pulse RX 580 and the Fenvi slides in alongside it in slot 3 without touching. (It’s not a ton of clearance, but there’s space).

 

[neblackford]

There are nvme adapters for the Bluetooth cards; I don’t have any experience with that and don’t know if this mobo supports it. I’d hate to lose an nvme slot for this!!

Consider switching GPUs? I have the sapphire pulse RX 580 and the fenvi slides in alongside it in slot 3 without touching (it’s not a ton of clearance, but there’s space).

I can also confirm this exact setup works well with no touching (though the tolerance, as mentioned, is small).

 

[nottooshabby]

My son actually has a Sapphire Pulse RX 580, so swapping with him is another option.

Yeah, the Titan Ridge card works. I did use my Thunderbolt Ethernet connector to verify. I am trying to get it working with my Apple Tthunderbolt display and one of the posts on the Z390 Auros Thunderbolt Golden Build said they couldn't get it to work with their Thunderbolt display until they flashed it. I gave it a go already and no luck.

 

[pastrychef]

My son actually has a Sapphire Pulse RX 580, so swapping with him is another option.

Yeah, the Titan Ridge card works. I did use my Thunderbolt Ethernet connector to verify. I am trying to get it working with my Apple Tthunderbolt display and one of the posts on the Z390 Auros Thunderbolt Golden Build said they couldn't get it to work with their Thunderbolt display until they flashed it. I gave it a go already and no luck.

If you can swap for a normal "double wide" card, I'd do it.

Yes, if you want to use a Thunderbolt Display, flashing is necessary.

 

[Shiitaki]

Got my Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 installed, but the thing is so wide, the fan rubs on my Fenvi Bluetooth card that is in the 3rd slot. I don't really need wifi, but are there any options for Bluetooth that doesn't require PCIe? The other PCIe slot is consumed with the Titan Ridge card. I guess if flashing it doesn't end up working I can pull it out and put my Bluetooth card there.

The way you talk about your Thunderbolt card it gives the impression you really don't need it.

I finally stopped screwing around and took my card card out and put it back in the box. Just because a real Mac has Thunderbolt doesn't mean I have to have I guess.

Anyway, on the topic of Bluetooth the advantage to the Fenvi cards is native Bluetooth support, and that even the BIOS the mouse and keyboard will still work. In fact, you can even boot Windows and they will work and shop up in device manager as generic HID USB devices. Because the Fenvi cards has a fully functional Bluetooth stack in hardware! Yes, most PC Bluetooth dongles don't have a ROM chip for firmware and don't initialize until the device driver loads. This causes issues with coming out of sleep or even waking from sleep.

Your situation is why I go with full sized boards. If by chance you have a full sized case you could simply use PCI-E extension cables and install your wifi card and Thunderbolt cards in the unused slots where you have run out of motherboard.

Other creative solutions include water-cooling your computer or getting a WiFi/Bluetooth card and using an adapter to install it in a NVMe slot. Warning NVMe slots are the ones with PCI-E lanes, the M.2 with SATA won't work for this.

 

[pastrychef]

The way you talk about your Thunderbolt card it gives the impression you really don't need it.

I finally stopped screwing around and took my card card out and put it back in the box. Just because a real Mac has Thunderbolt doesn't mean I have to have I guess.

Anyway, on the topic of Bluetooth the advantage to the Fenvi cards is native Bluetooth support, and that even the BIOS the mouse and keyboard will still work. In fact, you can even boot Windows and they will work and shop up in device manager as generic HID USB devices. Because the Fenvi cards has a fully functional Bluetooth stack in hardware! Yes, most PC Bluetooth dongles don't have a ROM chip for firmware and don't initialize until the device driver loads. This causes issues with coming out of sleep or even waking from sleep.

Your situation is why I go with full sized boards. If by chance you have a full sized case you could simply use PCI-E extension cables and install your wifi card and Thunderbolt cards in the unused slots where you have run out of motherboard.

Other creative solutions include water-cooling your computer or getting a WiFi/Bluetooth card and using an adapter to install it in a NVMe slot. Warning NVMe slots are the ones with PCI-E lanes, the M.2 with SATA won't work for this.

Yeah. I got a GC-Titan Ridge to play around with and, like you, I ended up pulling it and putting it back in the box.

So, instead of using a Thunderbolt to 10GBase-T adaptor, I just have a 10GBase-T PCI-e card and less mess on my desk.

 

[flatlander48]

Chef, I have started putting the bits and pieces together. From the User Manual:

I have (2) 16Gb DDR4 cards. To use 2 cards would it be A1 and A2 for one channel? Using the B slots may be difficult due to the size of my air cooler. It would appear that in order to run Dual Channels you would need one card in an A slot and the other in a B slot. Correct?

In the first post you mention installing the M.2 SSD card into the M2P Slot. Does the M2Q slot have different capabilities?

Ah, I just discovered that there is a difference:

It seems that the M2Q slot can be used without the loss of SATA3 0. So, the question is why is the recommendation for M2P and not M2Q When both can run as PCIe devices?

 

[pastrychef]

Chef, I have started putting the bits and pieces together. From the User Manual:

View attachment 484253

I have (2) 16Gb DDR4 cards. To use 2 cards would it be A1 and A2 for one channel? Using the B slots may be difficult due to the size of my air cooler. It would appear that in order to run Dual Channels you would need one card in an A slot and the other in a B slot. Correct?

In the first post you mention installing the M.2 SSD card into the M2P Slot. Does the M2Q slot have different capabilities?

For dual channel, you need to install your RAM in B2 and A2.

You can use either M2P or M2Q. There will be no difference in performance.
Using M2P will disable SAT0.

 

[flatlander48]

For dual channel, you need to install your RAM in B2 and A2.

You can use either M2P or M2Q. There will be no difference in performance.
Using M2P will disable SAT0.

Or A1 and B1. While Dual Channel is preferable, it depends upon enough height under the cooler to use a B slot.

Thanks!

YES! It fits! Using A2 and B2...