Answered: So I got this crazy offer to buy a brand new in the box. ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO Z170 Motherboard for $70 and I'm debating buying it. I know it is NOT compatible with Optane memory ie the 16gb and 32gb sticks. But I don't fully understand and can't seem to figure out if its fully compatible with the Intel Optane SSD's that came out recently? I know the it won't make much difference but I still want my raven :slightly_smiling_face:. Can someone explain Intel Optane compatibility? Everything I read confuses M.2 Optane memory with these new PCI SSD's. ***************** I found the answer finally on the Intel forums. The only thing they require is UEFI 2.3.1 or later with NVMe support. https://communities.intel.com/thread/122071 & https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025741/memory-and-storage/enthusiast-ssds.html