Looking for 2+ NVMe card without bifurcation need

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stefan77

New Member
Mar 30, 2017
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Hey guys,

it's becoming frustrating. I finally got hardware for a Xeon E-21xx system. Unfortunately, mainboard choices are very rare. I went Supermicro X11SCA-F.

My requirement: TWO additional NVMe SSDs on ONE PCIe add on card.

Seems no big deal. But: I purchased the Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2-P and it does not work.

in Detail: I need a total of 4 NVMEs. 2 go onboard M.2. Fine. So I need 2 more. I could in theory use 2 AOC-SLG3-2M2-P cards. Tried it, works - each card populates 1 SSD. But then, the only remaining x4 slot on this particular board is shared with onboard M.2 connector #2. So if I put my Mellanox ConnectX in there, it won't be recognized.

Seems a bit stuck here. What I am looking for is a 2 (or more) NVMe Adapter which does not rely on PCIe bifurcation.

Any ideas?
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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Without pcie bifurcaton you will need an adapter with plx chips like the supermicro AOC-SHG3-4M2P
 

pyro_

Active Member
Oct 4, 2013
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I believe that the qnap qm2 cards have a pcie splitter on them and support either 2 or 4 m2 drives depending on the model of the card. They are also low profile cards
 

llowrey

Active Member
Feb 26, 2018
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Take a look at this dual m.2 x16 card:

https://www.amazon.com/CREST-SI-PEX40129-Ports-Bifurcation-Controller/dp/B07HYZY7P2

It uses a PCIe switch instead of relying on bifurcation. It isn't cheap, but nothing with an onboard switch will be.

I haven't used one but it is of particular interest to me because I'm stuck on PCIe2 and this would allow me to get full bandwidth from 2 NVMes when the card is in a x16 PCIe2 slot.

The one amazon review confirms that this will work on older platforms that do not support bifurcation.
 
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josh

Active Member
Oct 21, 2013
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Looking for something similar. What did you guys settle for?
 

Steve Simmons

New Member
Jan 27, 2020
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along the lines of other posters. I would recommend the broadcom 9460-16i raid controller. It supports 4 nvme drives in u.2 format. Look up the samsung 983 dct's. or get m.2/u.2 adapters.....to use your existing m.2's