Who needs U.2 cables?

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neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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I have 100 genuine cables. Though a good amount are already sold.





  • These are not the cheap and highly incompatible aftermarket 3rd party cables.
  • These are not the PCIe adapter that causes your SSD to overheat due to a lack of airflow.
  • These are not the weird overpriced PCB hybrid adapter cable.
  • Most importantly — these are not cheap counterfeit Amphenol cables — which I recently discovered.


I might even write a comparison article (similar to my previous Intel i350 NIC article) later if there is a demand as I currently have a few counterfeit cables along with my authentic cables. The vast majority of even the most experienced Sys Admins will not even notice a difference. Remember, if sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

More or less, these are the same cables as bundled with the Intel 750 SSD and produced in the same factory on the same machinery by the same workers with the same components — including Amphenol connectors on both sides, Amphenol wiring, Amphenol sleeving, and everything else in between. Every connector and wire is marked with the brand name of Amphenol. Authentically Genuinely Amphenol. If you want a cable for a NVMe SSD, there currently only is 1 dependable brand of choice. Which unfortunately is not mass produced, nor are there any current plans to as far as I was told. The majority of the authentic cables on the market came from Intel 750 SSDs. I was told Intel custom ordered these cables from Amphenol themselves according to their demands since there is no officially ratified specification. Remember, these copper cables are transmitting your PCIe lanes over them. Your storage data that is.

If you want an authentic Amphenol NVMe U.2 cable you currently have 3 choices. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

1) Buy an Intel 750 SSD, use the cable and resell the SSD.

2) Place an order from Amphenol for ~100 cables.

3) Since this page appears in Google near the top, and many of you have already registered just to PM me. Contact me for a cable order, and yes I will ship internationally (with very cheap international pricing) — see instructions at the very last sentence. I have not set the exact pricing per cable yet as of writing of this post (12/15/2015). Most likely I will have a number set tomorrow if not the next. But it will be very competitive — within any competitor's pricing if not better. Just a warning, if you are interested, do not wait around as I already a line of people waiting to order and a good amount already spoken for. If you are interested in a cable, send me a PM with the amount of cables you wish to purchase, your zip code (or international country), and your e-mail. I have started to receive a large influx of PMs with questions of people interested. I will soon be replying. To make things go smoothly and organized, make sure you have followed the above directions I stated. It will ensure for me to help keep track of things accordingly. The more organized your PM are, the easer it will be for everyone.

Q&A


Q: Will this cable work on an Intel P3700 SSD?
A: Yes, it works perfectly.

Q: Can I use these cables with SAS HDDs, SSDs, or controller cards?
A: No.

Q: Are there any NVMe HBA cards for these?
A: Supermicro currently makes two various models.

Q: Will this work in my XYX motherboard.
B: Does it support NVMe? And/or does it have any M.2 to U.2 adapters? And/or Is it a new(er) chipset? And/or do you plan to buy a NVMe HBA? More then likely the answer is yes. However, I do not guarantee any compatibility issues for every single combination, but do I gaurantee the general use case for these cables and said cable quality.


Have anymore technical questions to ask that you want answered? Message me and I will reply & update this post. There is no such thing as a dumb answer.
 
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whitey

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Jun 30, 2014
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Assuming this works w/ an adapter such as a AOC-SLG3-2E4R or
AOC-SLG3-2E4 paired with a NVMe drive like a Intel 750/P3500/P3600/P3700?


Still haven't popped my NVMe cherry, silly ? o' the day, go ahead and laugh, I have thick skin :-D
 
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neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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Dummy question of the day as I have yet to pop my NVMe cherry, so obviously one end would go on a similar drive such as Intel 750, P3500/P3600/P3700, does the other end connect up to a HBA (assume not since this is PCIe)...I have seen those jank lookin m.2 adapters, of course SM makes a few NVMe adapter cards, guess it's those right?



Go ahead laugh, I have thick skin :-D
No, good question. The other end is "Mini SAS HD" or "SFF-8644" which was introduced to be used on SAS 12 GB/s cards. But, we are using it to transmit PCIe lanes in this case.

Go search around for LSI SAS3 (12GB/s) HBA cards - they use the same connector.

Like I mentioned previously, there technically are no ratified specifications for this specific cable.
 

whitey

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Jun 30, 2014
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No, good question. The other end is "Mini SAS HD" or "SFF-8644" which was introduced to be used on SAS 12 GB/s cards. But, we are using it to transmit PCIe lanes in this case.

Go search around for LSI SAS3 (12GB/s) HBA cards - they use the same connector.

Like I mentioned previously, there technically are no ratified specifications for this specific cable.
So shall I take this to read you can hook a Intel 750 via SFF-8639 (now known as U.2 if my naive understanding is correct) and hook other end to sas3 LSI HBA SFF-8644 (HD mini-sas) or would one still require the SM AIC or ASUS hyperkit?

I'm so lost lol, I though I read somewhere here recently that it was a big no-no but that interface DID hookup but a NVMe drive which I understand uses PCIe lanes (via NVMe AIC or M.2 slot, or straight up PCIe slot) hooking to a sas3 HBA (with HD minisas ports) throws me off, I MUST be mis-interpreting what you are clearly trying to express to me.

Apologies in advance. Eyeballin' a 750 drive to get in the game but may have to move my fusion-io and some s3700 200GB'ers to cover cost then it still bugs me that now I have all sas backplane setups, now I'm gonna have some frankenzombie drive double side taped inside of a chassis.

GRRRRRRRR :-D
 

Naeblis

Active Member
Oct 22, 2015
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Folsom, CA
So shall I take this to read you can hook a Intel 750 via SFF-8639 (now known as U.2 if my naive understanding is correct) and hook other end to sas3 LSI HBA SFF-8644 (HD mini-sas) or would one still require the SM AIC or ASUS hyperkit?
swing and a miss. you are correct that it is confusing starting with the fact that they USED THE SAME CONNECTOR. yes the NVMe connector and the SAS connector are the same. and that is where it stops. You cannot use NVMe drives in a SAS controller. You must have a special NVMe controller, using 4, 8 or 16 PCIe lanes
 

neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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So shall I take this to read you can hook a Intel 750 via SFF-8639 (now known as U.2 if my naive understanding is correct) and hook other end to sas3 LSI HBA SFF-8644 (HD mini-sas) or would one still require the SM AIC or ASUS hyperkit?

I'm so lost lol

The only thing they share in common is the Min SAS HD connector on one side, as in physical connector. Nothing related to the SAS protocol otherwise you would have a SAS drive and not NVMe.

Additionally the SSD drive side uses a different SFF-8639 connector.

The SFF-**** connector can actually carry PCIe or SAS data over it depending specifically on which SFF-*** connector and drive you use



I have started to receive a large influx of PMs with questions of people interested. I will soon be replying. To make things go smoothly and organized, make sure you have followed the directions I stated in the above original post. It will ensure for me to help keep track of things accordingly. The more organized your PM is, the easer it will be for everyone.

This is what was stated in the original above post:

If you are interested in a cable, send me a PM with the amount of cables you wish to purchase, your zip code (or international country), and your e-mail.
 
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Naeblis

Active Member
Oct 22, 2015
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The only thing they share in common is the Min SAS HD connector on one side, as in physical connector. Nothing related to the SAS protocol otherwise you would have a SAS drive and not NVMe.

Additionally the SSD drive side uses a different SFF-8639 connector.

The SFF-**** connector can actually carry PCIe or SAS data over it depending specifically on which SFF-*** connector and drive you use
Great info there. This is reason that the Intel back-planes can support SAS and PCIe in the same slot and that back-plane does not need the Intel riser card and the SuperMicro card will work with the Intel back-plane.

do you know if there is any difference on the Mini SAS HD connector side. My testing seems to show that there is not, however i have not cut them open to compare the two.
 

neo

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Mar 18, 2015
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Keep the PMs coming, I am getting everything in order on my end. Picking up more shipping boxes and supplies. Should be replying soon to them all.

Great info there.
It is important to note that the drives in that photo, on both the right and left hand sides are same drives from different angles. 2 drives in total, not 4. They are 2 different model drives though, one is SAS and the other is NVMe. You can easily pick out which one is NVMe since it uses PCIe lanes for it's protocol.

do you know if there is any difference on the Mini SAS HD connector side. My testing seems to show that there is not, however i have not cut them open to compare the two.
Possibly, I have a high resolution CAD blueprint of the NVMe U.2 cable from Amphenol including the respective pinout. Once I find some time, I'll compare them. Though if you are strictly referring to the outside of the physical connector, it's the same. Of course, to confuse some of you even more — you there is another similar Min-SAS HD SFF-8644 connector which is designed for external connections.

Here is a partial, yet useful list. Serial attached SCSI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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whitey

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Jun 30, 2014
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Excellent info @neo, thanks for adding valuable input as well @Naeblis

Let me know when you all are unloading 400GB Intel 750's @ $250 :-D What was the best deal we recently saw...$299?
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Newegg was selling Intel 400gb 750 SSD for $250 few weeks ago. 800gb 750 was on sale too.
 
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