AOC-SLG3-4E4T on Supermicro X11SCA-F

[chrisk2305]

Hi,

I guess that the HBA mentioned in the title uses bifurcation. Can anybody tell me if this works with an Supermicro X11SCA-F Mainboard. Couldn't find anything in the manual.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

 

[JoshDi]

I would confirm with Supermicro support if I were you - they have been very helpful with me in the past.

Does the X11SCA-F support PCIe bifurcation? If so, it should work if you set the PCIe slot to x4x4x4x4

 

[chrisk2305]

Actually I found out that the HBA uses a PLX Chip so Bifurcation shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Rand__]

4e4t uses a PLX chip ? thats news to me ...


Usually only the P models have that (and are significantly more expensive)

 

[JoshDi]

Which one? I was going to get the AOC-SLG3-4e4t, but I instead got the Supermicro AOC-SLG3-8E2P, which also doesnt require bifurcation.

 

[Rand__]

The 8E2P has a PLX chip (else 8 drives on a x16 slot might be a bit on the low side on bandwith) - what did you pay for it?

 

[JoshDi]

$259.50 ($19.50 bucks shipping though to NYC) from InterPRO Microsystems in California

https://www.interpromicro.com/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=37165&czuid=1578512313816

They have the AOC-SLG3-4E4T for $129.50

I then got 4x CBL-SAST-0956 (Oculink to U.2) cables for $13.50 each.

 

[Rand__]

Thats not too bad - double of the 4e4t but double capabilities too (and less compatibility issues most likely)

 

[JoshDi]

Thats not too bad - double of the 4e4t but double capabilities too (and less compatibility issues most likely)

Yep, works no problem on my X11-SPM-TF with the Intel VROC chip. I am running 4x 1.2tb Intel DC 3520 drives at full speed. I'm sure if I started adding more drives, the performance would suffer but the chance they are all running at full load is minimal in my setup.

Supermicro let me know that this board will only work in my SLOT 4 PCIe 16x since the SLOT 6 PCIe 16x is PCI reverse (signaling, not in orientation).

Anyway, its good to email them and ask if they did any tests on your board with either of these chips. They did tell me I need a backplane, but I am running it with direct supermicro oculink to U.2 connectors.

 

[ipreferpie]

Yep, works no problem on my X11-SPM-TF with the Intel VROC chip. I am running 4x 1.2tb Intel DC 3520 drives at full speed. I'm sure if I started adding more drives, the performance would suffer but the chance they are all running at full load is minimal in my setup.

Supermicro let me know that this board will only work in my SLOT 4 PCIe 16x since the SLOT 6 PCIe 16x is PCI reverse (signaling, not in orientation).

Anyway, its good to email them and ask if they did any tests on your board with either of these chips. They did tell me I need a backplane, but I am running it with direct supermicro oculink to U.2 connectors.

I was wondering if anyone has insights on solving my NVMe drives appearing sporadically after reboots on ESXi. Here's my config:

HBA: SM AOC-SLG3-4E4T
MB: X11DPH-T
Backplane: SM BPN-SAS3-846-8N
SSD: Intel D4502 U.2 7.68TB & Optane 905P U.2 960GB
Host: ESXi 6.7U3

I have 2 D4502 SSDs that are experiencing constant drop outs after reboots. I takes around 10x tries to even have 2 show up on ESXi since usually one one or none show up after rebooting. On the other hand the both Optane SSDs have no problem showing back up consistently. Does any one have similar experiences? I already ruled out thermal throttling since they're in the 35-45C range. Much appreciated!

 

[Rand__]

I have seen the threads but few ideas...
do they show up (consistently/at all) if the optanes are not connected?

 

[ipreferpie]

I have seen the threads but few ideas...
do they show up (consistently/at all) if the optanes are not connected?

Good call on that. From what I remember (since I can't reach my server until tomorrow), they do seem to pop up more often w/o the Optanes. Will verify tomorrow.

Also, wanted to mention that my SMBus connector isn't connected and my backplane jumpers are for CPU0 lanes (if that makes a difference), while my 4E4T board is seated in PCIe slot 2 tied to CPU1.

 

[ipreferpie]

I have seen the threads but few ideas...
do they show up (consistently/at all) if the optanes are not connected?

So I went back and disconnected the 2 Optane U.2 drives on the backplane and rebooted several times. Unfortunately, the D4502 U.2 drives don't appear consistently and nothing as improved.

As a note, I left an Optane M.2 and Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe drives still plugged into the motherboard. Not sure if that affects anything.

Would you have any suggestions on what I should try to get things working? Much appreciated!

 

[Rand__]

You could get a cheapo U2 to pcie adapter to see if its working on that one...