Intel Optane options in desktop

[etorix]

do you know whether these drives fit under the usual motherboard SSD heatsinks?

M10 drives, which top at 64 GB, are 2280 and would fit.
900p/P4800x are 22110 and may not fit in a consumer motherboard.

Generally, your best option would be a PCIe slot, either directly (HHHL drives) or with an adapter (U.2, M.2).

 

[nexox]

I couldn't even figure out whether there is any firmware at all, but all the drives on Ebay seem to be on HPK4.
Are you saying Intel firmware wouldn't work?

You'd likely need to use an HP firmware update package, I don't know exactly how they work but it's often the sort of thing that only works in an HP system and may require a paid up service contract.

 

[Octopuss]

M10 drives, which top at 64 GB, are 2280 and would fit.
900p/P4800x are 22110 and may not fit in a consumer motherboard.

Generally, your best option would be a PCIe slot, either directly (HHHL drives) or with an adapter (U.2, M.2).

I know my motherboard does take 110mm SSDs, but it really doesn't seem like I will luck out with a M.2 variant anytime soon. I'm just looking at the U.2s right now. The 375GB P4800xs are relatively cheap. Of course, it's China, but I haven't gotten burned there yet.

You'd likely need to use an HP firmware update package, I don't know exactly how they work but it's often the sort of thing that only works in an HP system and may require a paid up service contract.

UGH. Well... at the same time, when a drive was manufactured in 2021 I presume there is a good chance there are no newer fw versions.

 

[DarkServant]

I myself use an OCuLink to u.2 cable plus a PCIe card that offers an OCuLink port for my P5800X which sits in an old 2.5" to 3.5" WD IcePack heatsink/adapter from an old Velociraptor HDD with a lot of thermalpads. Works flawless without heat problems, at least it absorbs a good amount of thermal dissipation and spreads it passively but a minimum airflow is still needed, it will draw over 20W under write load.
But you have to be lucky to get one of these P5800X at a decent price, but a P4800X u.2 can be a good option -> the same low latency, lower potential cabling issues -> PCIe 3.0.

 

[Octopuss]

It turned out there are likely no Intel P4800x's on Ebay - just HPE branded ones.
I had someone with HPE account check for firmware for me and he found nothing. He downloaded a 8GB update ISO for some servers though, but that's not helping at all because for one, I can't identify what file could possibly be related to this drive, and for two, there's no way that I can see how to flash the files from within Windows...
If anyone has any experience here I'm all ears.

 

[mjshark]

Last time I updated a HPE drive was 6 years ago, but downloading the Windows EXE payload and running it let my update my HPE Intel S3520 directly connected to the onboard SATA port on my ASRock Rack MB. Firmware can also be easily extracted out of the update package using 7zip to get the *.bin file to flash it using a different tool or operating system.

Also for HPE drives, support pages refer to them by the HPE model number, "EO000375KWJUC" in the case for the 375GB P4800x, so just try searching for that string on the support website, and there should be a few entries for firmware. (Also the reason I don't prefer using HPE drives, can't tell what model they are by looking at the drive model string, have to look it up to figure out what it is, along with almost non-existent SMART for older SATA drives.)

 

[Octopuss]

Why is the EO000375KWJUC number not printed anywhere on the drive though? I mean what the hell is this? There is a slew of various identificators, but nothing like this. How is one supposed to even know it?

 

[mjshark]

It is printed on the label of the drive, ALL HPE Proliant drives have the model number printed on them as "HPE Model: XXYYYYYYZZZZZ"
Sure it wasn't hiding behind the clamshell packaging in the flea-bay listing pictures?

 

[Octopuss]

Haha I haven't bought it yet, I am still looking for information just to be sure I don't regret it later.

I am going off by the photos on ebay:


As you can see, the part number is 877718-001.
The code you provided is only showing up if you google this one, like here: HPE EO000375KWJUC 375GB 2.5in NVMe PCIe SCN Write Intensive G10 SSD



Weirdly, the firmware printed on these units say HPK4, but when I look EO000375KWJUC up on HPE support, the relevant firmware shows up as 4ICSHPK4(L) , so I don't understand anything anymore.

 

[mjshark]

Yep, HPE Model was hidden behind the clamshell packaging. Attached is an image of the drive label without packaging over it.


HPK4 is the version number for the FW, the actual full firmware string sometimes contains extra characters, so HPK4 and 4ICSHPK4 are the same firmware for HPE P4800x. The (X) letter revision after is just package changes, most often for support new OS, the FW payload remains the same.

Dell also refers to firmware by their short name for some of their drives, ex "DL6B" for Intel S4x10 SATA drives, full string is "XCV1DL6B".

 

[Octopuss]

Thanks!
I guess I'm good to go then.
These 375GB HPE variants go for $130-150, which is not bad at all I guess.

 

[Octopuss]

What about the M.2 to U.2 cable? These seem to come in a few variations and are expensive as hell. Literally almost 1/3 that of what the drive cost

 

[nexox]

What about the M.2 to U.2 cable? These seem to come in a few variations and are expensive as hell. Literally almost 1/3 that of what the drive cost

I haven't used any of them but there are M.2 SFF8643 adapters and cables from SFF8643 to U.2 (I do use those,) may be cheaper than a direct wired adapter: Amazon.com: 10Gtek M.2/8643 Adapter + 8643/U.2-0.5m : Electronics

Then again it may not work well and you might need to return and try other options.

 

[Octopuss]

Why wouldn't they work? It's just wires, no chips involved.

I found this: https://www.amazon.com/DiLinKer-SFF-8639-Cable-PCIe-Adapter-U-2-Converter/dp/B07VB6L8SJ, but it's still pretty expensive with all the shipping and VAT and whatnot. Stupid cable, jeez...

 

[i386]

pcie 4.0 (and newer) can have problems with longer/"cheap" cables (the signal come from the cpu, through the socket, to pcie slots/m.2 socket to the ssd if no retimer/redrivers are used), for pcie 3.0 (and most optanes are pcie 3.0) and short cables it shouldn't be to problematic

 

[nexox]

I have had at least one U.2 cable that doesn't cause errors or degrade the link speed/width but still runs quite a lot slower (at PCIe 3.0) than my others. Even without chips just connectors and wires aren't terribly easy to get right at that sort of signal rate.

Still I have had good luck with that brand and it's short so it will probably be alright.

 

[Octopuss]

you're talking about the 1Gtek you linked before, right?

It seems SFF-8643 connector will fit underneath the graphic card after all.
Of course, the adapter+cable combo you linked is not available right now, jeez... I hate to order stuff separately.

 

[nexox]

you're talking about the 1Gtek you linked before, right?

The DiiLiving or whatever brand you linked, I use several of their SFF8643 to U.2 cables and they mostly work, though now I forget if they also made the slow one or if that was a different brand.

 

[Octopuss]

Ah ok.
The reviews seem to mention full PCIe 3.0 speed so I guess it's fine.

 

[nexox]

I don't trust any one in maybe 100 amazon reviewers to properly test something like that, but yeah it's probably fine, and returns aren't that hard.