Multi-NVMe (m.2, u.2) adapters that do not require bifurcation

[ca3y6]

No I am talking about U.2 HGST SSDs connected with cables, they do not get powered by the card, they get powered by a sata/molex connector. Also tried through an intel backplane (connected to the caecent card) which gets powered by an ATX connector (picture below). So I don't think the problem is power. And also those HGST drives work fine on the same system using PCIe bifurcation.

But yes, cooling is a challenge. I resolved it with having big noctua fans blowing directly into the drives, keeps them under 45 deg celcius even with the fan at low speed.

 

[axemar]

Hi,

I have a Dell R340 that does not support PCI bifurcation. It has a riser putted on the PCI x16 (works on x8) and gives x16 (x8) and x8 (x4).
Unraid is installed on it and I want to add 2x SSD cache with a PCI slot to get arround 2 to 3gb/s on the x16 (x8) riser slot.
I want to add a PCI SFP+ 10gb/s on the x8 riser slot (x4).

Is this card could work ? without bifurcation : https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805299547807.html

Thanks

 

[PilaScat]

Is there any Gen4 quad card?

 

[Mogdan]

Found this but it's extremely expensive ($1500+): PCI Express Gen 4 Carrier Board for four M.2 PCIe SSD modules |

 

[soupyfrood]

I’d love to know if anyone else has found some cost-effective quad cards. I’d love to able to run 4 drives on a 4.0 x8 slot.

 

[zxc_ee]

I’d love to know if anyone else has found some cost-effective quad cards. I’d love to able to run 4 drives on a 4.0 x8 slot.

not sure about your budget, i bought Supermicro card AOC-SLG3-4E2P , it was ~100 euro, connected 4 u2 disks without any issue.

 

[peter_sch]

I use the U.2 version of this card:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ey9KiD4

This is somewhat cheaper than the Supermicro card.

 

[Aqualung]

I’d love to know if anyone else has found some cost-effective quad cards. I’d love to able to run 4 drives on a 4.0 x8 slot.

M2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 cards are still very expensive. PCIe 3.x should do just fine.

 

[soupyfrood]

I use the U.2 version of this card:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ey9KiD4

Odd, the link doesn’t work for me. What chip does it use?

M2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 cards are still very expensive. PCIe 3.x should do just fine.

Well yes but no. I don’t want to put four 4.0 x4 drives behind 3.0 x8. 4.0 drives are pretty cost-effective these days. Of course, your point that connectivity is expensive is true. If the only option is one of the $1000+ PCIe 4 switch cards, then it no longer makes sense.

 

[Aqualung]

Well yes but no. I don’t want to put four 4.0 x4 drives behind 3.0 x8. 4.0 drives are pretty cost-effective these days. Of course, your point that connectivity is expensive is true. If the only option is one of the $1000+ PCIe 4 switch cards, then it no longer makes sense.

Here ya go: $470 second hand. But if you're using it for a 10GbE NAS, PCIe 3.x should do, and you can get much better deals for PCIe 3.x.

 

[Mithril]

I use the U.2 version of this card:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ey9KiD4

This is somewhat cheaper than the Supermicro card.

Link is 404, it almost looks like it tried to load and then redirected to a 404, wonder if the listing is pulled

 

[RolloZ170]

Link is 404, it almost looks like it tried to load and then redirected to a 404, wonder if the listing is pulled

not avail. in your area(customs issues)
anol4pe08

Ceacent Anol4pe08 4-port Oculink Sff8611 Pcie 3.0x8 Nvme U.2 Festplatten Adapter Plx8724 Chip Keine Pcie-bifurkation Erforderlich - Buy Pcie Nvme Quad 4 Port Oculink Nvme U.2 Adapter 8747 8748 Product on Alibaba.com

Ceacent Anol4pe08 4-port Oculink Sff8611 Pcie 3.0x8 Nvme U.2 Festplatten Adapter Plx8724 Chip Keine Pcie-bifurkation Erforderlich - Buy Pcie Nvme Quad 4 Port Oculink Nvme U.2 Adapter 8747 8748 Product on Alibaba.com

german.alibaba.com

 

[Mithril]

Odd, the link doesn’t work for me. What chip does it use?


Well yes but no. I don’t want to put four 4.0 x4 drives behind 3.0 x8. 4.0 drives are pretty cost-effective these days. Of course, your point that connectivity is expensive is true. If the only option is one of the $1000+ PCIe 4 switch cards, then it no longer makes sense.

In *most cases* you'll be limited by the actual flash performance (or higher level things like file system, CPU/RAM, OS) in real world use. Basically anything but the sequential pure read and pure write with hand picked transfer size and queue depth the manufactures use to put the number on the box. I'd bet money that on average a decent enterprise Gen 3 drive would smoke the pants off the average consumer gen 4 or 5 drive in real world use outside of "see how fast this single large file copies".

One of the things I need to refresh my memory on is how these handle "over subscription", if you say have 4 drives sending 4x3.0 each how well does the switch chip handle that. I feel like someone here did some testing on one of these cards (maybe not this specific switch chip however).

 

[Mithril]

not avail. in your area(customs issues)
anol4pe08

Ceacent Anol4pe08 4-port Oculink Sff8611 Pcie 3.0x8 Nvme U.2 Festplatten Adapter Plx8724 Chip Keine Pcie-bifurkation Erforderlich - Buy Pcie Nvme Quad 4 Port Oculink Nvme U.2 Adapter 8747 8748 Product on Alibaba.com

Ceacent Anol4pe08 4-port Oculink Sff8611 Pcie 3.0x8 Nvme U.2 Festplatten Adapter Plx8724 Chip Keine Pcie-bifurkation Erforderlich - Buy Pcie Nvme Quad 4 Port Oculink Nvme U.2 Adapter 8747 8748 Product on Alibaba.com

german.alibaba.com

Ugh, 404 is a really dumb way to handle that IMHO.

Actually, maybe a short link issue. Loading the main site and searching for that card I get the listing and can open it lol

 

[RolloZ170]

Ugh, 404 is a really dumb way to handle that IMHO.

html programmers are mostly humans.

 

[mattventura]

If you have the 404 issue, try changing your country to a different region. I changed mine from USA to Spain and it let me see it.

 

[kryten]

Im using a Ceacent controller for NVME drives. is there a reason when plugging in a drive it doesn't auto detect it, every time i plug and unplug a drive you have to scan bus in device manger.

 

[mattventura]

Im using a Ceacent controller for NVME drives. is there a reason when plugging in a drive it doesn't auto detect it, every time i plug and unplug a drive you have to scan bus in device manger.

Can't speak for whichever model you have, but I had the gen3 4x SFF-8643 model. It definitely didn't have hotplug implemented correctly. It seemed to only have one hotplug slot when it should have had one for each downstream port.

If you can boot into Linux, do a `tree /sys/bus/pci/slots` and check `/sys/bus/pci/slots/*/address` to see which ones correspond to what. If you can't, then you can check in hwinfo64 and you should see something like this for each port:


You also need BIOS support for hotplug events. Fortunately, Thunderbolt has forced most manufacturers to start supporting hotplug events.

 

[kryten]

Yeah mine the same as yours, i have 2 though. bus 4 and 8
Cheers for the help, there's always something.