I recently found a new PCIe Switch card that is full bandwidth 16 lane to 4x4 lane m.2 slots. It's the least expensive I could find that wasn't limiting bandwidth to 8x (which in reality is probably enough).
It's an IO Crest IO-PEX40152 (Aliexpress $299) - It's using a MicroSemi SwitchTec Controller: PM8572 PFX-I 32xG3.
For my application, its to not waste an entire 16x lane slot on a single NVMe disk, and I already had a few U.2 NVMe drives, (also found another PCIe 8x PM1725x Card, so slot reclaiming was high on my list). So I also had to find some m.2 to u.2 adapters - the lowest cost was on amazon (although more digging/patience would have probably yielded better results) - DiLinKer M.2 to U.2(SFF-8639) for ~$24 each.
Initial Review - it works. Even on my old x79 test bed motherboard. I did have to find a different cooling solution because the u.2 cables wouldnt fit with the heatsink on, so I found some copper heatsinks, bent the fins out, and the highest w/mk thermal tape I could get quickly. All the drives show up, I was able to edit the disk partitions, and so far so good. Probably unrelated but Windows 7 (test bed, I know its old) BSODs with IRQ_Less_than_Equal 0x1d for the stornvme.sys - but ubuntu boots fine, and everything appears fine.
So ~$400 - to get full use out of each 16x lane slot - worth it? I guess it depends.
If there are any tests I should run, please let me know.
I am not affiliated, or sponsored, I just have a problem with taking my hobbies too far.
It's an IO Crest IO-PEX40152 (Aliexpress $299) - It's using a MicroSemi SwitchTec Controller: PM8572 PFX-I 32xG3.
For my application, its to not waste an entire 16x lane slot on a single NVMe disk, and I already had a few U.2 NVMe drives, (also found another PCIe 8x PM1725x Card, so slot reclaiming was high on my list). So I also had to find some m.2 to u.2 adapters - the lowest cost was on amazon (although more digging/patience would have probably yielded better results) - DiLinKer M.2 to U.2(SFF-8639) for ~$24 each.
Initial Review - it works. Even on my old x79 test bed motherboard. I did have to find a different cooling solution because the u.2 cables wouldnt fit with the heatsink on, so I found some copper heatsinks, bent the fins out, and the highest w/mk thermal tape I could get quickly. All the drives show up, I was able to edit the disk partitions, and so far so good. Probably unrelated but Windows 7 (test bed, I know its old) BSODs with IRQ_Less_than_Equal 0x1d for the stornvme.sys - but ubuntu boots fine, and everything appears fine.
So ~$400 - to get full use out of each 16x lane slot - worth it? I guess it depends.
Code:
Node SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev
---------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme0n1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SAMSUNG MZQLW3T8HMLP-00003 1 579.33 MB / 3.84 TB 4 KiB + 0 B CXV8301Q
/dev/nvme1n1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SAMSUNG MZQLW1T9HMJP-000AZ 1 0.00 B / 1.92 TB 512 B + 0 B CXV83W1Q
/dev/nvme2n1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX MTFDHAL1T2MCF-1AN1ZABYY 1 1.20 TB / 1.20 TB 512 B + 0 B 0091634
/dev/nvme3n1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Micron_9200_MTFDHAL6T4TCU 1 6.40 TB / 6.40 TB 512 B + 0 B 101008S0If there are any tests I should run, please let me know.
I am not affiliated, or sponsored, I just have a problem with taking my hobbies too far.