NVME on IBM system x3550 M4

[robopsi]

Hi, I have the above system with dual 8 code xeon's, and was wondering if it supports pcie bifurcation. I know the life slots and risers qualify as this, but I was hoping to purchase 2x x16 pcie to x4 nvme cards, so I could drive them direct. Also, I've see u.2 drives on eBay that can be plugged into sas bays, is that real? I have 12G sas I could free up space on.

 

[RolloZ170]

Hi, I have the above system with dual 8 code xeon's, and was wondering if it supports pcie bifurcation. I know the life slots and risers qualify as this, but I was hoping to purchase 2x x16 pcie to x4 nvme cards, so I could drive them direct

a x16 to x4 NVMe Card need a controller onboard if your BIOS/OS don't support NVMe.
M.2 is PCIe electrical and NVMe protocoll.
if your BIOS supports x4x4x4x4 bifurcation and your OS supports NVMe you are fine.
to boot from one of the drive the BIOS has to support NVMe.

Also, I've see u.2 drives on eBay that can be plugged into sas bays, is that real?

the connector and mechanical are similar. the connector is different, you need NVMe backplane instead of the SAS then.

 

[jdnz]

if the bios doesn't support bifurcation ( which it almost certainly doesn't ) you can still use 'dumb' single nvme cards - I did that recently for an x3850 x5.

Obviously if you want multiple nvme that means multiple cards and using up multiple slots ( and in the case of the x5 being so old those slots are only pcie2 so we're seriously speed limited by the bus - we're getting 1500mb/s off a 980pro )

 

[robopsi]

I thought the x3550 M4 was pcie 3.0?

 

[jdnz]

I thought the x3550 M4 was pcie 3.0?

it is - I was talking about the older x3850 x5 being speed limited ( but pcie2x4 is still much better than a sata ssd off the raid controller can do )