NVMe using PCIe slots on X9DRE-TF+

[Dan Langille]

I plan to add two NVMe devices to my Supermicro X9DRE-TF+ m/b. Only one slot is filled now (SAS card).

I was looking at the Samsung 970 EVO 250GB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD and I'd get two of them. They would be used as a mirrored SLOG vdev in a ZFS zpool.

In the m/b manual, I see this mentioned:

IIO 1 PCIe Port Bifurcation Control
This submenu configures the following IO PCIe Port Bifurcation Control settings for IIO 1 PCIe ports to determine how the available PCI-Express lanes to be distributed between the PCI-Exp. Root Ports.​

Does this mean I can use a PCIE M.2 Adapter which takes two NVMe devices?

If you have suggestions for NVMe devices and PCIE adaptors, I'm happy to hear them.

 

[Dan Langille]

My current plan is to get the StarTech.com M.2 Adapter - x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe

 

[Dan Langille]

I've decided upon this combination:

• Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 $54
• 2x MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 80mm (2280-S3-M) M.2 PCI Express 3.1 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe SSD (256GB (240GB)) $55

Those NVMe devices came to my attention via a friend, who mentioned their high Total Bytes Written (TBW) which is 380 TBW for the 240GB version.

Comparing them against two other devices I considered:

• The BPX Pro 80mm has higher speed and greater TBW. $0.142/TBW
• The XPG SX8000 PCIe 128GB is $0.37/TBW
• The Intel Optane Memory Module 16GB is $0.30/TBW

 

[james23]

please update us, or correct me if im wrong, but i think there are issues with pcie bifurication and SM X9 boards (i think even with x10 boards).
i slightly recall looking into exactly what you are trying to do, and i came across a reply from a SM rep in their FAQs that flat out said bifur does not work on X9's (and i think is only there in bios for pcie risers or some thing). (and some other replies from users on various fourms with similar probs when trying to use bifur on x9s to do exactly what you are aiming for)

i could be wrong (hopefully) and what i saw from SM was only related to a single, specific x9 board.

Edit;
here is the thread i was refering to ("it works" applies to some asus board, read down in thread to see ppl not getting it to work with x9 boards, and SM's reply, granted they are mainly talking about it not working in unraid os, but i think its a board/bios issue and not an os one).. final suggestion on getting it to work on SM x9 was to look into modding your bios :/ supposedly ppl got it working via bios modding (which can be pretty dangerous though). hopefully im wrong and in your case it works..

4x NVMe drives on single PCI-e expansion card..... (UPDATE, IT WORKS!)

 

[Dan Langille]

Thank you. The card arrives on Friday. I knew my m/b was not on the list of Validated Platforms but I was hoping that was because it was an older card, not an incompatibility. I'll try it, if it works, great, if not, I'll resell it. I don't want to get into modding my BIOS.

I've decided to return that Supermicro card, even before it arrives. Instead, I'll go with two StarTech.com M.2 Adapter - x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe

Thank you.

 

[copcopcopcop]

Thank you. The card arrives on Friday. I knew my m/b was not on the list of Validated Platforms but I was hoping that was because it was an older card, not an incompatibility. I'll try it, if it works, great, if not, I'll resell it. I don't want to get into modding my BIOS.

I've decided to return that Supermicro card, even before it arrives. Instead, I'll go with two StarTech.com M.2 Adapter - x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe

Thank you.

Did the StarTech card work with the Supermicro X9 Mobo?

 

[Dan Langille]

Did the StarTech card work with the Supermicro X9 Mobo?

Yes, yes it did. I am using FreeBSD and it shows up in /var/run/dmesg like this:

nvme0: <Generic NVMe Device> mem 0xdfd00000-0xdfd03fff irq 40 at device 0.0 numa-domain 0 on pci4
nvd0: <BPXP> NVMe namespace
nvd0: 228936MB (468862128 512 byte sectors)

I have bought a second one for mirroring but it is not in use yet.

 

[Philmatic]

I have a Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 on a X9DRi-LN4F-JBOD with two HP x920 NVMe SSDs and Bifurication works great with the latest BIOS, check out this thread.

https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...furcate-or-not-bifurcate-on-x9dri-ln4f.19047/