PCIE 3 x8 adapter for OCP 2.0 cards - $18

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Cruzader

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Jan 1, 2021
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someone in this thread blew a card due to the crappy designs so instead of touting this as 'buyer beware', don't sit here and 'blame a user for getting the wrong crappy adapter'.
Im not trying to blame anybody, im just saying that is what happened...
Use the wrong adapter and you risk blowing/frying the OCP card.
If placing any blame id put it on the seller for marketing a card that is not universal as being universal.

But this is 100% a buyer beware segment because there are multiple incompatible standards using the same physical connector/naming.

You can take 3 OCP cards from 3 diffrent vendors and they will look identical in evry way, but mismatch them and you can blow cards.
And that is not a design/manafacturing of the adapter issue.
its simply from multiple incompatible pinouts using the same physical connector so its a easily done mistake if not using the correct cards.

Even if startech started making these they would need to make 4versions to cover the most popular OCP cards, around 10 if wanting to support all cards.
Use the wrong one and you would risk blowing cards with their adapters also.

Blowing OCP cards is not uncommon when using them directly on motherboards also, this is not a new issue with using adapters...
 

blakwolf

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Apr 17, 2017
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A universal adapter that has any amount of safeguards for such a niche market would never get off the ground as they could never get enough volume to enjoy economies of scale. What you are hoping for would be severely constrained by the price difference of OCP and PCI-E versions. As the cheap pin to pin adapters become more prevalent, it would further reduce the price difference between the versions, basically eliminating the opportunity for universal adapters.

Regarding the fate of niche shops like Heathkit and Radio Shack, I think those were more impacted by the Internet and more specifically the Amazon juggernaut. Look at the entire retail sector to see the devastation over the past two decades. Yes, many jobs and businesses have gone away, but that has been roughly balanced with access to cheaper products delivered to your door.
 

Samir

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Im not trying to blame anybody, im just saying that is what happened...
Use the wrong adapter and you risk blowing/frying the OCP card.
If placing any blame id put it on the seller for marketing a card that is not universal as being universal.

But this is 100% a buyer beware segment because there are multiple incompatible standards using the same physical connector/naming.

You can take 3 OCP cards from 3 diffrent vendors and they will look identical in evry way, but mismatch them and you can blow cards.
And that is not a design/manafacturing of the adapter issue.
its simply from multiple incompatible pinouts using the same physical connector so its a easily done mistake if not using the correct cards.

Even if startech started making these they would need to make 4versions to cover the most popular OCP cards, around 10 if wanting to support all cards.
Use the wrong one and you would risk blowing cards with their adapters also.

Blowing OCP cards is not uncommon when using them directly on motherboards also, this is not a new issue with using adapters...
Fair enough, but as you mentioned this is a big buyer beware. Unless one knows exactly what card those adapters were designed for, seems like one is in for a bad day.

These definitely shouldn't be touted as universal, and hopefully all this has been flushed out clearly in our posts so a buyer fully knows what they're getting, even though I would just say skip the 'direct from china' crap.
 

Samir

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A universal adapter that has any amount of safeguards for such a niche market would never get off the ground as they could never get enough volume to enjoy economies of scale. What you are hoping for would be severely constrained by the price difference of OCP and PCI-E versions. As the cheap pin to pin adapters become more prevalent, it would further reduce the price difference between the versions, basically eliminating the opportunity for universal adapters.

Regarding the fate of niche shops like Heathkit and Radio Shack, I think those were more impacted by the Internet and more specifically the Amazon juggernaut. Look at the entire retail sector to see the devastation over the past two decades. Yes, many jobs and businesses have gone away, but that has been roughly balanced with access to cheaper products delivered to your door.
True that such an adapter might not get off the ground in an effort to keep the price difference between OCP and PCIe enough to warrant the cost and effort. If pin adapters were sold and marketed properly, I could see even a reputable company making them. But all this seems to be for a short lived window, aka a 'quick buck scheme'. Like the old lga771 mods to use in lga775 sockets because those processor were cheaper. Today it's just foolishness as will probably be the case once the OCP and PCIe versions of these cards fall to the bottom of the bathtub curve.

Yes, but the Internet has been completely flooded by the 'cheap goods' that are dumped in the market by unscrupulous 'players' in the market who don't want to play in the market--they want to destroy it and make it their own. Consumers think they got cheaper prices and better service, but I don't think high defect rates and non-existent customer service is a good thing, and the prices haven't really dropped that much on industries that have been monopolized (have you seen steel and lumber rates lately?).

Amazon and other marketplaces as well as the sellers in them basically cheated when competing against brick and mortar stores by not collecting sales tax. Technically the buyer of such products should have filed use tax in their jurisdiction, but until just the last few years taxing officials didn't have a way to deal with all that. In the meantime, traditional businesses with proper employees and infrastructure were undercut by as much as 15% by these on-line cheaters walled behind marketplace sites that were skipping out on sales tax. And that is without even factoring in the 'dirty' practices (for lack of a better term) in overseas manufacturing that drives cost down even further. It was an environment that should never existed from day one, and finally was brought in line after so many years of 'wild wild west'. If it had existed from day one, I think a lot more companies would be around as they would have had time to pivot as necessary to deal with the new competition, and the new competition would have had to figure out how to compete at scale. Instead, today's product retailers are already at a disadvantage before they even attempt to open their doors.

And now after Amazon's reputation of a horrible place to work is known as well as their products and services, there are full video ads to show how great they as a place to work as they attempt to reverse their reputation and become a better company--but no one is asking, "Where is all the money going to come to make these changes?" All this penny-wise pound-foolish get-rich-quick fast-buck business is unsustainable, and it only separates the haves and have-nots even further. Add in the 2050 initiatives by one nation state that would like to see everyone in the entire world become subsurvient, and there's a lot more to lose than the slight gain of a cheaper price and home delivery...
 

Cruzader

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OCP adapters had a big boom outside of the niche community when a few cloud vendors had in the 6 digits of connectx3 OCP leftover and no buyers.
The pcie version was at 60$ then, so for them to add a 3-4$ adapter to make their unsellable part a hot commodity at 50$ was their solution.
That is pretty much the model adapter card flooding into the open market now, id expect it to be excess stock they had made.


Tho i feel its simular friend the HP FlexLOM adapters need more love.
While they dont save you as much as the OCP cards they can be a fair bit below simular pci-e cards.
combined with the 20-30$ 544FLR (2ports 10/40gbe esxi7 support) they are not a bad deal.

FlexLOM has a set pinout since just for one vendor, so not the same massive compatability problems.
 
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Samir

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Neat to know the history of these adapters. I'm actually surprised though that sellers don't just buy the adapters and put them on the cards and then sell the cards 'ready to go'. That would make a lot more sense since a reseller has the power to buy both in bulk and make a profit.
 

Cruzader

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Neat to know the history of these adapters. I'm actually surprised though that sellers don't just buy the adapters and put them on the cards and then sell the cards 'ready to go'. That would make a lot more sense since a reseller has the power to buy both in bulk and make a profit.
The runs made for the connectx cards were only sold as bundle of OCP+adapter for quite a while, they did not sell single adapters before almost all their OCP cards were sold out.

There are a few old threads on here about odd looking connectx such as this one from 2019.
 

foureight84

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Jun 26, 2018
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The runs made for the connectx cards were only sold as bundle of OCP+adapter for quite a while, they did not sell single adapters before almost all their OCP cards were sold out.

There are a few old threads on here about odd looking connectx such as this one from 2019.
Yea I remember this popping up on Amazon and also ebay. They were solid units and also used the thin adapter without the power regulator. I think they were only able to put it together after a lot of e-waste accumulation (just my speculation). They also do this with BGA mobile processors with a custom LGA pcb as well as custom xeon-d with custom motherboards.
 

Fritz

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I just ordered a couple of LSI half height brackets from China for a RAID adapter and it's Super capacitor. They were $1.88 with free shipping. Hard to compete with them. Sure, I have to wait a month for them to arrive but in this case I'm in no hurry.
 

Samir

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The runs made for the connectx cards were only sold as bundle of OCP+adapter for quite a while, they did not sell single adapters before almost all their OCP cards were sold out.

There are a few old threads on here about odd looking connectx such as this one from 2019.
Makes sense. So this is basically all the left over adapters. Were they made for a specific card? If so, that would be good to post here as well.
 

Samir

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I just ordered a couple of LSI half height brackets from China for a RAID adapter and it's Super capacitor. They were $1.88 with free shipping. Hard to compete with them. Sure, I have to wait a month for them to arrive but in this case I'm in no hurry.
Yep, but good luck on those super capacitors working as they should because generally 'you get what you pay for'.

Keep in mind that 'deals' such as these only perpetuate low wages, harsh working environments, pollution, and skirting the law. You know the saying 'vote with your wallet'... ;)
 

jmsq

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Dec 30, 2019
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Makes sense. So this is basically all the left over adapters. Were they made for a specific card? If so, that would be good to post here as well.
I believe the current black PCB version here is a clone of the one specifically made to sell off the datacenter/cloud Mellanox OCP NIC stock. Here's some photos of the one from that 2019 thread disassmbled; note the metal cage and metal risers holding it all together, as well as the green PCB adapter.

In my case I successfully swapped a 40Gbit Mellanox card in place of the included 10Gbit Mellanox card without issues; just had to trim the PCI bracket opening a bit to make room for the QSFP connector.

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faninx

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Honestly, these cards are pretty cheap in China. The CX341A OCP was only $3-4 when it was cheapest (now $8). Riser cards are less than $10. There is even a website where you can make PCBs for free using open source solutions. You just need to buy some other material and solder it yourself. Overall it's a cost-effective solution.

As for Samir's prejudice against China, STH is a technical forum and there is no need to discuss these political issues. In the Deals section, many threads are introducing second-hand items, which are inherently risky. It has nothing to do with whether it is from China or not. Reminds me of my AK-D1541. o_O
 

Cruzader

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Reminds me of my AK-D1541.
Not picking up any of those akamai boards and the quanta D-1541 1U 12x3.5 4x2.5 that were going at low as 150$ in the end are my biggest regrets of deals on here for sure.

those akamai boards that pop up on ebay now being resold go for 1000-1400.

there is even a website where you can make PCBs for free using open source solutions. You just need to buy some other material and solder it yourself. Overall it's a cost-effective solution.
Yeah that has usualy been the only way to get the FlexLOM and OCP adapters, its the same open source designs that we see more and more sellers are making for sale now.
My first OCP adapters were printed pcbs i ordered a lot of and had them soldered localy.
 

Samir

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As for Samir's prejudice against China, STH is a technical forum and there is no need to discuss these political issues.
You may call it political, but to me it's just some facts that affect the quality of goods, the supply chain, and even current availability problems for the equipment we use in homelab and production. Ignoring that is putting your face in the sand and expecting it to go away--news flash--it is only going to get worse.
 

Fritz

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Yep, but good luck on those super capacitors working as they should because generally 'you get what you pay for'.

Keep in mind that 'deals' such as these only perpetuate low wages, harsh working environments, pollution, and skirting the law. You know the saying 'vote with your wallet'... ;)
The super caps came with the card and have already been tested. They work awesome. :p
 

Fritz

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You may call it political, but to me it's just some facts that affect the quality of goods, the supply chain, and even current availability problems for the equipment we use in homelab and production. Ignoring that is putting your face in the sand and expecting it to go away--news flash--it is only going to get worse.
You must be rich. Poor people don't give a damn about politics and ideology.
 

Samir

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The super caps came with the card and have already been tested. They work awesome. :p
Everything will for a while. But the goal of these products is not to make something quality that will last, but to make something that's got enough value for the price you paid. You won't bat an eye if it stops working next week because of the price. The entire world being 'trained' that this is acceptable has a significant long term effect on the quality of stuff we will see manufactured--domestic or foreign. And one of the main reasons we can homelab at all is because of the quality that's in the secondhand enterprise goods that we're using. Without that quality, there would not really be any homelabbing, at least nothing like today because the best you'd get out of something that's already on its way out from the data center is a short time period before it dies, if it didn't already start failing when it was pushed out of the data center.
 

Samir

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You must be rich. Poor people don't give a damn about politics and ideology.
Far from it actually. And that's exactly the way to keep people under the foot of control--keep them poor, chasing after the essentials, and thinking that the scraps they get are the best thing in the world. That's the system of order in the developing world and a good part of SE Asia. China has figured out a way to mix in keeping the people at a higher level of comfort, but only also with a heavy hand of making sure they don't know what else is out there to compare their lives with. This is one of the reasons people leave those countries when they realized they should have much more than they are getting for their [honest] efforts. If they never give a damn, they essentially damn themselves.

I don't think any of us will work with secondhand consumer level tech for homelabbing because we know the value of secondhand enterprise tech. But prior to ever looking at enterprise tech, I had no idea how much more expensive consumer tech was. Why? Not because someone kept the information from me, but because I never sought it out. But if someone kept it from me, I would have never even known. I would have been thinking that a used single processor system was great because I never knew that a dual processor server with ecc ram was 1/2 the cost.

Same thing--keep feeding the poor 'deals' and don't let them know what they could be having instead. Even in the west, the concept of planned obsolescence in consumer electronics is starting to train that market that such things are normal when there is another way.
 

Fritz

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All of my stuff is old. The newest MB I have is a X10DRH-CT. The only reason I have it is I lucked out. The oldest is a X7DWU. No idead why I still keep it around other than the fact that it still works flawlessly. I have 5 X8 servers, a few X9 and a few X10.

Everything dies eventually, including us. The trick is to enjoy what you have while you have it. Live for today and don't worry about tomorrow.

Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.
 
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