PCIe to M.2 Adapters Ableconn PEXM2-110 v Startech Low Profile

[Patrick]

I was looking for both M.2 22110 to PCIe adapters. I also was curious based on Cheap 1U PCIe M.2 Riser - why don't they exist? from @Biren78

I tried both cards today and they appear to be too tall. The search continues.

I purchased both of these just to hit $35 for free same day Prime:
Amazon.com: StarTech.com M.2 Adapter – x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe – Low Profile and Full Profile – SSD PCIE M.2 Adapter – M2 SSD – PCI Express SSD: Computers & Accessories
Amazon.com: Ableconn PEXM2-110 M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD to PCI Express 3.0 x4 Host Adapter Card - Support 110mm M.2 SSD - Support M.2 NGFF PCIe (NVMe or AHCI) Type 22110, 2280, 2260, 2242: Computers & Accessories

When I opened them up this morning, they are exactly the same PCB. The total deltas:

• Startech had the full-height bracket installed. Ableconn the low profile bracket. Both came with both options. Depending on which you need, this may save you from having to spend time switching.
• The sticker on the back said the respective company name.
• The Ableconn box was nicer (Startech is just their signature plain white box).
• Both had instructions, Startech was a bit better.
• The Ableconn ESD bag was bubble wrap padded and the Startech was just a simple flat unit.

Going forward, I will purchase based on which bracket I need installed.

 

[nitrobass24]

This should work for 1U 1U PCI Express Gen 3 Carrier Board for M.2 SSD module - Amfeltec


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[Patrick]

I saw that one but it is "request a quote"

 

[nitrobass24]

Quotation (Prices in USD)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SKU Item Qty Unit Price

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SKU-086-31 SQUID PCIe Carrier Board for 1 M.2 SSD module 1 $ 61.90 USD

(M.2 key M) Gen 3

(x4 PCIe upstream interface)



The follow options are available for the same price:

- x1 PCI Express upstream interface

 

[Patrick]

Not worth it at that price. It is essentially a PCIe riser.

 

[nitrobass24]

I would tend to agree, the other options are interesting though. 4x m.2 on the single card. Built in PCIe Switch.

 

[Patrick]

The PCIe switch works well for bulk NVMe but Optane and higher end NVMe you do not want the extra latency.

It is something the systems guys are dealing with now.

 

[PigLover]

I agree - the amfelec part is not worth it at that price. Needs to be a $15-20 part. As @Partrick said, its pretty much just a riser card.

 

[Waldek]

61.90 USD for the Amfeltec x4 board sounds like a steal when you compare it to its EU price of just 148.92 British Pounds

Squid PCIe x4 Carrier Board for one x M.2 SSD Module (Gen 3)

 

[Laszlo]

I'm also looking for an adapter, mostly on Ebay, and there are a lot of options, but not sure how reliable they are. There are many cheap chinese ones, but on these I guess the supply voltage is simply "generated" with resitances (I don't really know, I'm not an electrical engineer.) These two Patrick has listed seems to be more sophisticated. The one I'm currently thinking about is this one:

HP Z Turbo G2 PCIe 4x to M.2 NVMe SSD Adapter w/ Heatsink & Thermal Pad | eBay

However, It appears as it only accepts sizes up to 2280.

I you have any toughts please let me know.

 

[larryexchange]

I ordered two Amfeltec M.2 carrier boards. Yes, they're expensive but seems there is no better option right now. There are two PCIe slots in my SYS-E300-8D. With those boards I could install 3 NVMe drives in my mini Azure Stack.

 

[Havs]

I'm looking for one that's ESXI friendly. I tried Amazon.com: Mailiya M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter - Support M.2 PCIe 2280, 2260, 2242, 2230: Computers & Accessories but 6.5 wouldn't recognize it. While passthrough would be a positive, I'll settle for provisioning it as a VMFS.

 

[mmk]

Can't really comment about the VMware side, but I purchased a couple of these:

up to 3300M/s PCI-E 4X for M.2 SSD ADAPTER SM961 SM951 950Pro Cooling Baffle x 2 | eBay

and they work like a charm on Linux. They also came with both high and low profile brackets.

 

[Savant]

What kind of performance are you seeing with the drives? Are you running into any thermel issues?

 

[Patrick]

What kind of performance are you seeing with the drives? Are you running into any thermel issues?

Usually, have very good cooling in my chassis so no thermal issues and normal speeds.

 

[mmk]

What kind of performance are you seeing with the drives? Are you running into any thermel issues?

Even at the silly 256GB size the performance of that pictured SM961 is on a completely different level than SATA drives. Also installed a m.2 heatsink from 'ekweb' on this one, and it dropped the idle temperatures by about 8C (now around 31-33C depending on ambient). That was more of an experiment than a need, but it's a cheap enough solution to put on all of them IMHO.