Two Network Cards in one SFF - HELP -?

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vingo

Member
Jun 26, 2022
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Looks like the 50XX/70XX series Optiplex SFF pcs have two slots:
16X slot
& X4 slot [30XX series only have a X1]

The idea is to have two quad port cards in one SFF Optiplex, the x4 slot is fine however the x16 slot is locked to GPU only I have read.

Found one post that covering a few of the pins allows for use of the x16 slot for a non-GPU.

Has or does anyone have solid information about this, I really like the idea of two network cards in an SFF.

Please let me know if you know the answer. Thank you.
 

Marsh

Moderator
May 12, 2013
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however the x16 slot is locked to GPU only I have read.
I have 4 x Dell 5060 Optiplex SFF with I5-8500 .
Each Dell have Intel P3605 1.6TB nvme SSD in the x16 slot ,
x4 slot have either 10g or 2.5g network card.

I would assumed network card would work in x16 slot

add
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Intel Corporation PCIe Data Center SSD (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
Subsystem: Oracle/SUN PCIe Data Center SSD

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 04)
 

vingo

Member
Jun 26, 2022
46
1
8
I have 4 x Dell 5060 Optiplex SFF with I5-8500 .
Each Dell have Intel P3605 1.6TB nvme SSD in the x16 slot ,
x4 slot have either 10g or 2.5g network card.

I would assumed network card would work in x16 slot

add
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Intel Corporation PCIe Data Center SSD (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
Subsystem: Oracle/SUN PCIe Data Center SSD

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 04)

Uhhh having trouble decoding what you mean by "
add
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Intel Corporation PCIe Data Center SSD (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
Subsystem: Oracle/SUN PCIe Data Center SSD

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 04)"

Do you mean it is possible to have a two functioning cards one in x16 and another in the x4 ?
 

vingo

Member
Jun 26, 2022
46
1
8
What, really why was I reading that only GPUs are permitted in x16 slot and it will not boot if an interface card is in there?
Did you have to tape pins or do anything special to make it work?

Reference:
 
Last edited:

Marsh

Moderator
May 12, 2013
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Ok, I pull one of the Dell 5060 SFF machine out of the cluster

Install 10G network card in x 16 slot, boot Windows 10 , run hwinfo to capture the config.

hwinfo show PCI Express x16 Bus #1 detected Intel 82599 10 Gigabit network card
 

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Marsh

Moderator
May 12, 2013
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I plug in a dual port Intel 1gbe network card in x16 slot , Windows 10 found the dual port network card.