Greetings!
On the heels of several L1T videos about various PCIe adapters and whatnot, I find myself looking for a seemingly simple, but also seemingly unobtainable PCIe adapter.
I wanted to inquire with the fine folks on these forums to ask if anyone is aware of an adapter that does what I’m looking for.
I have a need to install 2x M.2 SSDs into a 1U server that lacks any integrated M.2 slots, and the only ‘kosher’ expansion slot provided by the chassis is already occupied with a 10G NIC that I want to keep. I have one free 8x slot that is exposed and supports 4x4 bifurcation, but anything I’d install into it must be low-profile enough to stick straight off the board without exceeding the 1U height of the chassis.
I found an adapter on eBay (search term at bottom of post) that is essentially what I’m looking for, except I need one that has 2x M.2 slots on the front and back sides (this one is just a single). I have a couple of double-sided x16 to quad 4x4x4x4 M.2 cards, but these are obviously too tall to fit in the chassis, and I only have an x8 slot anyway, so that’s a non-starter.
Any leads or other ideas would be most welcome.
(ebay search: “M.2 NVMe SSD to PCI-E 3.0 X16/X8/X4 Adapter for 1U/2U Server Low Profile PC”)
EDIT: Got permission for links, here’s an example adapter:
Wrong site. Try Aliexpress. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005356564948.html
This has the full height bracket, I’m aware there are low height (2U compatible) units too. Or swap out the full for a generic low height bracket.
Thanks for the response, AliExpress isn’t a bad idea for additional searching, I’ll need to dig around over there some more.
You’ve hit precisely on the frustration too, there’s a zillion low-profile cards that can fit 2x M.2 drives, but they’re always stacked tall instead of back-to-back.
This is definitely a niche use-case (I’m trying to have my cake and eat it too), but I’m looking for a lower-than-low profile adapter. I was encouraged to see that there are 1x M.2 super low profile adapters that seem designed to fit upright in 1U servers, but I haven’t been able to find any that sandwich 2x M.2 into a similar form-factor.
Typically yes. I’m using a SuperMicro ‘Super Server’ which already has a 90-degree PCIe riser for the single x16 slot built into the chassis, and that slot is populated with a 10G NIC already.
Just above that x16 slot on the board is an exposed x8 slot which has just enough room to squeeze a couple of M.2 drives in, as long as the adapter card is short enough. It can stick straight out of the board without a 90-degree adapter, as long as the height of the adapter is really short so as not to interfere with the top of the chassis.
There are some adapters I found on eBay that are close, but only include 1x M.2 slot. (I’m looking for 2, sandwiched in some way, either stacked, or back-to-back on either side of the card)
I’ve tried to put a link to eBay in my original post, and here, but perhaps I’m not vetted enough to let the Forum take URLs, it’s just giving me an error.
EDIT, got permission for links, here’s an example adapter:
Thinking out of the box here: could you use an adapter from PCIe to twin USB3 cable, then another adapter for M.2 and house that somewhere else in the chassis? Alternatively, the SFF standards have suitable connectors already. Search for SFF8087, SFF8654-8 and others on Aliexpress. You never know!
(newbees can’t post links, that privilege comes as you progress through the “ranks” with more posts to your name. Anti-spam stuff, useful and justified)
When the elegant solution doesn’t exist, there’s always a janky solution
Unfortunately I’m running out of ‘other places’ in the chassis to hide things lol. I’ve already got some extra 2.5" SSDs occupying a random void in the cooling fan area.
I was hoping it wouldn’t come to it, but I do have some space behind CPU 0 near the free x8 slot. I could feasibly get an x8 riser cable and lay it across the motherboard with a ‘normal’ x4x4 bifurcated M.2 card in that. (oof) But it’ll just be flopping around loose while its laying on the motherboard… Loose SSDs in the chassis are one thing, laying them on the motherboard directly just seems a step too far to me. Maybe some non-conductive isolation foam to keep things secure…
