Hoping someone can point me in the right direction here. I’m looking to purchase a CM7-V (seems like a better choice than -R, as I’ll be using this for writing and reading large video asset files) for a new WRX90 TR PRO build. I’m assuming, based upon another similar post, that in order to connect the drive via its PCIe 5.0/NVMe 2.0 interface, that I would need an interface card. Those seem next to impossible to find, with the exception of this one: https://www.serialcables.com/product-category/gen5-u2-adapters/ (PCIe Gen5 x4 to U.2 Vertical Adapter)
Let’s say I went with the ASUS WRX90 board – is this interface card what I need to be able to use this drive, or is there a better solution? Does this require external power, or would this specific card just effectively be “plug-n-play”? None of this is very clear, even after reading the specifications.
For that matter, if there is a better solution altogether (drive and/or interface card) for super-fast PCIe 5.0 enterprise class storage, I’m open to suggestions.
Just buy more of PCIe 4.0 stuff. Gen5 is nice, but if you have the lanes, just get 2x PCIe4.0 drives instead of a single PCIe5 drive. I can get 2x Micron 7450 for the price of a CM7-V. And two drives are faster and have more capacity. You can’t compete against quantity when talking storage.
And about connecting U.3…MCIO is your on-board connector for Gen5 connectivity. You just need a proper cable (MCIO → SFF-8639) + SATA power. As this is all very new and mostly OEM stuff, YMMV.
There are reasonably priced pcie adapters in production now but not available yet. This adapter is so much because it was for qualifying gen5
I am using the cm7 on the Genoa ASRock rack board from the MCIo header with “normal” $100 mcio cables /flawlessly/
The $100 redriver cards serial cables sells also work with these drives if you explicitly set gen4 mode. Performance is nearly identical except for that top line read speed. The $100 driver card buys you 6 months for good gen5 options to come out that will also be circa $100
I am using a custom m.2 to sp38 gen5 redriver with the gen5 sp38 mcio cable and it works well with cables up to about 50cm