I recently got two 1.6Tb intel HHHL SSDs on order from a Chinese seller that I am looking to install in my HomeLab server. I have all the PCIe lanes currently occupied minus one x16 gen three slot (as pictured). I would like to bifurcate the x16 to x4x4x4x4 and install the cards elsewhere internally. Possibly leaving me with x4x4 for two NVME ssds or NIC’s etc.
The system I am running is a HP z440 with a Xeon E5-2698v3 (16c/32t), 128gb ECC DDR4, 4x500gb Sata SSDs for VM storage (insufficient), 120gb Sata SSD Proxmox boot drive. Top down PCIe: AMD FirePro W4100 for display (installed in a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot), empty x16, 4x 1Gbe Broadcom NIC, LSI 9200-16e HBA connected to a DAS with HDDs, Nvidia M40 for 2 Vgpu workstations/remote gaming pc’s. All PCIe devices are slot matched for generation and width.
While on my search i remembered the LTT video with the multiple editors on one workstation and went back to understand their solution. They seemed to use a SAS to PCIe x4 slot and installed the drives that way. I cannot seem to find that exact solution available for purchase.
The options that I have come up with:
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a 4 port U.2 bifurcation card along with the 4 cables and two of these Mini SAS HD to M.2 that would then require M.2 to PCIe x4 slot adapters too.
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Maxcloudon offers a similar approach with a breakout pcb on both ends but also comes with guarantees of functionality. Due to the high costs however, I would only consider the x8 to x4x4 riser and end up purchasing a X16 to X8X4X4 and grant me access to the other 8 lanes.
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I am considering a Hybrid of option 1 where i would get the bifurcation card and cables, and then design my own pcb’s with MINI SAS HD to PCIe x4 slots.
Option 1 on top, option 2 on bottom
Is there a simple solution that I am missing? I would like to retain full usage of all x16 lanes of the slot, because of the physical constraints I think a short riser is the best option for fitting all possible devices. These drives I got for very cheap prices, and so I would like to keep the application of them low cost as well. I’m open to other ideas!
