Is there such a thing as a m.2 to PCIE adapter out there? I have looked far and wide and all I can find is this thing on Amazon https://a.co/d/dmsNo3j, but it seems a little sketchy to me.
Buddy let me introduce you to the wonderful world of AliExpress
Also ADT link is a solid brand to look for when shopping for weird adapters and risers
You have to be careful about scams, deceptive advertising but once you figure out the site
It’s a gold mine if deals
Here’s ADT links website
I recommend researching the specific angle and orientation of the adapter and noting the SKU number and searching for it
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In my experience, there are several options but they are hit & miss depending on what your use case is.
I have the 4 lane version of the item you listed, and noticed that sometimes it would only negociate at 1X or 2X.
I’m currently using this PCIE 3.0 m.2 adapter without issue with a PCIE Optane 905p:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07C79YLD9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Note that these adapters require additional 5V power as the m.2 port is limited to 7W
What do you want to connect?
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Of course, Why didn’t I think of that?! I should have guessed that AliExpress would have what I’m looking for.
Well, I’d like to add a HBA SAS controller card to my system. I’m looking at a PCIE 3.0 LSI 9207 card that is a x8, I think.
I will say that you’re only going to get 4X electrical out of a m.2 adapter, you would need a 4.0 4x to 3.0 8x with an expensive multiplexer
So probably only 4x, the card may or may not work at 4x and if it does you might see a performance impact if accessing all the drives simultaneously like a rad array would
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Okay, so basically I’d either be doing some serious trial and error getting the right adapter for the HBA card I’ve picked out, or just living with a performance hit.
Would it be better to find a HBA card that lanes up with one of the adapters?
Maybe, they also make m.2 SATA cards so they might make m.2 sads cards
Curious what’s the Mobo it’s going in and all the other cards
The closest I’ve gotten is an SATA controller with a multi-device SAS connector. An SAS controller on an M.2 stick might not exist.
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It’s a Erying 11800H CPU and Motherboard combo off AliExpress. There’s only two PCIE slots, one is a 4.0 X16 and the other is a 2.0 x1, so the second PCIE is pretty worthless. It does have tow M.2, one at PCIE 4.0 and the other is 3.0
Oh I actually have that
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How serendipitous! What are you using yours for? I’m trying to set mine up as a NAS/home server, which is why I’d like to add an HBA.
I’m using mine for gaming mostly and a little bit of learning unreal
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Can vouch for the ADT link adapters, used one to adapt an m.2 slot to x8 for use with a 10gbit pcie adapter.
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Okay, so I’ve ordered the HBA and ADT link adapter, but it will be awhile before they are here for me to test. I’ll put everything together and report back for anyone who might have a similar use case.
I’m happy to report that the m.2 to PCIE adapter from ADT Link worked great for my use case! The HBA I got for my project is a LSI 9207-8i that runs 8 PCIE 3.0 lanes. I tested it with the onboard x16 slot on my motherboard and the m.2 adapter, both of which seemed to run the card with the same performance. I also snagged a A+E key m.2 that brakes out to a 2.5gb Ethernet. I’ll put together a build log once I have the rest of my parts in.
Thanks for the suggestions and help. I really appreciate it!!!
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@ Sirheroguy can you please share which exact adapter did you end up with and what is the length that is working for you ?
I am trying to do the same, but mine would require probably 25-30cm long adapter (to get from the top m.2 slot to an available spot under the motherboard so I can attach the LSI at the proper case bracket).
And since storage is important, I am not sure how to test/stress test a cable is not introducing PCIe errors along the line.
In general have no idea if PCIe standard can correct bit failures in case something goes wrong so the LSI can report errors and not consider the written data as “good”.
I enede up buying 2 adapters. One is a PCIE 4.0X16 30cm and the other was a PCIE 4.0X16 10cm. I tested both of them and they seemed to be working correctly, though I can’t say if there were any errors due to interference or other factors cause to be honest I don’t know how I would test for that.
Here are the links to what I got.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805389225130.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
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