3 ms·

Is Threadripper the first CPU that can support 2+ NVME (m.2) cards due to all of the PCI lanes it has?

• vetinari 9y ago
  Intel 7900X with an X299 board can do that too, with UEFI-level RAID on top of that (might be important for Windows users, not important at all for Linux users).
• tiffanyh 9y ago
  I'm going to answer my on question. From TFA: "With Threadripper, you can run two graphics cards at X16 PCIe speeds, two at X8, and still have enough lanes left over for three X4 NVMe SSDs connected directly to the CPU." https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/08/amd-threadripper-review-1950x-1920x/ https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/08/amd-threadripper-r...
  • noir_lord 9y ago
    Good god. So you can stick four high end cards in with 3 X4's... That would be an absolute monster for GPU workloads.
    • paulmd 9y ago
      Threadripper is an enthusiast/workstation SKU. If you really want to go nuclear, Epyc gets you 128 lanes. Boom. (Also note that Threadripper is only 60 lanes, the other 4 go to the PCH, so the most you could do is x16x16x16x12. I'm unsure if Epyc gives you a real 128 or whether it's actually 120 or something.)
      • noir_lord 9y ago
        Next up, 512 lanes should be enough for anybody ;).
• caleblloyd 9y ago
  Most PCIE NVME SSDs use 4 lanes right now. So theoretically CPUs could support (total PCIE lanes / 4). It usually boils down to motherboard configuration or add-on card support for how many you can practically get in a system though.
  • gonzo 9y ago
    The only m.2 with PCIe x4 is the 'M' key. Everything else is max 2.
    • loeg 9y ago
      That's what NVMe SSDs use.
• shubb 9y ago
  The other cool thing is, (given that these will end up in a lot of servers) - instead of graphics card, read CUDA card.