4 ms·
Lots of consumer motherboards don't have a lot of PCIe slots wider than x1 (which is not enough for 10GigE), but they often have multiple NVMe capable M.2 slots
by martijnvds 5y ago
Lots of consumer motherboards don't have a lot of PCIe slots wider than x1 (which is not enough for 10GigE), but they often have multiple NVMe capable M.2 slots, that this card would work with.
In my home server for instance, which is built on a consumer μATX board, the wider PCIe slots are filled with a GPU and HBA, which leaves no way to add 10GigE without spending a lot of money on a new motherboard and CPU - or finding a way to use the M.2 slot.
- AnthonyMouse 5y ago> Lots of consumer motherboards don't have a lot of PCIe slots wider than x1 (which is not enough for 10GigE) Isn't it enough given PCIe 4.0?
- martijnvds 5y agoIf they even exist, PCIe 4 10GbE cards are currently unaffordable (for home use).
- vladvasiliu 5y agoAs others have said, the card also has to be PCIe 4.0. On the used market, I mostly see PCIe 2.0, which means they need quite a lot of lanes. There's also the fact that people usually use "older" components to build home servers, and if I'm not mistaken, PCIe 4.0 is only supported in fairly recent CPUs, and with not that many lanes; whereas my desktop from circa 2012 comes with something like 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes.
- londons_explore 5y agoPort expanders are a thing... Unless you plan to be needing full bandwidth to your GPU at the same time as full network bandwidth, you shouldn't have issues. I never really understood why motherboards didn't spend a few extra dollars and make all ports 16x ports (switched), so that you can use full CPU bandwidth to any one device and not have to mess with different types of port for different devices.
- fomine3 5y agoBecause the switch (PLX) became too expensive by acquisition. Maybe there are cheaper alternatives for now? but is it support Gen4?
- t0mas88 5y agoFor a home server you probably don't need PCIe 16x for the GPU? If you even need a GPU at all?
- martijnvds 5y agoThe GPU is useful for quick on the fly transcoding of video. They only make x16 cards (or slow underpowered x1 ones). Putting the HBA in the second x16 ("electrically x8") slot makes both work at x8 speeds, as those lanes are "shared".