Please help me find a PCIe card which takes 2x m.2 NVME drives

3080guy · 18 Feb 2021 at 20:23

I only have one spare PCIe slot.
This motherboard https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-A-PRO-MAX

Id like to buy a PCIe card which takes two or more m.2 NVME SSD cards, so I can buy an SSD card now and add another card later.

I have one NVME port on my mobo already, its a small card and has the OS installed, I want to leave that as it is.

Id like a fast PCIe card which takes more m.2 NVME drives.

What PCIe card is fast/reliable and takes 2 or more m.2 NVME drives?
Thanks for your help guys.

Journey · 18 Feb 2021 at 20:25

Here is one I used on a build for someone.

http://www.akasa.com.tw/search.php?seed=AK-PCCM2P-04

Had 2 drives installed from the start, been rock solid AFAIK, and is only about £30 from memory.

pc-guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 01:57

You won’t be able to run more than 1 m.2 drive off that PCIEx16 slot. That slot only has 4 lanes and doesn’t support bifurcation. So it won’t recognise more than 1 drive.

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:09

pc-guy said:
You won’t be able to run more than 1 m.2 drive off that PCIEx16 slot. That slot only has 4 lanes and doesn’t support bifurcation. So it won’t recognise more than 1 drive.

Journey said it worked on a build for someone (Thanks Journey).
Maybe I shouldnt buy it, in case it doesnt work.
Im not sure what to think or do (not knowlegable enough)

Journey · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:14

3080guy said:
Journey said it worked on a build for someone (Thanks Journey).
Maybe I shouldnt buy it, in case it doesnt work.
Im not sure what to think or do (not knowlegable enough)

In the board you linked the second port is only PCI-E 2.0 4x as pointed out, I'm not sure if I missed this or you edited it in later. Either way you can't do what you wanted with the card I linked.

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:31

Journey said:
In the board you linked the second port is only PCI-E 2.0 4x as pointed out, I'm not sure if I missed this or you edited it in later. Either way you can't do what you wanted with the card I linked.

Right, got it. Its my PCIe slot which creates the limitation. I didnt understand the comment as I didnt realise my PCIe slots were different.
Thats very helpful, thank you everyone.
Will I be able to achieve high speeds using only one NVME SSD on that second PCIe slot? ie, the 3500mb/s some cards advertise?

Journey · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:33

3080guy said:
Right, got it. Its my PCIe slot which creates the limitation. I didnt understand the comment as I didnt realise my PCIe slots were different.
Thats very helpful, thank you everyone.
Will I be able to achieve high speeds using only one NVME SSD on that second PCIe slot? ie, the 3500mb/s some cards advertise?

No the slot is limited to ~2000 MB/s

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:40

Journey said:
No the slot is limited to ~2000 MB/s

Thats also really helpful to know, cheers!

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:40

Can any sata drives run anywhere near that speed, 2000 MB/s?

Journey · 19 Feb 2021 at 12:42

3080guy said:
Can any sata drives run anywhere near that speed, 2000 MB/s?

SATA is capped at a theoretical 600 MB/s, but most drives manage 550MB/s at the most.

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 13:19

Journey said:
SATA is capped at a theoretical 600 MB/s, but most drives manage 550MB/s at the most.

Thanks. That explains why sata drives advertise those sorts of speeds. Those must be the top end speeds, like you say.

pc-guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 14:00

It’s got nothing to do with the bandwidth of the slot. It is to do if the BIOS supports pcie bifuraction so that multiple drives can be detected.

unfortunately your board doesn’t support it.

however if you want to expand SATA ports which your board should have 6 SATA already, you can get pcie raid card to work off that pcie slot to get additional SATA drives.

Journey · 19 Feb 2021 at 14:08

pc-guy said:
It’s got nothing to do with the bandwidth of the slot. It is to do if the BIOS supports pcie bifuraction so that multiple drives can be detected.

Well in this case it does, as the it is a physical 16x slot wired for 4x, and on PCI-E 2.0 which limits the performance to 4x 2.0 so ~ 2,000 MB/s.

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 14:52

Journey said:
Well in this case it does, as the it is a physical 16x slot wired for 4x, and on PCI-E 2.0 which limits the performance to 4x 2.0 so ~ 2,000 MB/s.

Thats really helpful, thanks for the info

3080guy · 19 Feb 2021 at 17:51

I read this
https://www.everythingusb.com/speed.html
After trying to find out what the fastest USB3 drive I could buy is, it seems that the 1000mb/s mark is about the top end, for SSD read speeds over usb, at the moment.

And the fastest way for me to upgrade storage is going to be 2000mb/s via my second, slower PCIe port.

Thanks for the help everyone.

pc-guy · 20 Feb 2021 at 14:59

Journey said:
Well in this case it does, as the it is a physical 16x slot wired for 4x, and on PCI-E 2.0 which limits the performance to 4x 2.0 so ~ 2,000 MB/s.

Even if the X16 slot is full speed PCIE4x4 or PCIE3x4. You can’t run 2 m.2 drives off it. There is no PCIE raid card that has hardware raid function on the PCIE card that can raid together 2 or more M.2 drives. So in order to have more than 1 M.2 drive in a single x16 slot, the Motherboard MUST have PCIE bifurcation function. Otherwise nothing will be detected.

@3080guy google PCIE Bifuraction multiple M.2 drives you will know what I am talking about straight away.

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboard...ds/Accessories/HYPER-M-2-X16-CARD-V2/techspec

Maximum number of M.2 SSD support will vary, depending on different CPU specs and PCIe bifurcation settings in different ASUS motherboards. Please see the FAQ link for further information:
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1037507

Journey · 20 Feb 2021 at 15:06

pc-guy said:
There is no PCIE raid card that has hardware raid function on the PCIE card that can raid together 2 or more M.2 drives

You are incorrect, I use them quite often in some workstation builds.

pc-guy · 20 Feb 2021 at 15:33

Journey said:
You are incorrect, I use them quite often in some workstation builds.

I think you will find that you are incorrect. M.2 raid needs CPU support on consumer grade motherboard which is what the OP and this thread is all about.

Journey · 20 Feb 2021 at 15:49

pc-guy said:
I think you will find that you are incorrect. M.2 raid needs CPU support on consumer grade motherboard which is what the OP and this thread is all about.

Sigh...

I actually use the things you are saying don't exist. Look up Sonnet or Highpoint NVMe M.2 raid expansion cards, even Dell and HPE offer them if you want OEM versions. These all have on-board RAID controller chips.

Birfucation needs motherboard support, we already established that much.

Not going to get off topic, at very best the OP can have a single M.2 in a pass through M.2 adapter card, which given the motherboard he has, and the slot available will run at PCI-E 2.0 speeds, and has 4x connection via the chipset.

pc-guy · 20 Feb 2021 at 16:09

Journey said:
Sigh...

I actually use the things you are saying don't exist. Look up Sonnet or Highpoint NVMe M.2 raid expansion cards, even Dell and HPE offer them if you want OEM versions. These all have on-board RAID controller chips.

Birfucation needs motherboard support, we already established that much.

Not going to get off topic, at very best the OP can have a single M.2 in a pass through M.2 adapter card, which given the motherboard he has, and the slot available will run at PCI-E 2.0 speeds, and has 4x connection via the chipset.

Are you mad. These cards more than 5 times the OP’s motherboard and over 3 times of an average consumer grade motherboard. Whatever pice card you linked in the first post with dual slot would never work in the OP’s motherboard. You said you have used it before which I doubt you have deployed it in a consumer motherboard as you don’t know a thing about bifurcation. You kept on insisting on it will work without even mentioning pcie bifurcation support.

You might know your enterprise gear but stop giving wrong advice to people.