PCIe bifurcation to split an x16 or x8 slot into multiple x4 channels: allows PCIe adapters with multiple NVMe cars
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/03/07
It looks like some X9 and X10 Supermicro boards already support PCIe bifurcation (splitting of PCIe slots into multiple channels), which might be worth a try to upgrade some of my older rigs to use NVMe instead of SATA storage as it will allow me to use adapters that support multiple NVMe devices into a single PCIe slot.
The X9 motherboards uses an LGA 2011-R socket, and the X10 motherboards an LGA 2011-R3 sockets.
Both use chipsets not being that different: the X9 uses the C600 series (which are similar to the X79 consumer series), and the X10 uses the C610 series (which are similar to the X99 consumer series).
This is what I found out about the bifurcation support for my boards:
- [Archive.is] m.2 PCIe adapter in Supermicro x9 motherboards? | ServeTheHome Forums (pictures requires a forum account):
X9SRi-F, BIOS 3.3 has pcie bifurcation settings available.
Tested with AOC-SLG3-2M2 and 2xPM963
Drives appeared in Ubuntupics attached
- [Wayback] m.2 PCIe adapter in Supermicro x9 motherboards? | ServeTheHome Forums did get the ASUS Hyper M2 x4 to work on an X9DRi based motherboard.
- [Wayback] FAQ Entry | Online Support | Support – Super Micro Computer, Inc.: Where do I change the PCIe bifurcation BIOS settings in X10SRI-F BIOS 2.0b?
- [Wayback] PCIe Bifurcation – What is it? How to enable? Optimal Configurations and use cases for NVMe SDDs/GPUs – Virtualization Blogs – Primarily focusing on VMware NSX which explains all the steps including BIOS settings and which slots to use for what.
- [Wayback/Archive.is] AOC-SLG3-2M2 | Add-on Cards | Accessories | Products – Super Micro Computer, Inc. requires bifurcation of one x8 slot into x4x4, and lists both the X10SRH-CF and X10SRH-CLN4F boards as supported (but no X9SRi boards).
- [Wayback] X10SRH-CLN4F | Motherboards | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc. allows bifurcation and is sufficiently similar to my X10SRH-CF board to try this.
- [Archive.is] Supermicro X10/X11 Idiosyncrasies also explains which slots, and explain quite a few other strange things on these boards: since the boards do not have x16, these ASUS cards are of no use
- [Wayback] x10 Bifurcation support | ServeTheHome Forums explains how to use the block diagrams and BIOS settings in the manual to route the CPU configuration to the ports.
- [Archive.is] 4x NVMe drives on single PCI-e expansion card….. (UPDATE, IT WORKS!) – Page 2 – Hardware – Unraid
- [Wayback/Archive.is] Imgur: The magic of the Internet X9 BIOS settings to get the x4x4x4x4 working.
- [Archive.is] Options for dual NVMe M.2 22110 to PCI-e card : homelab got this working on X10 dual CPU boards:
- [Wayback/Archive.is] PCI-e bifurcation explained – Don’s Blog explains bifurcation with board images and BIOS settings referring to this board:
References:
- NVM Express – Wikipedia
- PCI Express – Wikipedia
- LGA 2011 – Wikipedia (plus the chipsets and supported processors)
- Intel X79 – Wikipedia
- Intel X99 – Wikipedia
- [Wayback] Intel C600 Chipset Family – Intel Xeon E5-2600: Doing Damage With Two Eight-Core CPUs | Tom’s Hardware
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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