Discussion I figured out how to get 10GbE from an M.2 port!

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
553
282
For Mini PCIe there have been networking solutions like the Sybe SD-MPE24031 or the Innodisk EMPL-G201 which contained the Ethernet circuitry on a Mini PCIe card and used a proprietary cable to the RJ45 socket typically mounted on a PCI bracket.

From time to time people have been wondering whether similar is possible for M.2 and 10GbE but no ready made solutions seem to be available.

Especially with the availability of a low profile quad M.2 carrier from JEYI and the spread of the necessary bifurcation support to high end consumer motherboards especially on the AMD side, this question is more pertinent than ever: if I have an M.2 slot, how could I get 10GbE networking?

You need an M.2 to Oculink adapter for eg Amazon B07KX87V61, Delock 64040 etc etc and then a HP 1QL49AA will add two 10 GbE ports. The circuitry is now at the RJ45 sockets, not on the M.2 card itself which is just as well because of height and heat concerns.

As an aside, the OCuLink connector can be used to run a PCIe riser to normally unheard of lengths: Amazon item B07NY4S5CS is an OCuLink to PCIE SFF-8639 1M long cable and Micro SATA Cables sells a U.2 (SFF-8639) to PCI-e x4 Adapter.

Another solution to the "let's add 10GbE to ITX" problem could be the Synology E10M20-T1 card which uses a ASM2824 PCIe switch IC to drive a 10GbE port and two x4 NVMe slots from a single PCIe 3.0 x8 port.

Finally let me point out this weird quad SFP+ 10GbE adapter http://www.armortec.net/products/nic-and-ipmi/NIC/2018/0727/157.html it's a physical x8 but it's oriented differently than a normal x8 card and it's 107mm x 85mm.

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alitech

Caliper Novice
Jan 7, 2021
31
6
interesting post. I would like to learn more. How did you get along with this research. Did you see it through?