Discussion Low profile dual M.2 key M carrier for boards supporting bifurcation?

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
547
281
There are quad M.2 carriers aplenty but they are full height (they don't need to be but w/e). There are dual M.2 cards with PCIe switches for horrible prices. There are dual M.2 carriers with M+B slots. Now... the Holy Grail in this space would be a passive dual M.2 key M carrier ...
 

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
547
281
Gigabyte CMT-4032. Quite expensive and hard to get but it exists.
 

Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
Creator
Mar 6, 2016
2,800
3,650
J-hackcompany.com
Possible to get a batch made for relatively low cost. The issue for this as a retail product is because the customer service and all the hassle with bifurcation jacks up the price. What would be a $20 part is now $60 to deal with all the support tickets.
 

REVOCCASES

Shrink Ray Wielder
REVOCCASES
Silver Supporter
Apr 2, 2020
2,057
3,331
www.revoccases.com
how about this... Low Profile 4x M.2 PCIe 4x to PCIe 16x

 
  • Like
Reactions: chx

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
547
281
how about this... Low Profile 4x M.2 PCIe 4x to PCIe 16x

That's just sick. Very awesome, thanks. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000543227176.html if you don't want to struggle with taobao shipping. I will put this into the TB3 build we are discussing in email so I can put in a ton of cheap, small M.2 drives instead of forking out a lot of money for a 2TB one... I didn't want to use a full height card because it'd block my precious airflow. (And if indeed the system needs a video card to boot from, using an ADT m.2 to x4 riser is not a biggie, your case has two slots, last I checked.) Crazy PSU, crazy cooling, crazy disk array. Totes my machine :D

As an aside, these JEYI guys are nifty, their Thunderbolt dock is seriously the smallest in its class (charging and chaining dock) and yet it houses an M.2 disk https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000958600017.html
 
Last edited:

REVOCCASES

Shrink Ray Wielder
REVOCCASES
Silver Supporter
Apr 2, 2020
2,057
3,331
www.revoccases.com
That's just sick. Very awesome, thanks. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000990959342.html if you don't want to struggle with taobao shipping. I will put this into the TB3 build we are discussing in email so I can put in a ton of cheap, small M.2 drives instead of forking out a lot of money for a 2TB one... I didn't want to use a full height card because it'd block my precious airflow. (And if indeed the system needs a video card to boot from, using an ADT m.2 to x4 riser is not a biggie, your case has two slots, last I checked.)

Guess this would also work nice with their new iExtra eGPU. The update version supports multiple PCIe 4x inputs. So you won't have the TB3 performance loss.

That's the old version but I have the new one at home.


Unfortunately your case is already on the way, else I could have put the cards in the box for you. It's way cheaper here in China.
 
Last edited:

REVOCCASES

Shrink Ray Wielder
REVOCCASES
Silver Supporter
Apr 2, 2020
2,057
3,331
www.revoccases.com
Oh well. It's cheap enough for me , thanks :) And my eGPU is not just an enclosure, it's a graphics card as well: https://www.galax.com/en/galax-snpr-external-graphics.html so I am sticking to TB3 for now.

? cool, didn't know of that nice little eGPU

Guess it's even smaller then mine eGPU enclosure...

 

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
547
281
You can't beat Galax at its own game when they make the video card :) it's shorter than a normal desktop card. And of course the selection is beyond limited: there's the 1060 version and that's it. And it's been out of production for years and it never was available widely. I got lucky: I paid €209.98 EUR for the thing end of 2018 plus package forwarder costs but still it was an absolute steal.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: REVOCCASES

REVOCCASES

Shrink Ray Wielder
REVOCCASES
Silver Supporter
Apr 2, 2020
2,057
3,331
www.revoccases.com
just to show you the new JEYI M.2 to PCIe16x adapter...

they really make some cool products for almost every (niche) application.

 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
2,233
2,556
  • Like
Reactions: REVOCCASES

chx

Master of Cramming
Original poster
May 18, 2016
547
281
Also notable are the ANU24PE08 and ANU28PE16 cards both of which come with low profile brackets and despite sporting a PLX PCIe switch IC they only cost 63 USD for an x8 to quad U.2 and 112 USD for an x16 to eight U.2 port card.



You can then use https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000071901714.html as a cheap NVMe carrier. Yes, this takes more space :/ but hey. It's also possible to use U.2 to x4 risers just in case you need eight cards in your ITX system :p