Other PCIe X4 to M.2 (NGFF) Adapter Alternative?

Windfall

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At this (http://bplus.com.tw/ExtenderBoard/P4SM2.html) web page, they have a m.2 to pci x4 adapter, which I then plan to use with a pcie x4 to x16 adapter, so I can use Full sized GPU's with the ASrock mini-stx mobo. But the adapter costs $60, which is outrageous. Its a small piece of circuit board for heaven's sake. Is there an alternative? If not I may make it myself, but that may be hard.
 

Kmpkt

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You can find these on Amazon for much cheaper last I checked.
 

Thestarkiller32

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At this (http://bplus.com.tw/ExtenderBoard/P4SM2.html) web page, they have a m.2 to pci x4 adapter, which I then plan to use with a pcie x4 to x16 adapter, so I can use Full sized GPU's with the ASrock mini-stx mobo. But the adapter costs $60, which is outrageous. Its a small piece of circuit board for heaven's sake. Is there an alternative? If not I may make it myself, but that may be hard.
You could also DIY your solution by cuting the endpeace of the x4 adapter to fit it in.
 
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Thestarkiller32

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At this (http://bplus.com.tw/ExtenderBoard/P4SM2.html) web page, they have a m.2 to pci x4 adapter, which I then plan to use with a pcie x4 to x16 adapter, so I can use Full sized GPU's with the ASrock mini-stx mobo. But the adapter costs $60, which is outrageous. Its a small piece of circuit board for heaven's sake. Is there an alternative? If not I may make it myself, but that may be hard.




https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/328...Slot-Transfer-Card-Mining-m-2-Riser-with-sata

Thats some sort of mining solution that transfers the x4 link over a USB 3.0 Cable (PCIe 3.0 x1) to a seapred PCB that can be mounten anyware you wont

... and it costs like 10$
 
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Kmpkt

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You also lose like 20-30% or more of your performance by going to an x1 link.
 

Kmpkt

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Here's two for 16.99 with sexy white PCB! Seems to have generally favourable reviews from all of the miners that apparently use these.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074Z5YKXJ/?tag=theminutiae-20

9.99 for a single in classic green PCB

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WZY3LY/?tag=theminutiae-20

5.99 and the name of the company is Bee Easter which is pretty awesome

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WG56FV/?tag=theminutiae-20

Pretty much a bajillion options on Amazon and no need to consider a BPlus unit. An added bonus is that a lot of these face the GPU the right way (BPlus' unit for some reason orients the GPU to face the front I/O)

While I used to hate miners for driving up GPU prices, their driving down M.2 to PCIe x4 adapters kinda makes up for it, right?
 
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Thestarkiller32

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Aug 13, 2017
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Here's two for 16.99 with sexy white PCB! Seems to have generally favourable reviews from all of the miners that apparently use these.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074Z5YKXJ/?tag=theminutiae-20

9.99 for a single in classic green PCB

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WZY3LY/?tag=theminutiae-20

5.99 and the name of the company is Bee Easter which is pretty awesome

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WG56FV/?tag=theminutiae-20

Pretty much a bajillion options on Amazon and no need to consider a BPlus unit. An added bonus is that a lot of these face the GPU the right way (BPlus' unit for some reason orients the GPU to face the front I/O)

While I used to hate miners for driving up GPU prices, their driving down M.2 to PCIe x4 adapters kinda makes up for it, right?

The Slot-In are cheap AF :) ... it will come down to the orientation of that GPU

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NOT...id=8656e8b3-f7dc-4aea-baf5-1ade65af9ae2&tpp=1
 

Windfall

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ALright Thanks!!! So, Thestarkiller32, This one (https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32829...Slot-Transfer-Card-Mining-m-2-Riser-with-sata) Requires me to plug in BOTH a molex AND the 6-pin, or just one? I think that is the route I will take, Mainly because of the nice mounting holes in the PCB and no ribbon cables to deal with. But if it requires both the molex and the 6-pin, I may have to make my own cover and plug to have it look nice. There also seems to be another sataplug at the far end marked "power" and in the picture, they only have that plugged in. So does it just use one of the plugs?

Thanks, Windfall

Edit: I found it in the description. Only one is required. I also found another one with JUST the molex and USB, and it's a lot more clean. I'll probably go with it.


Edit #2: So, according to kmpt, I'll lose 20-30% of performance. Any way to bypass that, besides going with a normal adapter?
 
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Thestarkiller32

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ALright Thanks!!! So, Thestarkiller32, This one (https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32829...Slot-Transfer-Card-Mining-m-2-Riser-with-sata) Requires me to plug in BOTH a molex AND the 6-pin, or just one? I think that is the route I will take, Mainly because of the nice mounting holes in the PCB and no ribbon cables to deal with. But if it requires both the molex and the 6-pin, I may have to make my own cover and plug to have it look nice. There also seems to be another sataplug at the far end marked "power" and in the picture, they only have that plugged in. So does it just use one of the plugs?

Thanks, Windfall

Edit: I found it in the description. Only one is required. I also found another one with JUST the molex and USB, and it's a lot more clean. I'll probably go with it.


Edit #2: So, according to kmpt, I'll lose 20-30% of performance. Any way to bypass that, besides going with a normal adapter?
http://www.adtrp.com/index.php/photo/index/id/33.html

http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4C V4.1.html#Web-Shop
 

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Edit #2: So, according to kmpt, I'll lose 20-30% of performance. Any way to bypass that, besides going with a normal adapter?
No, IIRC the reason for the performance loss is because these types of adaptors only run at x1, not x4. Limitations of using a USB cable & connectors as your interconnect between the two cards IIRC.
 
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Windfall

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So, there is no way to avoid the performance loss using an adapter like this?
 

Kmpkt

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Anything that doesn't adapt to PCIe x4 M.2 is going to incur a pretty massive performance hit. Take a look at this classic review from TPU:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_PCI_Express_Scaling/24.html

as you can see, if PCIe x 16 gives 100% performance then PCIe x4 gives around 90-95% of the same performance, steadily improving at higher resolutions. PCIe 3.0 x1 on the other hand often incurs a 20-30% performance drop on the same tasks.
 

Thestarkiller32

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Aug 13, 2017
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At this (http://bplus.com.tw/ExtenderBoard/P4SM2.html) web page, they have a m.2 to pci x4 adapter, which I then plan to use with a pcie x4 to x16 adapter, so I can use Full sized GPU's with the ASrock mini-stx mobo. But the adapter costs $60, which is outrageous. Its a small piece of circuit board for heaven's sake. Is there an alternative? If not I may make it myself, but that may be hard.

Why did you wanth to go with m-STX in the first place?....



...i mean that all the graphicscards are a bit longer than the STX-Board


GPU: MSI AERO ITX 1070
http://tekeverything.com/msi-gtx-1070-aero-itx-review/
 
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Windfall

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Because. That's why. So how do the eGPU users get around the performance loss?
 

Thestarkiller32

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Because. That's why. So how do the eGPU users get around the performance loss?
By Laptops and all-in-ones, they use Thunderbolt 3 to an external Box, which houses the GPU... the problem is, that the boards do not have any Thunderbolt 3 compatible USB Type-C Ports... sure you could get an add-in Card ... but you would need a TB-Header on the board :/

And the Performance drop isn't that high because the Connections runs at PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds
 

Windfall

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So, using a u.2 card, and a board like that, would have minimal performance loss?