I am looking for options to add a 10Gbe SFP+ network port to the Odyssey X86J4105, if feasible.
I use the Odyssey as a network device. I would like to add a SFP+ port in order to establish a 10Gb/s network connection with an uplink device.
I could easily find 10Gbe SFP+ adapters that can be connected on Thunderbolt 3 (QNAP or Sonnet), but unfortunately, Odyssey X86J4105 seems to have a USB 3.1 Type C port, and not a Thunderbolt 3 one. I could not find USB 3.1 options (although USB 3.1 supposedly offers 10Gb/s bandwidth).
I also found a lot of PCIE-based 10Gbe SFP+ cards, but I can’t confirm if it’s possible and how to connect them to the Odyssey. Most cards requires PCIE 3.0 16x connections, and I guess it would be possible to make a PCIE 16x slot out of the Odyssey M.2 key M connector with an extension/riser cable, BUT it seems that Odyssey offers PCIE 2.0 4x only through M.2 connector, which would amount to a maximum 2 Gb/s bandwidth (not enough for a theoretical 10Gbe network connection), and I’m not even sure such PCIE connection is feasible.
So, do anyone know if it’s feasible (and how) to add a 10Gbe SFP+ port to the Odyssey?
Yes you are right, it seems M.2 M key would be providing enough bandwidth through PCIE 2.0 4X, I probably read “bits” instead of “bytes” in PCIE specs tables.
After having explored this option:
I found some PCIE 3.0 4x 10Gbe SFP+ cards on the market, and slotting them through a “riser” cable in a PCIE 2.0 4x M.2 M key should be OK,
I found some M.2 M key to PCIE 3.0 4x riser cables, but it seems they need an additional 12V power source. Most of them would have it plug through 4 male pins simple connector.
Would you have any M.2 M key riser cables to PCIE 4x, 8x or 16x to recommend?
Would it be possible to give the riser cable PCIE connector some power from the “SATA III power” connectors on the Odyssey (as I can’t find any other integrated power source, others single pins from GPIO connectors and so on the board only provide 3.3 or 5V) ? If so, what kind of cable could I use ?
I have seen an entry in Wiki with a walkthrough to connect a PCIE 16x GPU, and the riser cable is powered through a DIY 12V transformer source, but this seems way too much dirty to me (+ needs an additional power supply), so I would prefer using “SATA III power” connectors on board if possible.
You can source one from Amazon and modify the power cable connect to the Odyssey sata power connector. The power connector can provide 12V/1.5A. You can follow the SATA power pin assign printed behind the connector.
OK, thanks a lot.
Any reference to specific connectors items that I can buy would be appreciated, cause AFAIK, the only product that sell the correct connector to Odyssey “SATA III power” male plugs are out of stock at seeed studio.
Ideally, an existing cable from such SATA III connector to 4 pins as found in PCIE risers.
Otherwise, that would still be a DIY cable option, which is not very scalable.
I’ll give a try with a 10Gbe SFP+ adapter and report then.
Regards.
Bought a 10Gbe PCIe 2.0 8x adapter with SFP+ port.
Bought a M.2 key M to PCIe 3.0 16x riser on the Internetz, came delivered with a SATA III power male to 4 pins floppy-like connector cable, the latest being the PCIe 3.0 16x power source input factor.
Had a SATA III power female connector to mini-molex like “SATA III power” female connector, delivered with Odyssey board (or sold in your shop, but out of order for now). Had to give this one a bit of my saw, as it is coupled with a SATA III data connector; in order to keep the “power” part of the cable only and allow SATA male to correctly plugin in SATA female without messing with the male part (no pun intended).
Connected the PCIe riser-delivered SATA power male part to Odyssey-delivered (and saw-cut) SATA power female part, and checked the cables wirings, which were the same on both sides. This made me a 4-pins floppy-like female connector to “SATA III power” mini-molex like female connector, that could give power input from Odyssey board “SATA III power” connectors to PCIe riser directly, without any external power input.
Connected the 10Gbe adapter to PCIe riser slot, and PCIe riser M.2 end to Odyssey M.2 key M.
This worked like a charm.
So: yes you can, but your are limited to PCIe 2.0 4x max data-rate (which will be enough for a single-port 10Gbe PCIe adapter), and need to cut a connector cable to be able to easily make a power cable from one of 3 Odyssey’s “SATA III power” power slot to PCIe riser power plug.
M.2 to PCIe 4x adaptor and then 1x riser to 8x port of HP SFP+ NIC.
Yes the max speed is 500mb/s (1x 2.0) but it’s impossible to achieve more than that anyway.
I also have an other M.2 SATA SSD to the other port (500mb/s max) and a lot of USB drivers connected to a hub. Max write speed is around 250mb/s to the USB drives and I’m happy with that.
What I see now, is that you power the PCIe riser directly from the Odyssey. I didn’t know that you can draw 1.5A from these ports. Are you using the original 12v 2A PSU that came with the board?
I have a 18.5v 5A from a laptop but I’m not sure if the input range is 12-19v on the Odyssey.
@Bruce.Qin Can you confirm the voltage input range please?
@Bruce.Qin told: “The power connector can provide 12V/1.5A” earlier.
@cmosfxx Why would the “max speed” be “500Mb/s”? what would be the point of attempting a SFP+ connection in that case? I have more than that from Odyssey to Internet public Iperf3 servers.
I think Bytes and bits may have been confused somewhere; did you mean 500 MBytes/s instead of 500Mbits/s? Cause I would expect more than 500Mb/s with 1Gb links already
Theoretically, PCIe 2.0 4x is 5GT/s, so probably around 2GBytes/s, which should be more than enough to pass the 10Gbe (1,25 GBytes/s max expected raw throughput) through - in theory.
Then I don’t know about disks buses speeds on this platform, I do not use it to store or serve files; as far as I know best SSDs disks on PCIe 3.0 buses get to 3,5 GBytes/s reads, so I guess best disks on PCIe 2.0 could fill the 1,25GBytes/s bus rate? But yes, my uplink gives more than 5Gb/s; in theory as always
