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PCIe slots and adapters

Understanding the technical rules for PCIe adapters helps you correctly install and configure PCIe adapters in the system.

For the technical rules for PCIe adapters, see the following for details.

PCIe adapters supported for different models​

Table 1. PCIe adapters supported and their locations
Server rear viewSupported types and slot location


Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

  • 2 Slot 2: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

Riser 2 assembly

  • 3 Slot 3: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile



Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

  • 2 Slot 2: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), full-height

Note
One rear wall bracket must be installed next to the two PCIe slots.


Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

  • 2 Slot 2: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile



Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile



Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

Riser 2 assembly

  • 2 Slot 3: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile



Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile



Riser 1 assembly

  • 1 Slot 1: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile

Riser 2 assembly

  • 2 Slot 3: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), full-height



Riser 3 assembly:
  • 1 Slot 4: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), low-profile
    Note
    The cTDP supported by slot 4 is limited to 25W.
Riser 4 assembly

  • 2 Slot 5: PCIe x16 (x8, x4, x1), full-height

PCIe adapter installation rules and order​

When installing different types of PCIe adapters, refer to the following suggested installation priority:

Table 2. Recommended installation priority for different types of PCIe adapters
Installation priority
1. OCP module6. InfiniBand adapter
2. Custom form factor (CFF) internal HBA/RAID adapter7. Fiber channel adapter
3. Standard form factor (SFF) RAID adapter8. Network adapter
4. SFF internal HBA adapter9. External storage controller
5. GPU adapter10. COM port bracketnote
Note
When a COM port card is installed, it will occupy one PCIe slot (slot 3) and requires a low-profile riser bracket. See Rear riser card replacement for details about riser brackets.
When installing a specific PCIe adapter, refer to the following suggested slot installation priority:
Table 3. Recommended slot installation priority for PCIe adapters
Recommended slot installation priorityPCIe adaptersMaximum supported number
Must be installed in slot 1

SFF Internal RAID/HBA adapters

1
Slot 1 > Slot 2
M.2/7mm RAID adapters:

  • Raid 5350-8i for M.2/7MM SATA Enable

  • Raid 540-8i for M.2/7MM NVMe Enable

1
Slot 1 > Slot 3

  • InfiniBand adapters:

    • ThinkSystem Nvidia ConnectX-7 NDR OSFP400 1-port PCIe Gen5 x16 InfiniBand Adapter

    • ThinkSystem NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NDR200/HDR QSFP112 2-Port PCIe Gen5 x16 InfiniBand Adapter

  • GPU adapter: ThinkSystem NVIDIA L4 24GB PCIe Gen4 Passive GPU

2
Slot 1 > Slot 2> Slot 3

Network adapter: ThinkSystem Broadcom 57454 10GBASE-T 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

3
Slot 2> Slot 3

Network adapter: ThinkSystem Broadcom 57504 10/25GbE SFP28 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

2
Slot 5> Slot 1> Slot 2> Slot 3
  • Network adapters:

    • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57508 100GbE QSFP56 2-port PCIe 4 Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx 100GbE QSFP56 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem AMD X3522 10/25GbE DSFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter (Low Latency)

  • GPU adapters:

    • ThinkSystem NVIDIA A2 16GB PCIe Gen4 Passive GPU

    • ThinkSystem NVIDIA A2 16GB PCIe Gen4 Passive GPU w/o CEC

  • InfiniBand adapters:

    • Mellanox ConnectX-6 HDR100 IB/100GbE VPI 2-port x16 PCIe 3.0 HCA w/ Tall Bracket

    • ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 HDR/200GbE QSFP56 1-port PCIe 4 VPI Adapter

4
Slot 5> Slot 2> Slot 3

ThinkSystem Broadcom 57504 10/25GbE SFP28 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

2
Slot 5> Slot 4> Slot 1> Slot 2> Slot 3

  • Fiber channel adapters

  • External storage adapters

  • Network adapters:

    • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57416 10GBASE-T 2-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57414 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Broadcom 5719 1GbE RJ45 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Intel X710-T2L 10GBase-T 2-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Intel X710-T4L 10GBase-T 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Intel I350-T4 PCIe 1Gb 4-Port RJ45 Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA2 10/25GbE SFP28 2-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA4 10/25GbE SFP28 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

  • InfiniBand adapters: Mellanox ConnectX-6 HDR100 IB/100GbE VPI 1-port x16 PCIe 3.0 HCA w/ Tall Bracket

5
Note
  • For the low-profile + full-height configuration, the PCIe Ethernet adapters listed below cannot be installed on slot 1.

    • Lenovo ThinkSystem NetXtreme PCIe 1Gb 4-Port RJ45 Ethernet Adapter By Broadcom

    • Lenovo ThinkSystem I350-T4 PCIe 1Gb 4-Port RJ45 Ethernet Adapter By Intel

    • ThinkSystem Intel I350-T4 ML2 1Gb 4-Port RJ45 Ethernet Adapter

    • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57454 10GBASE-T 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57504 10/25GbE SFP28 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter can only be installed into the slot with a full-height riser bracket.

Note
Rules for RAID/HBA adapters:

  • RAID 940 series adapters require a RAID flash power module.

  • The RAID 940-8i or RAID 940-16i adapter supports Tri-mode. When Tri-mode is enabled, the server supports SAS, SATA and U.3 NVMe drives at the same time. NVMe drives are connected via a PCIe x1 link to the controller. To support Tri-mode with U.3 NVMe drives, U.3 x1 mode must be enabled for the selected drive slots on the backplane through the XCC Web GUI. Otherwise, the U.3 NVMe drives cannot be detected. For more information, see U.3 NVMe drive can be detected in NVMe connection, but cannot be detected in Tri-mode.

  • When Gen 3 M.2 backplane is installed, RAID 5350 or RAID 540 series are not supported.

  • The HBA 4350/440 adapters do not support the Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) management feature.

  • RAID arrays are not supported for SED or FIPS HDD/SSD drives. FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 is a U.S. government standard that describes the encryption and related security requirements for sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information technology (IT) products.  FIPS 140-2 defines four levels of security. SED are FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated drives.

Technical rules for mixing OCP/PCIe adapters with RAID/HBA adapters​

The OCP/PCIe adapters listed in the left column cannot be mixed with the RAID/HBA adapters listed in the right column.

OCP/PCIe adaptersRAID/HBA adapters

  • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA4 10/25GbE SFP28 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

  • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA4 10/25GbE SFP28 4-port OCP Ethernet Adapter

  • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA2 10/25GbE SFP28 2-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter

  • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA2 10/25GbE SFP28 2-Port OCP Ethernet Adapter

  • ThinkSystem 4350-8i SAS/SATA 12Gb HBA

  • ThinkSystem 4350-16i SAS/SATA 12Gb HBA

  • ThinkSystem RAID 5350-8i PCIe 12Gb Adapter

  • ThinkSystem RAID 5350-8i PCIe 12Gb Internal Adapter

  • ThinkSystem RAID 9350-8i 2GB Flash PCIe 12Gb Adapter

  • ThinkSystem RAID 9350-8i 2GB Flash PCIe 12Gb Internal Adapter

  • ThinkSystem RAID 9350-16i 4GB Flash PCIe 12Gb Internal Adapter

Technical rules for mixing PCIe adapters with processors​

When processors 9254, 9334, 9224, 9124, 9754 or 9734 are selected, Broadcom 5719 1GbE RJ45 4-port OCP Ethernet Adapter or Broadcom 5719 1GbE RJ45 4-port PCIE Ethernet Adapter cannot be installed.