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PCIe slots and PCIe adapters

PCIe adapters must be installed in a specific order in your server.

Rear PCIe slots​

Rear PCIe slots: Riser assembly 2 (Slot 3 to Slot 5) and Riser assembly 3 (Slot 6 to Slot 8) support one of the following combinations:
  • With 3 riser cards: x8/x16/x16
    • Slot 3 or Slot 6: PCIe Gen5 x8, FH/FL
    • Slot 4 or Slot 7: PCIe Gen5 x16, FH/FL
    • Slot 5 or Slot 8: PCIe Gen5 x16, FH/HL
  • With 2 riser cards: x16/x16
    • Slot 3 or Slot 6: PCIe Gen5 x16, FH/FL
    • Slot 4 or Slot 7: PCIe Gen5 x16, FH/FL
    • Slot 5 or Slot 8: Not applicable

Front PCIe slots​

See Front view for the location of front PCIe slots.

Table 1. x8/x8/x8/x8 configuration
Riser assembly 6 (CPU 2)Riser assembly 7 (CPU 1)
Slot 16: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FLSlot 20: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FL
Slot 17: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FLSlot 21: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FL
Slot 18: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FLSlot 22: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FL
Slot 19: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FLSlot 23: PCIe Gen5, x8, FH/FL
  • With one processor installed: Slot 20, 21, 22, 23 are supported.
  • With two processors installed:
    • 4-slot configuration: Slot 16, 18, 20, 22 are supported.
    • 8-slot configuration: Slot 16 to Slot 23 are supported.
Table 2. x16/x16 configuration (supporting DW GPU adapters up to 400W)
Riser assembly 6 (CPU 2)Riser assembly 7 (CPU 1)
Slot 16: Not applicableSlot 20: Not applicable
Slot 17: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FLSlot 21: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FL
Slot 18: Not applicableSlot 22: Not applicable
Slot 19: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FLSlot 23: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FL
  • With one processor installed: Slot 21 and Slot 23 are supported.
  • With two processors installed: Slot 17, 19, 21, 23 are supported.
Table 3. Front high watts GPU adapter (up to 600W) configuration
Riser assembly 6Riser assembly 7
Riser cage onlySlot 20: Not applicable
Slot 21: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FL
Slot 22: Not applicable
Slot 23: PCIe Gen5, x16, FH/FL

Supported riser cards​

Table 4. Riser cards in rear riser assemblies
SlotWith 3 riser cards: x8/x16/x16With 2 riser cards: x16/x16
Slot 3 / Slot 6Cable riser card, Gen5 x8, 350 mmCable riser card for Slot 3&6, Gen5 x16, 300 mm
Slot 4 / Slot 7Cable riser card, Gen5 x16, 300 mmCable riser card for Slot 4&7, Gen5 x16, 300 mm
Slot 5 / Slot 8Rigid riser card-
Cable riser card for Slot 3&6, Gen5 x16, 300 mmCable riser card for Slot 4&7, Gen5 x16, 300 mm




Table 5. Riser cards in front riser assemblies
Slotx8/x8/x8/x8x16/x16Front high watts GPU adapter
Slot 16/ Slot 20Cable riser card, Gen5 x8, 550/470 mm--
Slot 17/ Slot 21Cable riser card, Gen5 x8, 550/470 mmCable riser card, Gen5 x16, 550/450 mmSlot 21: Cable riser card, Gen5 x16, 550/450 mm
Slot 18/ Slot 22Cable riser card, Gen5 x8, 550/1000 mm--
Slot 19/ Slot 23Cable riser card, Gen5 x8, 550/1000 mmCable riser card, Gen5 x16, 550/450 mmSlot 23: Cable riser card, Gen5 x16, 550/450 mm

PCIe adapter installation rules and order​

ComponentMaximum quantityPCIe slot priorities
With one processor installedWith two processors installed
GPU adapter

DW GPU (up to 400W)

4

21, 23

17, 21, 19, 23

High watts DW GPU (up to 600W)

2

21, 23

21, 23

SW GPU

8
  1. x16 slots: 21, 23
  2. x8 slots: 20, 21, 22, 23
  1. x16 slots: 17, 21, 19, 23
  2. x8 slots: 16, 20, 18, 22, 17, 21, 19, 23
Data processing unit (DPU)

DPU

Note
The ambient temperature and PCIe slot priority for ThinkSystem NVIDIA BlueField-3 B3220 VPI QSFP112 2P 200G PCIe Gen5 x16 Adapter vary by configuration. See Thermal rules for details.
2

4, 3(x16 lanes), 5

4, 7, 3(x16 lanes), 6(x16 lanes), 5, 8

RAID adapter/HBA

8i/16i RAID adapter/HBA

1
  • Slot 3 with x8 lanes: 3, 5, 4
  • Slot 3 with x16 lanes: 5, 4, 3

3 (x8 lanes), 6 (x8 lanes), 5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

ThinkSystem RAID 940-8e 4GB Flash PCIe Gen4 12Gb Adapter

4
  • Slot 3 with x8 lanes: 3, 5, 4
  • Slot 3 with x16 lanes: 5, 4, 3

3 (x8 lanes), 6 (x8 lanes), 5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

ThinkSystem 440-16e SAS/SATA PCIe Gen4 12Gb HBA

6
  • Slot 3 with x8 lanes: 3, 5, 4
  • Slot 3 with x16 lanes: 5, 4, 3

3 (x8 lanes), 6 (x8 lanes), 5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

NIC adapter

  • ThinkSystem Nvidia ConnectX-7 10/25GbE SFP28 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter(Generic)

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

  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57412 10GBASE-T 4-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57508 100GbE QSFP56 2-port PCIe 4 Ethernet Adapter V2
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57608 2x200/1x400GbE QSFP112 PCIe Ethernet Adapter
  • ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx 100GbE QSFP56 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
4

5, 4, 3 (x16 lanes)

5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 5719 1GbE RJ45 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57414 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter V2
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57416 10GBASE-T 2-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
  • ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
6
  • Slot 3 with x8 lanes: 3, 5, 4
  • Slot 3 with x16 lanes: 5, 4, 3

3 (x8 lanes), 6 (x8 lanes), 5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

Fibre channel adapter

Fibre channel adapter

6
  • Slot 3 with x8 lanes: 3, 5, 4
  • Slot 3 with x16 lanes: 5, 4, 3

3 (x8 lanes), 6 (x8 lanes), 5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)

InfiniBand (IB)/VPI adapter
InfiniBand (IB) adapter with aux cable
Note

When adding the ConnectX-8 adapter and auxiliary cable for the first time, follow the instructions in Configuring the NVIDIA ConnectX-8 Adapter and Auxiliary Cable on ThinkSystem Servers to enable the Gen 5 x32 host connection.

For routing of the auxiliary cable, see Internal cable routing.

255, 7
  • VPI adapter without aux cable
  • InfiniBand (IB) adapter without aux cable
4

5, 4, 3 (x16 lanes)

5, 8, 4, 7, 3 (x16 lanes), 6 (x16 lanes)