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PCIe slots and PCIe adapters

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

Note
For PCIe slot installation rules, see Slot configurations in Product Guide.

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 450W)
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.
  • ThinkSystem NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition 96GB PCIe Gen5 Passive GPU is limited to 450W when installed in this configuration.
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 450W)

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 DPU adapters 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)

ThinkSystem RAID 960W-32i PCIe Gen5 Adapter

15, 4, 35, 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 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 AMD X4522-PLUS 10/25GbE SFP28 2-port PCIe Low-Latency Ethernet Adapter(Generic FW)
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 5719 1GbE RJ45 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter
  • ThinkSystem Broadcom 57412 10GBASE-T 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 Intel E610-T4 10GBase-T 4-Port PCIe Ethernet Adapter(Generic FW)
  • ThinkSystem Intel E810-DA2 10/25GbE SFP28 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)

Omni-Path adapter
ThinkSystem Cornelis CN5000 Omni-Path 1-Port QSFP112 HFI SuperNIC (Generic FW)
Note
This adapter is supported only in configurations without NVIDIA NIC adapters.
4

5, 4, 3 (x16 lanes)

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