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Hello everybody,
I was thinking of a crazy idea for a DIY project and I saw some similar projects with DIY PCIe bifurcation boards that I thought it would be a good place to post my idea for feedback.
My plan, IDK if it will even work, is to take a PCIe switch, like the Broadcom P411W-32P which can address up to 32 devices, and max it out with M.2 drives. My thinking is that I can make a backplane with 4 vertical M.2 slots and try to fit everything into one (probably two) 3.5" drive slot with some 3D printed parts and heat sinks. Each board would be connected to the switch with a x4 cable, like SFF-8643, or maybe Oculink. The SFF-8654-8i to 2×SFF-8643 cables seem to be pretty easy to come by. Do I need the UBM chip? Or can I just connect power and the PCIe lanes?
Realistically, I probably don't need 32 drives at the start, so my first iteration of the project, I would probably give each drive two lanes and go for one lane later if I really want that much density.
Does this sound like a reasonable project? Or even possible? I have never made anything like this before, so it will be interesting to learn about how to make PCBs for PCIe. Also money is not a problem. I could have bought a server motherboard and be happy with all the PCIe lanes, but I want to try this crazy project because it seems like it will be fun getting so much storage on a consumer platform.
I was thinking of a crazy idea for a DIY project and I saw some similar projects with DIY PCIe bifurcation boards that I thought it would be a good place to post my idea for feedback.
My plan, IDK if it will even work, is to take a PCIe switch, like the Broadcom P411W-32P which can address up to 32 devices, and max it out with M.2 drives. My thinking is that I can make a backplane with 4 vertical M.2 slots and try to fit everything into one (probably two) 3.5" drive slot with some 3D printed parts and heat sinks. Each board would be connected to the switch with a x4 cable, like SFF-8643, or maybe Oculink. The SFF-8654-8i to 2×SFF-8643 cables seem to be pretty easy to come by. Do I need the UBM chip? Or can I just connect power and the PCIe lanes?
Realistically, I probably don't need 32 drives at the start, so my first iteration of the project, I would probably give each drive two lanes and go for one lane later if I really want that much density.
Does this sound like a reasonable project? Or even possible? I have never made anything like this before, so it will be interesting to learn about how to make PCBs for PCIe. Also money is not a problem. I could have bought a server motherboard and be happy with all the PCIe lanes, but I want to try this crazy project because it seems like it will be fun getting so much storage on a consumer platform.