Running Quad NVMe Adapter with Z820 Workstation

[mr_projects]

I currently have a Z820 Workstation (Gen 1), and I would like to add four M2 cards to my workstation in the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot using a Quad NVme adapter.

To be installed like this:

Slot 1:  512GB samsung pro 950 to boot Windows 10 
Slot2-4: 3x 2TB Samsung 970 EVO on Raid 1 or as seperate drives

Using either of these:

• https://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/product.asp?Model=ULTRA%20QUAD%20M.2%20CARD
• http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7102-overview.htm
• https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/aplicata-m.2-nvme-ssd-adapter,5201.html
• https://www.amazon.com/ADWITS-Adapter-Supports-Bifurcation-Compatible/dp/B07KFX8287/ref=sr_1_14?keyw...
• https://amfeltec.com/products/pci-express-gen-3-carrier-board-for-m-2-ssd/

So I would like to know please:

Which from the above cards is compatibile with my workstation?  Has anyone managed to get Quad M2's running in thier Z820 ? Would love to know an answer please.

Best.

Ahmad

[DGroves]

the z820 does not support intel's "VROC" virtual raid

the highpoint card should work, (contact highpoint) but are you aware of the cost?

the z820 does not support bifurcation as a bios option, so you can not use any of those cards such as the ones from Aplicata Technologies 

i'm going to stop here because it appears you have not taken the time to actually research each product your self?

if you  read the white pages or device descriptions on each product you could have elimitated most of the cards in question yourself

last, i will point out that the z820 supports up to four of the HP  " turbo Z" cards, so you might want to check that option

[mr_projects]

Thanks DGroves, I don't know about the bifurcation when looking at the options, so I don't know what would work or not hence my post and question.

Regarding the HP turbo cards, physcially there isn't space for four x4 cars in my workstation, so how can I do that.

I have contacted Highpoint, but they said the following:

The Samsung 950 has been tested and we found that it was not compatible with our products because the NVMe requires to support UEFI. 

So my requirment is to have boot + run raid or seperate drives with a single PCI card on x16 .. I still didn't find a good option or what to look for I'm lost ..

[DGroves]

bifurcation, is a feature found on some newer motherboards (and requireds chipset and bios support) it allows you to split a existing x16 pci-e slot into two x8  (or a x8 slot into two x4 slots) for more info google is your friend!!!

Highpoints reply is simply stating that their card requires a motherboard that has the nvme boot code in it's bios (x99 chipset or newer) and that the SM950 ssd which os unique in that it's bios has the required nvme boot code in it's bios is still not compatable as a boot device when used in the highpoint quad ssd card(s)

and as for no space for four HP turbo Z cards in a z820.... HP begs to differ, and states that up to four cards can be used in the z820 depending on the system configuration

you can run a single SM951 (AHCI version) using a turbo Z card and install a  SAS/SCSI card which has a external port and place your raid array in a external box

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ADAPTEC-ASR-78165-6Gb-s-SAS-PCI-E-3-0-x8-RAID-Supported-24-PORTS/3331348617...

a side benefit of using the adaptec card is that the 4 internal 5.25 drive bays can also  be connected to the card and will now be SAS/SATA 6GBps (instead of 3GBps with SSD support that allows the full speed of the ssd to used

it can also drive two SAS (or more) 6GBps ssd's in raid 0 that will be faster than the HP turbo z card