DiLinKer PCIe x16 to 4x SlimSAS 8X Adapter, 8x U.2 NVMe, SFF-8654 74-Pin, PLX8748, Full & Low Profile

Four SlimSAS 8x (SFF-8654, 74-pin) ports on a single PCIe x16 slot, enough for eight U.2 NVMe drives. The switching is done on the card by a Broadcom PLX8748, so the motherboard does not need bifurcation support and the drives do not need to share one x4 link at a time.

What the card actually does

• A switch, not a splitter. A PLX8748 is a PCIe switch: one x16 uplink to the host, 32 lanes out to the drives, all non-blocking inside the chip. That is why this works in a plain x16 slot on a board that knows nothing about bifurcation.
• Four ports, two drives each. Each 74-pin SlimSAS port carries eight lanes, which is exactly two U.2 drives at x4. Four ports therefore address eight drives. The cables are not in the box: you need four SlimSAS 8x to 2× U.2 assemblies.
• The bandwidth maths, honestly. The uplink is Gen3 x16, about 15.75 GB/s shared across eight drives. Eight Gen3 NVMe drives can each pull ~3.5 GB/s on their own, so this is deliberately oversubscribed. For capacity, for sequential work on a few drives at a time and for anything that is not simultaneous full-speed reads on all eight, it is fine — and it is a fraction of the cost of a Gen4 switch card.
• Built for a chassis, not a desktop. Full-height bracket fitted, low-profile bracket in the box, 148 × 80 mm card. Designed for 2U and 4U servers where eight U.2 bays need feeding from one slot.

Specifications

Compatibility

Works with

• A free PCIe x16 slot — bifurcation support is not required
• U.2 NVMe drives via four SlimSAS 8x to 2× U.2 cables (sold separately)
• OcuLink (SFF-8611) backplanes, with the matching SlimSAS to OcuLink cable

Does not work with

• SAS or SATA drives — this card carries PCIe only
• Boards where the x16 slot is wired x8 — the uplink will not train as intended
• Cables: none are included, and a plain SlimSAS 4x cable will only reach half the drives
• Gen4 drives expecting Gen4 throughput — the switch is Gen3

Typical deployments

• Eight U.2 bays in a 2U server. One card replaces four separate x4 host links and leaves the rest of the slots free.
• All-NVMe storage nodes. Capacity-dense arrays where the working set is spread across drives rather than hammering one at a time.
• Workstations with a big case. Eight U.2 drives in the front cages, all fed from the top x16 slot.

Frequently asked questions

Do the cables come with the card?

No. You need four SlimSAS 8x (SFF-8654 74-pin) to 2× U.2 (SFF-8639) cables. We stock them; order four with the card.

Does my motherboard need bifurcation?

No. The PLX8748 handles the splitting. The slot only has to be a real x16.

Will it work in an x8 slot?

We do not recommend it. The card expects x16; in an x8 slot it may link down or fail to enumerate at all, and eight drives on eight lanes is not a configuration we would ship.

Can I run fewer than eight drives?

Yes. Populate one drive per port for four, or use both ends of a port for pairs. Empty ports cost nothing.

Are Gen4 drives wasted on it?

They will run, at Gen3 speed. If you need Gen4 across eight drives, this is the wrong card — budget for a Gen4 switch instead.

Will the drives show up in the BIOS?

Usually as NVMe devices behind a switch. Boot support varies by firmware; if you need to boot from one of these drives, tell us the board model and we will check before you buy.

In the box

• 1 × PCIe x16 to 4 × SlimSAS 8x switch card
• 1 × low-profile bracket (full profile fitted)

Every cable is continuity- and pinout-tested before it ships and carries a 24-month warranty. If a link does not train, send us the controller model and the backplane part number before returning anything — in most cases the cable is the wrong variant for the port, not faulty, and we would rather tell you that up front.

Related

• 8-port U.2 card on SFF-8643 instead
• SlimSAS 8x to 2x U.2 cable, 75cm
• All U.2 NVMe cables and adapters