MAXSUN Designs Arc B580 GPU with Two M.2 SSDs, Putting Leftover PCIe Lanes to Good Use

[AleksandarK]

Thanks to the discovery of VideoCardz, we get a glimpse of MAXSUN's latest Arc 580 GPU with not only a GPU but extra room for two additional M.2 SSDs. The PCIe connector on the Intel Arc B580 has x16 physical pins but runs at PCIe 4.0 x8 speeds. Intel verified it runs only x8 lanes instead of the full x16 slot, leaving x8 lanes unsued. However, MAXSUN thought of a clever way to put the leftover x8 lanes to good use by adding two PCIe x4 M.2 SSDs to thelatest triple-fan iCraft B580 SKU. Power delivery for the M.2 drives comes directly from the graphics card, which is made possible by the GPU's partial PCIe lane utilization. This configuration could prove particularly valuable for compact builds or systems with limited motherboard storage options.

Interestingly, the SSD pair appears to have its own thermal enclosure, which acts as a heatsink. Having constant airflow from the GPU's fans, the M.2 SSD configuration should be able to maximize the full bandwidth of the SSDs without thermals throttling the SSD read/write speeds. The design follows in the footsteps of AMD's Radeon Pro SSG, which introduced integrated storage in workstation cards with PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots. Back then, it was mainly a target for workstation users. However, MAXSUN has envisioned gamers unusually expanding their storage space now. The pricing of the card and availability date remains a mystery.



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[lexluthermiester]

This is a solid idea.

 

[arbiter]

This is a solid idea.

asus had a gpu with this so not first to do it. problem is boards supporting pci bifurcation to be able to use this feature.

 

[WingCommanderBob]

asus had a gpu with this so not first to do it. problem is boards supporting pci bifurcation to be able to use this feature.

asus also only added one m.2 slot which meant you were still wasting 4 lanes anyway

 

[Ruru]

This should become a standard feature with cards using only x8 for the GPU.

asus had a gpu with this so not first to do it. problem is boards supporting pci bifurcation to be able to use this feature.

The 4060? I already liked their implemention with it.

 

[dont whant to set it"']

@arbiter
Ye,nah,ye,nah,ye,nah,nah mate:
The GPU did not require 12 lanes of PCIE ,thus why they only went for one m.2. It was x8 PCIe lane GPU and 4lanes m.2. Had they done another model with 2 X4 lanes PCIe for 2 m.2 paralel to GPU(on same board)...,plus it was a 4050(I almost meant 4060).

several lertho, forum post command functions,more ortho.

 

[bonehead123]

Hummmm... the ARC & drives in 2's...sound familar ?

Hopefully this one won't have to worry about the floods & storms, hehehe

But anyways, I like the idea, IF it works, and depending on what, if any, driver support it will require, cause we all know about Team Blueball's top-notch, outstanding drivers...

 

[Ruru]

Hummmm... the ARC & drives in 2's...sound familar ?

Hopefully this one won't have to worry about the floods & storms, hehehe

But anyways, I like the idea, IF it works, and depending on what, if any, driver support it will require, cause we all know about Team Blueball's top-notch, outstanding drivers...

I doubt that it will need any driver support since isn't an implemention like this basically the same as with PCIe to M.2 adapters?

 

[wNotyarD]

I doubt that it will need any driver support since isn't an implemention like this basically the same as with PCIe to M.2 adapters?

Isn't PCIe bifurcation required for such devices to work?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

It really does offer some potential, and it just makes sense since it can leverage the massive coolers on GPUs to begin with. Naturally, there are pitfalls, like if your GPU goes, you'll be unable to use that storage without taking some additional measures. Still, it would be good for game drive storage.

 

[arbiter]

Isn't PCIe bifurcation required for such devices to work?

yes the board would have to support that for nvme drives to work which outside asus boards since they have made a card with nvme slot on it before the rest likely a toss up.

 

[t0t0]

But which platforms allow a bifurcation from x16 to x8+x4+x4?

Intel only permits x8+x8 so it would require some PCIe chip on the board? (that's why the ASUS prototype of the RTX 4060 could only handle a single NVMe SSD)

 

[_roman_]

My ASUS Prime X670-p Mainboard has an option for GPU +M2 slot. Without the mainbaord support it will be most likely nope for those m2 slots.

I do not see the demand for it.

Many mainboards have a few electrical lanes which can than be configured for those two or three 16 mechanical slots.

It's just a bad mainboard design when you can not use all lanes properly when you just insert a 8 electrical lane graphic card

8 electrical slots for that graphic card just implies low range 720p, medium 1080p card. Some will argue, but GTA V which is 10 years old runs in 1440p.

 

[Ruru]

Isn't PCIe bifurcation required for such devices to work?

Probably, though I have no idea how that actually works. Shouldn't all modern motherboards support it?

 

[Octavean]

Interesting idea and implementation. However, when upgrading GPUs I prefer not to have to worry about my storage at the same time.

If I were to buy one such card the chances of the future replacement having this feature too are fairly slim. So,.....bugger that!!!

 

[AcE]

I highly doubt they would release such a GPU if the support by modern mainboards isn’t rather universal and wide spread.

 

[Quitessa]

Isn't PCIe bifurcation required for such devices to work?

There is a way around that with a Pcie switch that can take the x16 in and repartition it however you like, it can even have more that 16 lanes of output as it aggregates the load.

 

[LabRat 891]

I highly doubt they would release such a GPU if the support by modern mainboards isn’t rather universal and wide spread.

In my limited experience, it's pretty common. AFAIK even some A620 boards support it. ASrock seems to be good about bifurcation support on mid-level boards and higher (on AMD).

It's definitely something to research before you buy this kind of card, but the concept is great.
Saves someone from having to buy and figure out how to mount one of these:

 

[arbiter]

Probably, though I have no idea how that actually works. Shouldn't all modern motherboards support it?

Pretty sure all do but its not implemented in bios. I could be wrong and there is more to it.

There is a way around that with a Pcie switch that can take the x16 in and repartition it however you like, it can even have more that 16 lanes of output as it aggregates the load.

Which is a bad way to go as it would add unnecessary latency and hurt gpu performance to go that route.

 

[Wirko]

This is a solid idea.

I can think of at least one AMD GPU that could carry not two but three piggybacked SSDs.

 

[LabRat 891]

I can think of at least one AMD GPU that could carry not two but three piggybacked SSDs.

AMD Navi 24 GPU Specs

1024 Cores, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs

www.techpowerup.com

MAXSUN RX6500XT 8GB 3xM.2gen4, when?

 

[Chaitanya]

It would have been great if those M.2 slots were perpendicular to board instead of current parallel orientation to make card even smaller furthur improving mini ITX case compatibility.

 

[Guwapo77]

This is a pretty sweet idea, I can surely get behind a product like this on the super budget side.

 

[Chaitanya]

But which platforms allow a bifurcation from x16 to x8+x4+x4?

Intel only permits x8+x8 so it would require some PCIe chip on the board? (that's why the ASUS prototype of the RTX 4060 could only handle a single NVMe SSD)

Most AMD boards under B and X series allow bifurcation into x8x4x4 infact many board makers already offer M.2 slots that share bandwidth with PCIe x16 slot. Intel on the other hand has a castration fetish for product "segmentation" so your options there are limited.

 

[thestryker6]

I like the idea of this, especially for ITX/mATX systems which don't necessarily have multiple CPU lane slots. It would require your SSDs to be the same PCIe revision as the video card which could be an issue should something like this be implemented in a higher performance card (thinking a card that would require PCIe 5.0 x8 bandwidth which would require PCIe 5.0 SSDs), but for low-mid range should be fine.

edit: the only limitation is maximum slot speed.

Isn't PCIe bifurcation required for such devices to work?

Only when you're splitting the existing lanes, which is what this video card is doing.

Pretty sure all do but its not implemented in bios. I could be wrong and there is more to it.

The CPU dictates what bifurcation is possible, but the motherboard definitely has to have the controls implemented (I've seen both manual and automatic).

But which platforms allow a bifurcation from x16 to x8+x4+x4?

Intel only permits x8+x8 so it would require some PCIe chip on the board? (that's why the ASUS prototype of the RTX 4060 could only handle a single NVMe SSD)

Z890 supports x8x4x4 so I would assume all of the lower tier chipsets whenever they come out will as well since the capability comes from the CPU.

AMD can do x4x4x4x4, but I'm not familiar enough with their platforms to know if that includes x8x4x4 though it would make sense if it could.