RETIMER PCIe 5.0 adapter card with 2 MCIO 8i (x8) ports for NVMe M.2, M.3, U.2, and U.3 SSDs or PCIe add-on cards

A reminder of what a card with a retimer function is:

• A standard PCIe-to-MCIO card without a retimer is passive: it is simply a connector carrier that routes PCIe lanes to SSDs or a backplane. It is simple and inexpensive, but has limited cable length and can sometimes be unstable depending on the system
• A card with a retimer function incorporates a chip that regenerates and stabilizes the signal. It is more expensive because it is more complex, but essential for long links, NVMe backplanes, or modern high-speed configurations, which greatly improves compatibility and reliability.

It requires a motherboard, CPU, and BIOS compatible with PCIe splitting, in order to split a PCIe x16 link into two x8 links or four x4 links for NVMe SSDs. Without this support, the card will only operate in PCIe x8 mode.

Compatibility:

The adapter does not require a driver for operation or communication with connected NVMe drives or risers.

Compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, DOS....

Description:

High-performance retimer with adaptive equalization compensating for up to 36 dB of signal loss.

Silicon Innovation XRET5032 controller.

The card also supports CXL 2.0 Alternate Mode, enabling memory sharing between devices to improve overall performance and offer more flexible system configurations depending on workloads.

PCIe 5.0 x16 interface (32 GT/s)

Direct connection to PCIe NVMe SSDs via MCIO 8i to 2× SFF-8639 cable.

Two integrated MCIO 8i connectors, 8 PCIe lanes per port.

Supported split modes: 4× PCIe x4, 2× PCIe x8 (requires CPU and BIOS support).

Comes with standard (full-height) and low-profile brackets.

Recommended operating temperature: 5 to 55°C.

Low power consumption: min/max 4.95W/12.5W.

Dimensions 170.5mm x 68.9mm, weight 185g.