It might work for input. The 12v rail is tied to that connector but I believe this specific riser supplies 3.3v via the 24 pin connector. I haven’t checked and don’t care to see if backfeeding works.
How did you set a refclk delay?
Is it built into the JMT M.2 M-Key to PCIE 4.0X4 External Graphics Card Stand Bracket Compatible with Oculink/M.2?
I did see that but I did not see any for refclk specifically
In the diagram it is switch one. Turning it on tricks the BIOS into not initializing the graphics card until later in the boot process. Works well for Nvidia cards in order to get a successful boot.
Thank you this was very helpful. Is the delay actually 9s like labeled on switch one?
So in my ongoing digging around for adapters, I’ve found this thing:
Looks to be PCI-e 5.0 (overkill, admittedly) x16 to M.2 with a 4-pin to SATA power connector. @Hardware_Fox that might tick all the boxes you had, and I think ADT is generally well regarded?
I don’t know that its actually 9 seconds but it does delay the boot process a bit when turned on and helps with initializing Nvidia graphics cards.
It actually looks like a pretty good adapter, and yes, it should work for exactly what I am trying to do. Interestingly, SATA is not technically rated for enough current for the 12V rail at a max of 4.5A, but I still think it should work as I don’t think most GPUs will likely pull the full 5.5A that the PCIe slot is rated for. The only thing I am considering that this adapter won’t be able to provide is a refclk delay, as suggested by @Lukew4lker, for a reliable boot. Also as they pointed out I could use a setup similar to theirs if I get a 24pin splitter, so it also checks all my boxes.
I think I will still go ahead with my custom adapter design, though. I was planning on buffering the refclk anyway, so it would not be hard to add a delay similar to how (I assume) it is implemented on the OCuLink adapter suggested. I also could use some practice with high-frequency PCB design, so it’s a good project for that.
These adapters look sketchy af.
You might have good luck if you’re using an Nvidia card. Make sure you have some display plugged into the iGPU as well as your dGPU when you try this setup. if it still doesn’t work, ping me directly and we can work through any issues you might be seeing.
I would not worry about refclk delays if Framework is able to edit the bios for certain features…
1 Like
I’m curious if a display emulators, like what was used to get around early versions of LHR, would work as a connected display on the iGPU.
1 Like
I’ve got a couple left over because of this exact reason. Instead of occupying another input on my monitor, I’ll leave the dummy plug connected.
2 Likes
It’s ETA Prime but … USB4 V2 connected to a TB5 eGPU
1 Like
Sorry just noticed this today (a full month later), but eGPUs are definitely a bit hairy, and reading through this thread I think that is reinforced.
I noticed my Minisforum dock would only work with some graphics cards (and some AMD, some Intel, and sometimes it would just be flaky…). And there are different types of OCuLink cables (some have extra wires, some neglect those wires). And there are different types of eGPU dock (some have active PCIe retimers, some do not…), and different ways the BIOS and slot handles PCIe initialization or lanes…
In other words, it’s complicated and sometimes completely befuddling. I wrote up part of my learning on the Pi here: Not all OCuLink eGPU docks are created equal.
And then I’m also realizing after looking at multiple M.2 to OCuLink adapters, even the way that circuit is handled can have an impact on the reliability of card initialization!
(This is all, of course, before we get to drivers…).
On the Raspberry Pi, I’m always using external power with an external GPU dock and not relying on the Pi’s measly 5W of PCIe power delivery over it’s M.2 or FFC connector (it doesn’t supply 12V at all).
I will see if I can get one of the Mainboards out of my mini cluster and test some GPUs with it. Right now I have some other priorities so can’t promise anything, but I would like to try to verify the behavior of the PCIe bus by trying a riser from the x4 slot, an M.2 adapter, and maybe even my Thunderbolt 4/USB4 dock (I’ve been testing that one with a Mac mini lately…).
8 Likes
I will be creating a github issue for graphics cards with all the information that’s been encountered this weekend. A lot of progress has been made with getting a mostly reliable booting setup using Nvidia cards, AMD cards may require a bit more attention. That GitHub issue should include how I’ve gone about testing, what works and what doesn’t.
4 Likes
Fair enough. I went ahead and ordered one so I’ll see how it works on my RTX3090. I’ve gotten it to boot with a x4 to x16 riser adapter I linked earlier (with a supplemental 4-pin IDE power), so I’m optimistic that refclk delay isn’t needed for my card at least, which seems consistent with @Lukew4lker findings.
In the meantime, I’m trying to write a FanControl plugin that can talk to the EC via framework_tool
1 Like
Yeah, a bunch of reviews seem to be going live for the minisforum strix halo desktop… and it looks like they have support for Re-Size BAR so I’m assuming getting a gpu to work would be easier over there.
That said, I’d still prefer to use framework’s mainboard since I can use a normal power supply, any itx case, etc, etc. But my holy grail of a platform seems to be exactly strix halo with an intel bXX pro card for SR-IOV for accelerated virtual machines. That machine would be 16 cores, good enough gpu for gaming, enough ram for big AI models, enough ram and cores for a few VMs, and then with the intel card you could actually use the VMs with gpu acceleration, which is big for me as I need to run autodesk fusion, which doesn’t play nice on linux.
So 
that framework sees us and does something to help. I don’t even need to do anything exotic, just the mainboard with powered 4x → 16x riser, like @Lincoln_Chen bought, with an intel B50 or intel b60 card… but those intel cards practically require Resizable bar support.
1 Like
I’m going to get a graphics card tonight for testing this weekend. Is there more interest in testing an Intel one or an AMD one? I was thinking either a 9060 XT 8GB I found on FBMP or a B50 16GB.
need to know in the next couple of hours.
I don’t know about others… but intel’s b50 pro is the hottest selling gpu on newegg. And it’s specifically a workstation card with qualified drivers and all that AND it’s supposed to get full SR-IOV support this quarter. I’m trying to find a B60 pro but those aren’t readily available for sale yet.
I’m not sure what other people are thinking, but that’s what I am, because I’m specifically wanting a workstation that can game on the side.
Microcenter has two of them in stock for pickup so they can’t be that hot (lol) but if nobody else speaks up, I’ll get it tonight.
1 Like