@blondu It makes perfect sense that connections only go halfway in the X16 socket, because it’s a X8 (8-lane) PCI connector installed into an X16 socket (made for 16-lane PCI).
If the PCI-to-OCuLink has coords halfway, it means it is connected to 8 lanes.
No it’s quite less than half way, for me it matches the length of an x4 connector.
Waiting for the AI PC Development Kit, it’s on its way!
Also solves the need for two M2 slots for two systems.
Yes, I found their low-profile PCIe-M2 adapter very nice. It’s even thinner than the one I modified myself for my macchiatobin, because the M2 connector is placed so that the SSD goes over the PCIe connector. And this will indeed permit you to have two M2 in the same machine and without changing the form factor.
The only thing is that is condemns an x8 slot for only x4. The top would be to have a second M2 x4 that would support an FPC cable to an auxiliary connector but if the bus doesn’t support bifurcation, a PCIe bridge would be needed, and a Gen4 x8 to 2x4 might not be cheap at all. Or we could have a 10/25 or 40G NIC + M2 adapter on the same board, but that wouldn’t fit in such a small form factor!
The problem occurs when I want to use the video card and the second SSD. I use two operating systems: Fedora 41 and Windows 11.
The PCIe x16 to Oculink adapter board we made is x4, this is because Oculink x8 connector is much wider, you can check:
https://www.amphenol-cs.com/product-series/oculink.html?page=1
What type of cable is used: SFF8611 or type?
From the construction of the cable and the plug, it can be seen that it is x4.