X4 M.2 EGPU Adapter

#1

Hiya All,
I tried dropping an M.2 Oculink adapter into the M.2 slot on an X4, which I’ve sucessfully used on a Panda, and Odroid boards.
The gpu starts and stops with the X4, but it’s not seen by Windows 10 ( or 11 for what it’s worth )

I’ve also had an M.2 SSD in the slot and it’s great.

I did some searching of the Forums and it seems no one has asked this question, which makes me think I’ve missed the point here and it’s a dumb question, but my question is not why doesn’t it work, moreover, should it work…

#2

Hello Matt
Which M.2 Oculink adapter using? Can you show how to connect them all?
We haven’t tested oculink, but we assume it should work and we’ll verify it.

#3

Hiya, Thanks for the confirm. Indeed, once I knew it should work a bit more tinkering and it came up easilly.

The embarrassing truth is that what I failed to realise is that when an external GPU is connected via the M.2 Oculink adapter both the native HDMI’s stop working. This is not what I’ve seen on other boards and when I patched into the 4th output of the 3080ti I was using ( because it’s the only HDMI connector ) it didn’t work either, so I immediately dismissed this diagnostic step. What I should have done is dig out a DP to HDMI adapter and try the top DP output on the 3080ti first, whaick worked instantly.:grinning:

Here’s the adapter I’m using -

Here’s a quick benchmark. I know it’s not exhaustive, and there are many factors to consider but my £90 ( with Heatsink ) X4 does this

Radxa%20X4%203080ti
Radxa X4 3080ti.jpg1384×841 315 KB

and my £200+ Latte Panda Delta3 does this :

Latte%20Panda%20Delta%203
Latte Panda Delta 3.jpg1382×833 321 KB

Oh, and BTW, during the test the X4 CPU temp peaked at 62 degrees.

Sorry to brief, wanted to update quickly and have a busy day. Thaks all for a great community, I have Rock 4 and 5’s too and love the Radxa products, community and who cares if there’s the odd empy zip file occasionally :rofl::roll_eyes::sunglasses:

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#4

Actually one fina thought, If anyone was to do this, you might want an oculink cable like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NFHK-Angled-OcuLink-PCI-Express-SFF-8611/dp/B0D943KCV9?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3DIQJPPGDEDK7

Because of this

IMG_1550

#5

That’s exciting. it’s working

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#6

Hi, sorry for the silly question, but with the M.2 M Key slot occupied by the chenyang Oculink SFF-8612, did you boot Windows from USB?

Can you, please, explain to me your setup?

Thanks a lot

#7

I think Windows can install on eMMC, or it can boot by win-to-go from usb disk

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#8

Thanks for the instructions! I ve used the same adapter using a Nvidia 3060 and it was recognized out of of the box in Ubuntu. After installing the Nvidia proprietary driver and cuda toolkit, I could also use cuda acceleration as well (tested blender and llama.cpp).
In case someone is wondering about the power supply as I was: The adapter board(ATX from PSU) and the GPU (VGA from PSU) need to be powered from the PSU. So connections are:

  • M2 adapter connects to radxa M2 slot, and is connected to the GPU raiser through an oculink cable.
  • GPU is connected to the GPU raiser through pci- e
  • PSU connects to adapter (24 pin) and to GPU ( 8 pin in my case)
  • HDMI cable (or DP) connects from the GPU to monitor (for me at least no HDMI to DP adapter needed)
  • PSU is switched on > Raiser is switched on > boot radxa

As Matt mentioned, in order to turn the radxa around so the fan is on top, one probably needs an oculink cable with 90 degrees bend (not tested) or a M2 adapter with parallel inserting of oculink cable (needs desoldering of power input header)
Cheers

#9

Thank you for the detailed description, it would be better if you could have some pictures.

#10

Quick update:
Here are some images showing the connections:

  1. Connect oculink cable between raiser and m2 adapter. Connect M2 adapter to Radxa and screw in.
    1000025570%20-%20Copy
    1000025570 - Copy.jpg1885×1317 689 KB
    !
  2. Connect 24 pin to raiser and 8 pin power cable to GPU. Connect GPU to raiser (PCI)
    1000025569%20-%20Copy
    1000025569 - Copy.jpg2560×1920 983 KB
  3. Connect HDMI (or DP?) cable to GPU<> monitor, Turn on PSU> Turn on riser> Turn on radxa
    1000025572%20-%20Copy
    1000025572 - Copy.jpg1545×1883 678 KB
    !

I have ordered an m2 adapter with the oculink port parallel to the board but the cable hits the power pins so it won’t work without desoldering the power input header. The 90 degree bend oculink cable might work.

I’ve now tried to do the same with windows 11 but without success. The Nvidia GPU is not recognized in the device manager. Tried to install the NVIDIA driver but it says that no GPU was found.

@Matt_Bate How were your steps to make it work? Did Windows installed the driver automatically or did you install manually?

EDIT: It worked after leaving the radxa alone for a bit. Maybe Windows updated the drivers in the background in the meantime. All good!

If anyone needs the side holder, ive uploaded my model here:

Cheers

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