Orange Pi 4 PCIe Link Speed?

[jstefanop]

What is the current pcie link speed set for stable Armbian 5.9.x release? I know stock kernels from orange pi have it set to Gen 1 speed. Need to test some Gen 2 hardware and see if it works. 

[piter75]

22 minutes ago, jstefanop said:

What is the current pcie link speed set for stable Armbian 5.9.x release?

We have Gen1 by default as it's the only one that's officially supported by Rockchip with RK3399:

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/patch/kernel/rockchip64-current/add-board-orangepi-4.patch#L839

 

You can however try switching it to Gen2 with pcie-gen2 overlay (overlays=pcie-gen2 in /boot/armbianEnv.txt) and see how it goes:

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/patch/kernel/rockchip64-current/general-rockchip-overlays.patch#L70

[ScottP]

I have a NanoPC T4 (RK3399) with Friendly ARM ubuntu distro NOT Armbian as yet - I plan to migrate hence why I am reading these forums

If this provides a data point?

scott@hass:~$ sudo lspci -vv | grep -E 'PCI bridge|LnkCap'
00:00.0 PCI bridge: Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd Device 0100 (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        LnkCap:    Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x4, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L0s <256ns, L1 <8us
        LnkCap:    Port #0, Speed 8GT/s, Width x4, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L0s unlimited, L1 <64us

scott@hass:~$ sudo hdparm -t /dev/nvme0n1p2

/dev/nvme0n1p2:
 Timing buffered disk reads: 1784 MB in  3.00 seconds = 594.26 MB/sec

 

 

[jstefanop]

On 12/11/2020 at 2:26 PM, piter75 said:

We have Gen1 by default as it's the only one that's officially supported by Rockchip with RK3399:

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/patch/kernel/rockchip64-current/add-board-orangepi-4.patch#L839

 

You can however try switching it to Gen2 with pcie-gen2 overlay (overlays=pcie-gen2 in /boot/armbianEnv.txt) and see how it goes:

https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/patch/kernel/rockchip64-current/general-rockchip-overlays.patch#L70

 

Ok we just finished our 2x M.2 breakout board (uses both lanes exposed by the PCIE port on the orange pi 4). Is there a similar setting for link width? Its currently picking up a x4 Gen 3 M.2 drive with both link speed downgraded to gen 1 (as expected), and width downgraded to 1x. Should be 2x. 

[VyacheslavS]

14 часов назад, jstefanop сказал:

Ok we just finished our 2x M.2 breakout board (uses both lanes exposed by the PCIE port on the orange pi 4).

 

Which adapter do you use to connect the M2 for PCIE port on the orange pi 4? 

I can't find.

[jstefanop]

On 1/5/2021 at 7:30 AM, VyacheslavS said:

 

Which adapter do you use to connect the M2 for PCIE port on the orange pi 4? 

I can't find.

 

Its a custom board we have made. 

[thc013]

On 1/5/2021 at 1:30 PM, VyacheslavS said:

 

Which adapter do you use to connect the M2 for PCIE port on the orange pi 4? 

I can't find.

they are back in stock now from what i see , i just ordered one last week

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000575054675.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.1.30b67fddNzcI4W

[VyacheslavS]

23.02.2021 в 17:51, thc013 сказал:

they are back in stock now from what i see , i just ordered one last week

 

I bought this one a year ago, along with the board.

This is a miniPCIe.

Me also need an adapter to connect an NVMe SSD with an M2 key.  I can't find one.

[thc013]

Yeah it is a m2 slot and just 2 lanes and there are nvme ssd with a m2 key they are called m2 ssd

they copied the m2 slot of the rk3399 board to a pcie/m2 slot with a flex cable

so  more as 2x pcie is not gonna happen

 

i get today that pcie board , just in time i fixed yesterday the typc boot option in uboot the pinebook and the helios gave the solution rk3399 is not that good in bringing up all rails in 1 time and they do  it in the board c file instead with the dts file

 

 

 

 

[jstefanop]

They only expose one PCIE lane on that adapter, and it won't work with M.2 directly or run at Gen2. Might release our custom board, 2x lanes, Gen2 running stable ~1TB/s bandwidth. 

[disablewong]

hello jstefanop!

Have you released your custom board at last>?

I want to use the orangepi with my NvME SSD and 10Gbps network card but it seems not detect neither of them..... with the mini-pcie to PCI-E converter and PCIE hub it could not boot at all.....

Did you built your own kernel to get it working? 

[jstefanop]

On 4/7/2021 at 4:41 AM, disablewong said:

hello jstefanop!

Have you released your custom board at last>?

I want to use the orangepi with my NvME SSD and 10Gbps network card but it seems not detect neither of them..... with the mini-pcie to PCI-E converter and PCIE hub it could not boot at all.....

Did you built your own kernel to get it working? 

 

 stock kernel works, issue is with orange pi 4 has badly designed FPC connector for PCIE lanes. They didn't group the diff pairs so transmission over FPC cable sucks. We had to make a flex ribbon board to correct this and route as diff pairs so Gen 2 2x works great. Might make some extra and release the board if there is enough interest. 

[disablewong]

On 5/1/2021 at 12:39 AM, jstefanop said:

 

 stock kernel works, issue is with orange pi 4 has badly designed FPC connector for PCIE lanes. They didn't group the diff pairs so transmission over FPC cable sucks. We had to make a flex ribbon board to correct this and route as diff pairs so Gen 2 2x works great. Might make some extra and release the board if there is enough interest. 

 
I would be happy to buy one or two of this if it's available.  I think it would be a good choice for building NAS with the power of RK3399. 
Is your board go with M.2 adaptor and could be converted to PCI-E x1 slot?
Which image you've tested with? the stock kernel from orangepi? or the image from armbian?

[joaofl]

On 4/30/2021 at 6:39 PM, jstefanop said:

 

 stock kernel works, issue is with orange pi 4 has badly designed FPC connector for PCIE lanes. They didn't group the diff pairs so transmission over FPC cable sucks. We had to make a flex ribbon board to correct this and route as diff pairs so Gen 2 2x works great. Might make some extra and release the board if there is enough interest. 

 

Nice job!
Have you released the design files, or any means to buy your adapter?

Do you have any tips on booting from the external SSD?