PCIe x4 switch?

[akranjc71]

I am making a desktop out of an old laptop (HP ProBook 4720s) and I want more PCIe x4 slots, so I can add an m.2 and USB 3.0 and stuff. So I searched up for PCIe x4 switches. There were only x1 switches. Can somebody help me find something?

Thank you

[BobVonBob]

To my knowledge they don't exist. 1x stuff exists because bitcoin miners use it, but I haven't seen any consumer products with support for more bandwidth than that since 3/4 way SLI died years ago, and even then it was still only on motherboards not breakout boards.

[Grabhanem]

8 minutes ago, akranjc71 said:

I am making a desktop out of an old laptop (HP ProBook 4720s) and I want more PCIe x4 slots, so I can add an m.2 and USB 3.0 and stuff. So I searched up for PCIe x4 switches. There were only x1 switches. Can somebody help me find something?

Thank you

Generally I think PCIe splitting is accomplished using (very expensive) PLX chips. Where are you getting your initial PCIe bandwidth from? The ExpressCard slot or one of the wifi card slots? In any case you probably only have one lane worth of bandwidth.

[akranjc71]

1 minute ago, Grabhanem said:

Generally I think PCIe splitting is accomplished using (very expensive) PLX chips. Where are you getting your initial PCIe bandwidth from? The ExpressCard slot or one of the wifi card slots? In any case you probably only have one lane worth of bandwidth.

It's the wifi card slot. I will be using Expresscard for a gpu.

[akranjc71]

Do you think this would work?

[Grabhanem]

48 minutes ago, akranjc71 said:

Do you think this would work?

That probably requires some kind of motherboard-side support for PCIe switching, which I doubt a laptop board would have.

 

Do you have USB 3.0 ports? USB hubs seem a lot easier than PCIe, especially since a laptop that old won't support booting from PCIe storage anyway.

[akranjc71]

3 minutes ago, Grabhanem said:

That probably requires some kind of motherboard-side support for PCIe switching, which I doubt a laptop board would have.

 

Do you have USB 3.0 ports? USB hubs seem a lot easier than PCIe, especially since a laptop that old won't support booting from PCIe storage anyway.

No, I have only usb 2.0

[Grabhanem]

5 minutes ago, akranjc71 said:

No, I have only usb 2.0

In that case I'd probably adapt your PCIe lane to a USB3 card and then go from there.

[akranjc71]

Just now, Grabhanem said:

In that case I'd probably adapt your PCIe lane to a USB3 card and then go from there.

Ok, thank you

[akranjc71]

5 hours ago, Grabhanem said:

In that case I'd probably adapt your PCIe lane to a USB3 card and then go from there.

Did you mean this?

[Grabhanem]

2 hours ago, akranjc71 said:

Did you mean this?

<snip>

I mean something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Express-Extension-Adapter-Riser/dp/B01FVPITN8?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2

with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Tiergrade-Superspeed-Expasion-15-Pin-Connector/dp/B07Z34BJYH/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb+3+card&qid=1595720741&s=electronics&sr=1-3

 

PCIe splitting is a huge pain, with everyone having slightly different compatibility options and nothing documented well. USB controllers and hubs are generally plug-and-play and will be better for everything you mentioned.

[akranjc71]

22 hours ago, Grabhanem said:

I mean something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Express-Extension-Adapter-Riser/dp/B01FVPITN8?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2

with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Tiergrade-Superspeed-Expasion-15-Pin-Connector/dp/B07Z34BJYH/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb+3+card&qid=1595720741&s=electronics&sr=1-3

 

PCIe splitting is a huge pain, with everyone having slightly different compatibility options and nothing documented well. USB controllers and hubs are generally plug-and-play and will be better for everything you mentioned.

Ok, thanks