What cables do I pick for mcio

Hardware
1

I have a newer AMD motherboard SIENAD8UD-2L2Q it has a bunch of MCIO connectors for its sas/sata interface. should I use them to connect to the backplane and if so… what cable pack should I get with the chassis. or should I just use an HBA

2

I think you are fine using the two MCIO ports that are specifically designated for connecting SATA drives, as long as all you require is SATA and not SAS type drives.

The store does not offer an MCIO cable option, nor a “no cables” option, so you will likely want to contact info@45homelab.com before placing the order and discuss what your options re a credit or such are. It’s also possible they can provide the MCIO cables but just don’t offer them publicly. I assume they will give you a credit, but if not, you’d just order a cable set that you could either resell or use for something else in the future. A few people have asked about this, but I don’t think anyone has reported back what they worked out with support.

The cables you would want are something like this;

https://www.amazon.com/SFF-8643-Compliant-Transfer-Server-Center/dp/B0DBJ4R494
https://www.microsatacables.com/mcio-x8-74pin-nvme-to-2x-sff-8643-nvme-50-cm

You’d need two cables, each with a 74-pin MCIO connector on one end and two SFF-8643 on the other end.

3

thanks for the info. I had kinda guessed that as the closest thing to mcio that I saw as an option was slim-sas but I don’t think that works… Im just going to get the first cable option then, since getting an HBA is essentially the same cost as buying 2 of those cables, and then I shouldn’t have anything to worry about