PLX
More widely known for its server-grade models, Supermicro always launches a small number of consumer motherboards, sometimes with some extra flair and hardware we don't see from the regular vendors. This time around, Supermicro's top-tier C9Z490-PGW uses a PLX chip which enables the board to operate with dual PCIe 3.0 x16 or quadruple PCIe 3.0 x8 slots. This is combined with dual PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots from the chipset, a 10 gigabit Ethernet controller, and a Wi-Fi 6 interface which makes the C9Z490-PGW versatile for a wide array of users.
Microchip’s New PCIe 4.0 PCIe Switches: 100 lanes, 174 GBps
There are multiple reasons to need a PCIe switch. These can include expanding PCIe connectivity to more devices than the CPU is capable, to extend a PCIe fabric across...
36 by Dr. Ian Cutress on 6/1/2020
The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW Motherboard Review: The Z390 Board With PLX and 10GbE
The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW is the top model from its SuperO range and is the only mainstream Z390 motherboard to encompass a Broadcom PEX8747 PLX chip (one workstation focused board...
48 by Gavin Bonshor on 2/1/2019
Scaling Inference with NVIDIA’s T4: A Supermicro Solution with 320 PCIe Lanes
When visiting the Supercomputing conference this year, there were plenty of big GPU systems on display for machine learning. A large number were geared towards the heavy duty cards...
12 by Ian Cutress on 11/19/2018
HighPoint Releases the SSD7102: A Bootable Quad M.2 PCIe x16 NVMe SSD RAID Card
In the upper echelons of commercial workhouses, having access to copious amounts of local NVMe storage is more of a requirement than ‘something nice to have’. We’ve seen solutions...
28 by Ian Cutress on 10/24/2018
The GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming G1 Review: Quad-SLI on Skylake, and now with Thunderbolt 3
This is a review of a $500 motherboard for Skylake processors. For some readers, there’s going to an instant reaction of a series of question marks, confused emoji and...
67 by Ian Cutress on 12/1/2015
Avago Announces PLX PEX9700 Series PCIe Switches: Focusing on Data Center and Racks
One of the benefits of PCIe switches is that they are designed to be essentially transparent. In the consumer space, I would wager that 99% of the users do...
12 by Ian Cutress on 5/12/2015
MSI Z87 XPower Review: Our First Z87 with PLX8747
When it comes to motherboard extravagance, X58 heralded some mightily expensive boards, and a choice few from X79 and Z77 also raised this baton. So where does a...
35 by Ian Cutress on 8/12/2013
ASRock X79 Extreme11 Review: PCIe 3.0 x16/x16/x16/x16 and LSI 8-Way SAS/SATA
The end of summer marks the start of the X79 refresh line. We are, at best estimates, coming up to half-way in the Sandy Bridge-E life as the...
62 by Ian Cutress on 9/3/2012
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