Amfeltec Squid SKU-086-36 User manual

About this Document
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual Revision 1.3
Page 1
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™
for six M.2 / NGSFF(NF1) SSD
modules (SKU-086-36)
Hardware Manual
August 15, 2020
Revision 1.3

About this Document
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual, Revision 1.3
Page 2
Contents
1About this Document........................................................................................................................4
1.1 Purpose.................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Feedback..............................................................................................................................4
1.3 Revision History....................................................................................................................4
2General Description..........................................................................................................................5
2.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................5
2.2 Package Contents.................................................................................................................6
3Features...........................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Features................................................................................................................................8
3.2 PCI Express Carrier board for six M.2/NGSFF SSD modules block diagram......................9
4Installation......................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Carrier board installation.....................................................................................................10
4.2 Carrier board Power ON.....................................................................................................10
4.3 Carrier board Power OFF. Backup status Indication..........................................................11
5Hardware Description.....................................................................................................................13
5.1 Board Layout.......................................................................................................................13
5.2 LEDs...................................................................................................................................14
5.3 Connectors..........................................................................................................................15
6Appendix A:....................................................................................................................................16
6.1 Cables.................................................................................................................................16
7Appendix B: Limited warranty.........................................................................................................19

About this Document
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual Revision 1.3
Page 3
Figures
Figure 1: PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board with six M.2 SSD modules (top and bottom sides)...................................7
Figure 2: Carrier board internal block diagram. .........................................................................................9
Figure 3: PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) modules - layout............................................13
Tables
Table 1: PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) modules -LEDs ..............................................14
Table 2: PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) modules - Connectors.............................15

About this Document
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual, Revision 1.3
Page 4
1 About this Document
1.1 Purpose
This document describes hardware installation, features, specification and operation of the Squid
PCI Express Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules from Amfeltec
Corporation
.
1.2 Feedback
AMFELTEC Corp. makes every effort to ensure that the information contained in this document is
accurate and complete at the time of release. Please contact Amfeltec if you find any errors,
inconsistency or have trouble understanding any part of this document.
To provide your feedback, please send an email to [e-mail]
Your comments or corrections are greatly valued in our effort for excellence and continuous
improvement.
1.3 Revision History
Rev. No. Description Rev. Date
1.0 Initial Release. July 15, 2019
1.1 Minor changes February 17, 2020
1.2 Minor changes April 9, 2020
1.3 Minor changes August 15, 2020

General Description
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual Revision 1.3
Page 5
2 General Description
2.1 Introduction
Squid PCI Express family is a series of PCIe Carrier Boards designed for desktop
computers, servers, embedded appliances or storage expansion. Squid family expands a
motherboard’s PCIe slot with multiple full/half-size MiniPCI Express or multiple
M.2/NGSFF(NF1) PCI Express SSD modules.
The carrier board is a full-height PCIe board, and occupies the space equal to a standard
one-slot wide PCIe board, as defined by the PCIe Specification. It is located in the middle of
motherboard’s PCIe slot, and connects to the motherboard via exchangeable x8 or x16 PCIe
upstream adapters. This unique PCI Express structure (US. Pat #9,996,495) allows for
allocating of multiple PCIe M2/NGSFF(NF1) modules on the top and bottom sides of the
carrier board without violation PCI Express Specification.
This carrier board has six M.2 (M-key) circuits. Three circuits are placed on the top
(component) side of the board, and another three circuits are placed on the bottom
(soldering) side of the board. Each circuit support any M.2/NGSFF(NF1) PCI express
module (M-key) with a standard length of 80 mm and 110 mm. and width up to 32 mm.
This carrier board has two new futures:
•Real-time performance and temperature monitoring via USB port;
•On-board Batteryless Data Logger with a backup status indication
(US. Pat. #10,481.660).

General Description
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual, Revision 1.3
Page 6
2.2 Package Contents
PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board package includes the following parts:
1. PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board for six M.2 / NGSFF(NF1) PCIe modules
(Figure 1, 2) with x16 or x8 PCIe upstream Adapter
2. Auxiliary 12V power cable SKU-043-39 (Appendix A, Figure 10)
3. Set of Heat sinks for all six of M.2 / NGSFF (NF1) modules.
4. Auxiliary 12V power cable SKU-050-40 (Appendix A, Figure 11)(optional)
5. USB terminal cable SKU-043-37 (Appendix A, Figure 8)(optional)

General Description
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual Revision 1.3
Page 7
Figure 1: PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board with six M.2 SSD modules (top and bottom sides)

Features
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual, Revision 1.3
Page 8
3 Features
3.1 Features
•Easy ‘Plug and Play” installation. No drivers needed. Transparent to the operation system.
•Compatible to any motherboard.
•Supports up to six M.2 or NGSFF(NF1) PCI Express SSD modules (M-key)
•Supports any modules with 80 mm and 110 mm length, and up to 32 mm in width.
•x4 PCIe Gen 3 (8.0 Gbps) downstream connection to each M.2 circuit.
•x16 or x8 PCIe Gen 3 (8.0 Gbps) upstream motherboard connection via exchangeable x16 or
x8 PCI Express upstream Adapter.
•Occupies space equal to standard one-slot wide PCIe board defined by PCIe Specification.
•Supports auxiliary 12V power connection.
•Easily removable cooling fans.
•Performance and temperature monitoring during operation; cooling fan speed control.
•Real-time transmission of carrier board & modules’ status to host computer via USB
connection. (optional)
•On-board Batteryless Data Logger for backup status indication (US. Pat. #10,481,660)
•Meets PCIe 3.0 and M.2 1.1 Specifications.
•Dimension:
-Without Cooling Fans - 111.15 mm x 167.65 mm (full-height, half-length PCIe board)
-With Cooling Fans - 111.15 mm x 202.65 mm.
•RoHS compliant.

Features
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual Revision 1.3
Page 9
3.2 PCI Express Carrier board for six M.2/NGSFF
SSD modules block diagram.
Figure 2: Carrier board internal block diagram.

Installation
Squid PCIe Gen 3 Carrier Board™ for six M.2/NGSFF(NF1) SSD modules.
Hardware Manual, Revision 1.3
Page 10
4 Installation
4.1 Carrier board installation
Following steps provide the exact sequence that needs to be followed in order to properly install
the Amfeltec PCIe Carrier Board:
•Turn OFF computer before installation.
•Remove the chassis cover from the computer.
•Locate an unused PCI express slot and remove the corresponding slot cover from computer
chassis. For maximum performance, it is preferable to use x16 PCI express slot that has a
direct connection to CPU.
•Insert the carrier board into the appropriate PCI express slot, and attach its bracket to the
computer chassis with a screw.
•(optionally) Install USB monitoring cable SKU-043-37. (Connector J16 on the board and the
10-pin USB connector on the motherboard)
•(optionally) Install auxiliary 12V power cable SKU-050-40 or SKU-043-39. Auxiliary cable
must be installed if the total modules’ power consumption exceed 55W (9.1 W per module) or
NGSFF/NF1 SSD module installed!
•Put the chassis cover back on the computer.
•Turn ON the computer.
4.2 Carrier board Power ON
During power ON, the Carrier board runs self-test that include:
•Upstream and downstream PCI express connection verification
•Checking status LEDs
•Cooling fans operation
After power ON, the operation status test result is shown on D22 (red) and D23 (green) LEDs:
D22 is solid ON Power ON Carrier Board verification status
D23 is solid ON Power ON Carrier Board verification status
The following status information is displayed on the status LEDs D14-D21 during normal
operation (located on the bottom/soldering side of the board):