M901
Overview
The M901 shield is an NVME M2 SSD PIP (PCIe Peripheral Board) for the Raspberry Pi 5 that uses the new PCIE interface of the Raspberry Pi 5 to utilise the NVME M2 SSDs for fast data transfers and ultra-fast booting.
This shield follows the new "PIP" design guideline from Raspberry Pi fundation ensuring that it will be easy to use and be supported long term by updates to Raspberry Pi OS - though it is very early days and things are improving rapidly there!
Geekworm PCIe to NVME Sets:
After the release of the Raspberry Pi AI Kit, we tested four PIPs: X1001, X1004, X1011, and M901. X1001, X1004, and M901 all support the hailo-8 ai accelerator, but X1011 does not.
It should be noted that X1004 uses ASMedia ASM1182e PCIe switch, it can't support PCIe Gen 3 speed, so even though we forced to enable PCIe Gen 3.0 setting in Raspberry Pi 5, it is limited by ASMedia ASM1182e PCIe switch, and speed is still PCIe Gen 2.0 5Gbps speed. when you use an hailo-8 ai accelerator, Raspberry Pi Fundation highly recommends using PCIe 3.0 to achieve best performance with your AI Kit.
Our tentative conclusions are as follows:
- If you need to use hailo-8 ai accelerator with high performance, it is recommended to use X1015/X1002/X1003/M901/ the official M.2 HAT+ etc. When choosing these PIP boards, you should focus on whether there is a conflict between the camera cable and the PIP board installation, and enable PCIe3.0 to use hailo-8 ai accelerator. At the same time, you need to prepare an SD card as the system disk.
- If you don't care about the high performance brought by PCIe 3.0, then you can consider using X1004, so that you can use any socket of X1004 to install NVME SSD as the system disk, and another socket to install hailo-8 ai accelerator, so as to have both.
| Model | Compatible with | Position | NVMe M2 SSD Length Support | Matching Case | Matching Cooler | Support NVMe Boot | Support PCIe 3.0 | Support Hailo-8 AI Accelerator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X1000 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Not tested |
| X1001 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242/2260/2280 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Yes |
| X1002 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Bottom | 2230/2242/2260/2280 | P580 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Not tested |
| X1003 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242 | P579 / P425 | Official Cooler / H501 Only | Yes | - | Not tested |
| X1004 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | Dual ssd: 2280 | P579-V2 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes (Requires EEPROM 2024/05/17 version and above) | NO | Yes |
| X1015 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242/2260/2280 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Yes |
| X1005 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Bottom | Dual ssd: 2230/2242/2260/2280 | No matching case yet | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes (Requires EEPROM 2024/05/17 version and above) | NO | Yes |
| X1011 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Bottom | 4 ssds: 2230/2242/2260/2280 | X1011-C1 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes (eeprom 2024/05/17 and later VER) | NO | NO |
| M901 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242/2260/2280 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Yes |
| Q100 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2242 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Not tested |
| Q200 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | Dual ssd: 2280 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | NO | - | Not tested |
| M300 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242 | P579 | Official Cooler / Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Not tested |
| M400 | Raspberry Pi 5 | Top | 2230/2242/2280 | P579 | Official Cooler/ Argon THRML Cooler / H505/H501 | Yes | - | Not tested |
Important Note
NVMe SSD Incompatibility List
We recommend avoiding the following NVMe SSD drives which is equipped with a Phison controller due to their proven incompatibility:
- WD Blue SN550 series (Solved! Refer to New rpi-eeprom-update 2024-01-24 WD Blue SN550 nvme works now.)
- WD Green SN580 series (Solved! Refer to NVMe_SSD_boot_with_the_Raspberry_Pi_5#comment-4708)
- WD Green SN350 series (Solved! Refer to NVMe_SSD_boot_with_the_Raspberry_Pi_5#comment-4602)
- WD Black SN850 series
- WD Black SN770
- Inland tn446 nvme drive
- Corsair MP600 SSD
- Micron 2450 SSD (Can be recognised but not support boot from NVME)
- Other NVMe SSD drivers equipped with the same Phison controller
These specific models have demonstrated compatibility issues, and it is advisable to avoid them when considering NVMe SSD options for the X10xx series NVMe shield. You can run "lspci" command to check the controller brand of the SSD.
Also note:
- Compatible with M.2 NVMe SSDs only, Not compatible with M.2 SATA SSDs, M.2 PCIe AHCI SSDs, or other M.2 non-NVMe devices
- Older NVMe drives with less efficient flash media may not perform as well as newer drives
- New NVMe SSDs are not partitioned and will need to be both partitioned and formatted when first connected to the Raspberry Pi before they will be accessed in the Explorer.
- We get feedback from customers that Polaris Controller will also have compatibility problems. Please replace the other SSD test if it not work, whether it is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 does not depend on the X100X series boards
- NVMEs using the MAP1202 controller may not support PCIe Gen 2, and must be forced to enable PCIe Gen 3 in order to be recognised. This is due to the fact that the controller is not backward compatible with PCIe Gen 2, and NVMEs using this controller will have compatibility issues, and are not recommended for use. Can refer to https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/644984347
PS: There is also feedback from buyers that even NVME SSDs with Phison controller are supported after updating the latest firmware. Please refer to go to: X1001#comment-4638
Features
- Minimalist design, easy to install
- Compatible with other HAT shield;
- Supports installation of official active coolers;
- SSD ACT LED Indicators-On: Power OK/Standby, Flashing: Reading/Writing
- Supports 2230/2242/2260/2280 NVME M2 SSD
- Can power the M901 shield directly from the FFC PCIe ribbon (providing maximum 5W of continuous power)
PS:
- Maximum current for pcie connector is 1A, and voltage is 5V
- If you find that the SSD is not working properly, it is possible that the power supply of SSD is not enough, then you need to check the current requirement of your SSD to decide whether power the SSD separately.
- The M901 hardware has no limit on NVME SSD capacity, which is dependent on the Raspberry Pi OS.
Packing List
- 1 x M901 PCIe to M2 NVMe PIP PCIe Peripheral Board
- 1 x PCIe FFC Cable (8.5mm Length)
- 6 x M2.5*5 Screws
- 3 x M2.5*17 Female/Female Spacers
- 1 x M2.5 Copper Nut to fix SSD 2230 / 2242 / 2260 Length
- 1 x M2.5X5 Screw to fix SSD 2230 / 2242 / 2260 Length
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