X1012

Overview

The X1012 NVMe+POE shield is specifically designed to offer a reliable power source and enhance storage capabilities for the Raspberry Pi 5.

POE (Power Over Ethernet) refers to the ability to provide DC power for IP-based network devices while transmitting data signals at the same time without affecting the standard Ethernet cabling infrastructure.

With its sleek and compact design, this shield allows for easy attachment of various M.2 SSD lengths (including 2280, 2260, 2242, and 2230) to your Raspberry Pi 5. It supports booting the operating system from your SSD, leading to quicker application launches, web serving, and file copying.

Important Notes

🚫NVMe SSD Incompatibility List

Whether an SSD is compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 does not depend on the X10XX series boards. We recommend avoiding the following NVMe SSDs equipped with a Phison controller, as they have been proven to have compatibility issues. You can run the "lspci" command to check the controller brand of your SSD.

WD Blue SN550 (Solved! Refer to 🔗 New rpi-eeprom-update 2024-01-24 WD Blue SN550 nvme works now.)
WD Green SN350 (Solved! Refer to 🔗NVMe_SSD_boot_with_the_Raspberry_Pi_5#comment-4602)
WD Blue SN580
WD Blue SN5000
WD Black SN850
WD Black SN770
WD SN740
WD SN810
Inland tn446 nvme drive
Corsair MP600 SSD
Kingston NV3 NVME
fanxiang S500 Pro with Maxio MAP1202 controller
Micron 2450 SSD (Detected, but cannot boot from NVMe)
Micron 2200 256GB M.2 NVMe Gen3 x4, Model: MTFDHBA256TCH (Detected, but cannot boot from NVMe)
Other NVMe SSD drivers equipped with the same Phison controller
SSDs equipped with the MAP1202 controller: Not backward compatible with PCIe Gen 2, causing compatibility issues. Not recommended for use. Reference 🔗 https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/644984347

💡Customer Feedback:

The Polaris controller may also have compatibility issues. If it does not work, please try a different SSD for testing.
Some NVMe SSDs with Phison controllers have been reported to work after updating to the latest firmware. Refer to 🔗:X1001#comment-4638

✅ Other Incompatibility Notes:

Incorrect SSD interface: NOT compatible with M.2 SATA SSDs, M.2 PCIe AHCI SSDs, other non-NVMe M.2 devices.
Older NVMe drives: Use less efficient flash media and may not perform as well as newer drives.
SSD is not partitioned: A brand new SSD must be partitioned and formatted when first connected to the Raspberry Pi before it can be accessed in the file explorer.

Features

For use with	Raspberry Pi 5
Key Features	POE PoE Supported – Power over Ethernet for simplified installation Fully isolated switched-mode power supply Compatible with 802.3af/at Specifications Supports 48V Auxiliary Adapter Supply Input voltage: 37–57V DC, Class 4 device Output power: 5VDC / 5A NVMe Accommodates various M.2 NVMe SSD form factors, including 2280, 2260, 2242, and 2230 Supports operating system booting from your SSD Offers fast data transfer speeds with PCIe 2.0 5Gbps / PCIe 3.0 8Gbps Does not compromise cooling performance and is fully compatible with the official active cooler Features a blue LED indicator that displays power and drive status Equipped with an integrated high-efficiency DC/DC step-down converter, providing up to 5A of power for your SSD
Technical Specification	Power supply: 35-57VDC powering over Ethernet or 40-57Vdc via Auxiliary power jack[Power supply is selectable between the two; simultaneous power is not supported.] Ports & Connectors: PCIe connector - 16-pin pitch0.5mm SSD connector - M.2 KEY-M 67P AUX power jack - 5.5x2.1mm, Center positive(+) PCIe cable length: 30mm PCB Size: 87mm x 56mm

Matching Case

X1012 is compatible with P579-V2 case, though the case doesn't reserved port for the DC power of X1012. Because X1012 support POE, and DC jack is just an auxiliary power jack that non-essential.

User Manual

Hardware Installation

How to make it work

You need to do some configuration based on the current OS before the SSD can work, which is a basic requirement for RPi 5.

Enable PCIe to make nvme ssd work, please refer to NVMe SSD boot with the Raspberry Pi 5
Run the following command to tell the Pi that the X1012 POE is capable of 5A, so the USB current will get the full 1.6A

sudo rpi-eeprom-config -e

Add PSU_MAX_CURRENT=5000 at the end of the file that reads like this:

Press Ctrl-O, then enter, to write the change to the file.

Press Ctrl-X to exit nano (the editor).

Reboot your Raspberry Pi 5 to make the change take effect.

Introduction to Implementing Auxiliary Power on POE

Introduction to Implementing Auxiliary Power on POE: File:AN3472-Implementing-Aux-Power-in-PoE.pdf

Packing List

1 x X1012 V1.2 NVMe with POE shield
2 x PCIe FFC (30mm length, Provides a backup)
10 x M2.5*5mm screws
4 x M2.5*19mm F/F Spacer
1 x M2.5* 7mm F/F Spacer (And two M2.5*5 screws to fix the 2230/2242/2260 SSDs)
1 x CM2x3mm screw (sliver color, to fix 2280 SSD only)

Test & Reviews

Test Conditions

System board details: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 , 4G RAM
Interface board details: X1012 POE+NVMe Shield
Operation system: Raspberry Pi OS with desktop (Debian12 (bookworm), 64bit, Release date: October 10th 2023)
Storage details: Netac N930E-PRO M.2 NVMe 128GB

Testing the SSD speed from command line with dd

To test the write speed, writing 1 GB of data in 10 blocks of 100 MB.
To test the read speed, use dd to read our entire TestingFile file generated from the last command, in 10 blocks of 100 MB each.

Run at PCIe 2.0

Run at PCIe 3.0

As seen above, the final results with the dd command are:

Write speed: 389 MB/s at PCIe 2.0, 377MB/s at PCIe 2.0
Read speed: 730 MB/s at PCie 2.0, 700MB/s at PCIe 3.0

Testing disk drive read speed with hdparm

Run at PCIe 2.0, average read rate: 432 MB/s (3 samples)

Run at PCIe 3.0, average read rate: 849.5 MB/s (3 samples)

FAQ

Q1: Is the X1012 compatible with the H502 brass heatsink?

A: Yes, the H502 brass heatsink is compatible with the X1012. However, you will need an additional 4pcs M2.5×12+3 mm spacers to install it between the X1012 and the H502 heatsink.