Raspberry Pi 5 AI Kit with NVMe Base and Camera?

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I have a Raspberry Pi 5, a NVMe Base for Raspberry Pi 5, and an Raspberry Pi Camera connected to my setup. I’m considering adding the Raspberry Pi AI Kit but I’m not sure if there are enough slots available to support it. Does anyone know if this is possible?

Also, is there a case that can support both the NVMe base and the AI Kit without needing modifications?

Thanks in advance!

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This article might help.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/4-way-nvme-raid-comes-raspberry-pi-5
As Jeff says:- the Pi 5 only exposes one lane (x1) of PCI Express Gen 2, you need a PCI Express switch chip (much like a network switch) to split that single lane into four connections.

Cheers
Jim

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Hi @Reza,

Just want to clarify if you are wanting to use 2 NVMe devices at once. The AI Kit comes with an M.2 NVMe HAT but is functionally the same as the NVMe Base.
Both can be used with the camera adapter on the Pi 5.

If you require multiple NVMe drives that is possible using an NVMe switch like James said but compatibility with both the AI module and an NVMe drive may be spotty.

Boards such as Pimoroni’s NVMe Base Duo and Waveshare 2 Channel PCIe M.2 might make this possible.

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Just noticed this. Pic on web page shows NVMe card and AI card.

Cheers
Jim

EDIT: Already linked by Aaron.

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How do the kits get power? In both cases, I would lay the devices out differently, sideways, to increase air flow for cooling. The flat cables cannot deliver enough power. There is usually a pin connection.

How do the kits handle PCIe at speed 3? I run my current setup at speed 3 as the NVMe can handle over 1000 MBps.

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Hi @Peter181516,

Quite a few PCIe boards for the Pi 5 use the FPC for power which supplies 5v. It seems to work fine for one or two NVME drives. Most 0.5mm FPC connectors I can find have 0.5A limits per pin. This would allow boards to draw 10W as there are 2x 5v pins in on Pi’s Specs.

It looks like some boards such as Pi’s M.2 HAT may also draw power over the GPIO pins as well.

Most Dual M.2 boards I’ve come across only have a PCIe 2.0 switches on them so would be limited to sharing 1x 2.0 lane.
I personally hope to see board manufacturers start to include 3.0 switches soon as it would allow people to create very competent an compact setups.

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