marat 1 Hi everyone,
I’m trying to run a true dual discrete GPU setup (no iGPU) on a Minisforum BD895i-SE ( BD795i-SE - same motherboard basically) and hitting a wall with pcie connection setup and device detection.
Hardware:
Motherboard: Minisforum BD895i-SE ( Ryzen 9 8945HX ) or BD795i-SE equivalent #
Bifurcation card: 10Gtek PCIe 5.0 x16 → 2× MCIO 8i ( XRET5032 retimer chip, slot-powered only )
Cables: standard SFF-TA-1016 MCIO cables ( 50 cm ) #
Two downstream adapters: MCIO-to-PCIe 5.0 x16 full-height boards (each with own aux power) #
GPUs: 2× AMD AI PRO R9700 ( ≈300 W each, RDNA4 ) #
PSU: be quiet! Power Zone 2 1200 W ( native 12V-2×6 connectors + dedicated power lines to each downstream board )
BIOS: 1.15, bifurcation set to x8/x8 ( tested Auto / Gen5 / Gen4 / Gen3 ), iGPU + Hybrid Graphics disabled, ReBAR enabled
Problem:
Single R9700 ( direct in slot or any side of bifurcation ) → works perfectly ( Gen5/Gen4 x8, full speed in lspci )
Both GPUs powered on → only one card enumerates randomly ( lspci shows only one device ) . The other card doesn’t show up at all. Unplugging power from one GPU makes the other work instantly. This happens 100% of the time, no matter the order of permutations.
I already ruled out basic power delivery ( PSU is overkill, every component has its own aux power ).
Question:
Has anyone here successfully run two discrete GPUs on the BD895i-SE / BD795i-SE using a retimer/MCIO bifurcation setup?
Which host bifurcation card worked for you? ADT-Link / JMT F36B-F37B-D8S with aux power? LR-Link LRSV9501-2E? C-Payne? something else?
Did you need to drop to Gen4 or were you able to stay on Gen5?
Any special BIOS tricks or kernel parameters that made dual dGPU stable?
I’m trying to avoid dropping $1500+ on a full desktop AM5 platform ( B850 AI TOP + 9900X + DDR5 ) if I can salvage this setup with a better-powered retimer card < $300. Would really appreciate any real-world experience.
Thanks in advance — this forum has saved me many times before!
hey - any success or more information? I’m looking at doing the same thing with the same motherboard. Thanks!