# Expanding a Home Server with OCuLink NVMe Storage and Comparing Samsung 990 Pro with Intel Optane

DevFeed: [Expanding a Home Server with OCuLink NVMe Storage and Comparing Samsung 990 Pro with Intel Optane](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/thought-i-ran-out-of-pcie-lanes-i-was-wrong-10617.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://technotim.com/posts/oculink-nvme/>)

Author: Techno Tim

Published: 2025-04-26T13:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Techno Tim](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/techno-tim.md>)

Topics: [Homelab](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/homelab.md>), [Hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hardware.md>), [Latency](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/latency.md>), [cloud-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud-infrastructure.md>), [intel](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/intel.md>), [samsung](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/samsung.md>), [servers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/servers.md>)

Tags: [hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hardware.md>), [home-server](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/home-server.md>), [homelab](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/homelab.md>), [intel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/intel.md>), [latency](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/latency.md>), [pcie](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pcie.md>), [samsung](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/samsung.md>), [server](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/server.md>), [tests](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tests.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial documents expanding a home server with additional NVMe storage through OCuLink. It explains how to inspect NVMe drives, PCIe lane assignments, negotiated speeds, SMART data, and benchmark results while comparing a Samsung 990 Pro with an Intel Optane P1600X. The reported results show lower latency and higher IOPS for the Optane drive, while the Samsung drive achieves higher raw transfer speeds.

## Source excerpt

I thought I had no PCIe lanes left -- but OCuLink opened a new path. 📺 Watch Video Info Today, I expand my home server with more NVMe storage, put a Samsung 990 Pro and Intel Optane head-to-head, and show just how much you can still get out of a packed system. Tests I decided to test each drive to be sure that I wasn't being throttled and that I was getting the highest speeds my motherboa...