Specifications
Vendor
Montage Technology
M88RT61632
PCIe 6.x / CXL 3.x retimer
M88RT51632
PCIe 5.0 / CXL 2.0 retimer
Product Class
High-speed serial link retimer (signal conditioner)
Protocols
PCIe and CXL over the same physical layer
Generations Covered
PCIe 5.0 / CXL 2.0 and PCIe 6.x / CXL 3.x
Function
Recovers and retransmits the high-speed link to extend usable trace length and restore eye margin
Why Retimers
At PCIe 5.0 and above, channel loss over a backplane or riser exceeds what a passive channel can carry
Typical Placements
Host-to-riser, host-to-backplane, accelerator-to-host, and CXL memory attach paths
Server Class
AI server, general-purpose server, storage server, high-speed interconnect
Ecosystem Role
Complements CPU/GPU lane allocation by making long, lossy channels usable
Vendor Family
Part of Montage's PCIe/CXL interconnect line alongside the M88MX MXC memory controllers
Availability
Contact for quote — design-in support and volume pricing on request
Overview
The faster a serial link runs, the shorter its usable channel becomes. By PCIe 5.0 the loss budget over a typical server backplane or accelerator riser already exceeds what passive copper can deliver, and PCIe 6.x with PAM4 signalling pushes it further still. A retimer sits in the middle of the channel, recovers the incoming signal, and retransmits it with fresh amplitude and timing so the link can span a distance the raw channel could not.
Montage Technology builds retimers for both of the current attach points. The M88RT61632 covers PCIe 6.x and CXL 3.x, and the M88RT51632 covers PCIe 5.0 and CXL 2.0. Because CXL rides the same physical layer as PCIe, one retimer design serves both a GPU or NIC riser and a CXL memory attach path — which is convenient in a server where the two are increasingly mixed.
Retimers are unglamorous but they are frequently the reason a dense GPU server can be built at all: they are what makes it possible to place accelerators, DPUs and CXL memory cards at a distance from the CPU in a large chassis without failing link training. In tiered-memory designs that pair a Montage MXC controller with a long CXL run to the memory module, the retimer is part of the same signal chain.
QS Compute supplies Montage PCIe/CXL retimers alongside the accelerators, NICs, CXL memory expanders and cabling that make up a high-speed server interconnect bill of materials.
Key Benefits
Extends PCIe and CXL reach past the limit of passive copper at Gen5 and Gen6 rates. Both generations available — PCIe 6.x/CXL 3.x and PCIe 5.0/CXL 2.0. One part serves two protocols since CXL shares the PCIe physical layer. Same vendor as the CXL MXC line for a coherent interconnect and memory roadmap.
Applications
GPU, NIC and DPU riser links in dense AI servers · CXL memory attach paths · backplane and midplane links · storage-server host paths · any Gen5/Gen6 channel exceeding passive loss budget
Request a Quote — MONTAGE M88RT61632 / M88RT51632 — PCIE AND CXL RETIMERS FOR AI SERVER INTERCONNECT
QS Compute — global B2B supply of AI computing hardware, edge AI systems and accelerators. Volume pricing, 15-day sample lead time.
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