09-09-2024, 01:52 AM
Icy Dock Makes the M.2 SSD Easily Swappable with ExpressSlot MB204MP-B AIC Dock
We've seen plenty of PCIe x16 add-on cards that put out four M.2 NVMe slots, but noting quite like this. The Icy Dock ExpressSlot MB204MP-B lets you swap in and out four M.2 NVMe drives. They can even be hot-swappable, provided your host platform and software support it. The technological part of the card is simple—there is no bridge chip, it relies on the host's PCIe lane bifurcation to turn a x16 slot to four M.2 slots with x4 wiring, each. The four drives have their own link/activity LED. A 50 mm lateral blower fan ventilates the four drives. Much of the innovation is in the way the drives can be installed and swapped or even hot-swapped. Intel VROC or AMD RAID technologies on platforms such as Xeon W "Sapphire Rapids" and Ryzen Threadripper 7000-series, should also lend RAID features.
Each of the four M.2 slots comes in contact with a caddy. This aluminium caddy lets you place an M.2 Gen 5 (or older) SSD, with sizes of up to M.2-2280. You're supposed to place a bare drive, as a thermal pad transfers heat from the drive to the caddy's body, which doubles up as a heatsink, under the airflow of the dock's lateral airflow fan. The dock includes four caddies, but you can buy more separately from the company. Icy Dock innovated a mechanism with which the caddy simply slots into the dock, and is elected at the flip of a spring-loaded lever. The dock requires a 6-pin PCIe power connection, so it has 150 W of power budget for the four Gen 5 SSDs. The company didn't reveal pricing.
https://www.techpowerup.com/326189/icy-d...b-aic-dock
We've seen plenty of PCIe x16 add-on cards that put out four M.2 NVMe slots, but noting quite like this. The Icy Dock ExpressSlot MB204MP-B lets you swap in and out four M.2 NVMe drives. They can even be hot-swappable, provided your host platform and software support it. The technological part of the card is simple—there is no bridge chip, it relies on the host's PCIe lane bifurcation to turn a x16 slot to four M.2 slots with x4 wiring, each. The four drives have their own link/activity LED. A 50 mm lateral blower fan ventilates the four drives. Much of the innovation is in the way the drives can be installed and swapped or even hot-swapped. Intel VROC or AMD RAID technologies on platforms such as Xeon W "Sapphire Rapids" and Ryzen Threadripper 7000-series, should also lend RAID features.
Each of the four M.2 slots comes in contact with a caddy. This aluminium caddy lets you place an M.2 Gen 5 (or older) SSD, with sizes of up to M.2-2280. You're supposed to place a bare drive, as a thermal pad transfers heat from the drive to the caddy's body, which doubles up as a heatsink, under the airflow of the dock's lateral airflow fan. The dock includes four caddies, but you can buy more separately from the company. Icy Dock innovated a mechanism with which the caddy simply slots into the dock, and is elected at the flip of a spring-loaded lever. The dock requires a 6-pin PCIe power connection, so it has 150 W of power budget for the four Gen 5 SSDs. The company didn't reveal pricing.
https://www.techpowerup.com/326189/icy-d...b-aic-dock