Thursday, April 7th 2022

Sonnet Announces 8-Port 10Gbps USB-C PCIe 3.0 Adapter Card

Sonnet Technologies today announced the Allegro Pro USB-C 8-Port PCIe Card, the latest offering in the company's popular line of USB PCIe adapter cards. The new Allegro card features eight external USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C ports and fits neatly inside a single-width card space. The Sonnet card is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers with an available x16 PCIe slot, and Mac and Windows computers with Thunderbolt ports when installed in a Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system with an available x16 PCIe slot.

Sonnet's Allegro Pro USB-C 8-Port PCIe Card enables users to connect and power up to eight high-performance USB peripherals to their computer at the same time and provides a full 10 Gbps connection through each port. The Allegro card supports USB bus-powered SSD, SSD RAID, and hard drive devices with up to 7.5 watts of power to every port, without the user having to connect auxiliary power to the card or AC power adapters to the devices for operation.
For broadcasters, post, and AV professionals, the ability to move files quickly to, from, and between multiple USB drives can be critical, but their computers often do not offer enough USB ports, or their onboard I/O is too slow. Sonnet's Allegro Pro USB-C 8-Port PCIe Card makes it simple for users to add eight super-fast 10 Gbps USB-C ports to their setups and benefit from significantly faster data transfers — up to 1,000 MB/s per port at the same time. Even in computers with multiple expansion card slots, every slot can be valuable — installing two 4-port adapter cards may not be an option. The Allegro Pro card is the only one available to feature eight USB-C ports, fitting them neatly on a standard full-height, single-width PCIe card bracket. The card's ports are spaced to enable connection of eight cables — and even USB-C male to USB-A female adapters — at the same time.

Compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux, the Allegro Pro USB-C 8-Port PCIe Card is the only computer card available featuring four USB 3.2 Gen 2 controllers and eight external USB-C ports. With its advanced architecture, the Sonnet card delivers full 10 Gbps bandwidth to each of the ports. This is accomplished by providing each USB controller access to two lanes of PCIe 3.0 bandwidth via an x8 PCIe 3.0 bridge chip, plus by implementing advanced data traffic management to eliminate bandwidth congestion. Sonnet designed the Allegro card with a focus on intelligent power management and delivery for powering connected drives through its ports to deliver reliable operation when multiple drives are connected. The card incorporates advanced technologies including independent power regulation that isolates each port to prevent cross-coupled power glitches — such as when a hard drive spins up after connection — that may cause accidental disconnects of other connected devices.

Availability & Pricing

The Allegro Pro USB-C 8-Port PCIe Card (part number USB3C-8PM-E) is available now from Sonnet and soon from channel partners worldwide at the suggested retail price of 399.99 USD.
Source: Sonnet
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13 Comments on Sonnet Announces 8-Port 10Gbps USB-C PCIe 3.0 Adapter Card

#1
trespot
Make it run on PCIE Gen 4.0 x8 and I'm gonna buy it.
Posted on Reply
#2
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
trespotMake it run on PCIE Gen 4.0 x8 and I'm gonna buy it.
Yeah, this variant is not designed for people who wanna run a dGPU at all
Posted on Reply
#3
trsttte
trespotMake it run on PCIE Gen 4.0 x8 and I'm gonna buy it.
Why? PCIe 3.0 8x is already enough to run the 8 USBs at full speed and if you need that much or even more bandwith you shouldn't be thinking about USB anyway.
Posted on Reply
#4
TheLostSwede
News Editor
What irks me about this product is that it's not offering 20 Gbps ports.
Posted on Reply
#5
trespot
trsttteWhy? PCIe 3.0 8x is already enough to run the 8 USBs at full speed and if you need that much or even more bandwith you shouldn't be thinking about USB anyway.
my bad, I thought it required 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes.
Posted on Reply
#6
defaultluser
based on the price of the 4-port model, this will likely be over $300
Posted on Reply
#7
TheLostSwede
News Editor
defaultluserbased on the price of the 4-port model, this will likely be over $300
I guess you didn't bother reading the last line in the news post?
Posted on Reply
#8
bonehead123
My only questions are:

1. Why has it taken this long for someone, anyone, to release this product ?
2. Why did they bother with gen 3 and not just go with the moar standard/forward looking gen 4 ?

I've always liked Sonnet's stuff and used to have several of their various cards back in the day, but haven't heard much from them lately....
Posted on Reply
#9
DeathtoGnomes
TheLostSwedeI guess you didn't bother reading the last line in the news post?
Source: Sonnet
I did. :cool:
The Allegro card supports USB bus-powered SSD, SSD RAID, and hard drive devices with up to
If you're gonna buy this for storage handling, wouldnt a NAS be better suited?
Posted on Reply
#11
TheLostSwede
News Editor
Minus InfinityIs there a lower cost 4 port version?
Yes. $140.
Posted on Reply
#12
Minus Infinity
TheLostSwedeYes. $140.
Ah thanks for that, I'll check it out. 8 ports is overkill for my needs.
Posted on Reply
#13
defaultluser
TheLostSwedeI guess you didn't bother reading the last line in the news post?
Well, was I wrong?

I guess I'm so fucking used to PRs not includinbg price, that I just tune out the end of each one
Posted on Reply
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