Angelbird Wings PX1 SSD Adapter

[W1zzard]

Angelbird's Wings PX1 adapter lets you install M.2 SSDs in the motherboard's PCI-Express slots. This approach unlocks full bandwidth for older chipsets. The adapter also comes with a nice metal heatsink that prevents thermal throttling on high-performance M.2 SSDs like the Samsung 950 Pro.

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[Ferrum Master]

Watercooling for SSD's... my near vision.

I use ebay PCIe adapters... one with heatsink one without, they cost really dirt cheap and has lower profile.

It seems it needs to be a with heat-sink.

Seconds... why the PCIE versions preforms better than native M.2 slot... Only Temps or something else, like PCH lanes vs CPU ones?

 

[Breit]

Thanks for the review.
I have an Angelbird Wings PX1 myself for about 6 month now and I'm mostly satisfied with it.
It has a superb build quality and performs equally superb (the Samsung 950pro 512GB in it of course).

But I have to say the white LEDs around the adapters PCB are just plain annoying. They are way too bright and can't even be switched off, at least not without a soldering iron or ghetto-style masking tape. The PCB itself is yellow, but painted black. Unfortunately, it has an unpainted ring around right where the LEDs are placed, which exposes the PCBs natural yellow color. So the light coming from the Wings PX1 is either a very bright white or yellow, depending on the angle you look at it. And it is an ugly kind of yellow which just does not fit any particular color scheme one could have chosen for the innards of its PC.

For a piece of hardware that costs 80€ here in Europe, I would've expected better. At least a small jumper to turn the LEDs completely off would've been nice.

Another minor point of criticism has to go to the mounting screw: In the retail box I received was a simple M3 allen key screw and a complementing nut/spacer which is supposed to double-function as both, the spacer to ensure proper distance of the SSDs PCB to the adapters PCB when mounted and a nut to secure the screw.
Unfortunately these 2 parts alone wouldn't hold the SSD securely in place, since either the nut/spacer can be used as a spacer (mounted betweed the adapter and the SSD or ontop of the SSD as only a nut, but then does not work as a spacer.
The first variant does not hold the SSD at all, while the second variant just puts too much force on the SSD and bends it towards the adapter.
Maybe they just forgot to put the missing second mounting nut in the package on the early versions, who knows?!

Again, for a piece of hardware that costs 80€, I would've expected better.

 

[micropage7]

• No driver installation required

wow, looks nice
sometimes add on cards stuck on drivers where you cant find the driver for your new OS

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Watercooling for SSD's... my near vision.

I use ebay PCIe adapters... one with heatsink one without, they cost really dirt cheap and has lower profile.

It seems it needs to be a with heat-sink.

Seconds... why the PCIE versions preforms better than native M.2 slot... Only Temps or something else, like PCH lanes vs CPU ones?

The performance likely comes down to throttling. the 950 pro is known for running hot, and throttling performance. with the heatsink, that is no longer an issue.


I'd love one of these things, sadly z77 does not support NVMe boot, and I dont want to rip my whole system apart for just a SSD.

 

[Ferrum Master]

The performance likely comes down to throttling. the 950 pro is known for running hot, and throttling performance. with the heatsink, that is no longer an issue.


I'd love one of these things, sadly z77 does not support NVMe boot, and I dont want to rip my whole system apart for just a SSD.

Google up adding nvme module to your bios. You may be lucky. I added without problems and my 950th boots fine in x79.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Google up adding nvme module to your bios. You may be lucky. I added without problems and my 950th boots fine in x79.

I've looked into it, but on my mobo (asus p8z77 v pro) it will work, but you have to manually select the SSD on every boot, which negates the entire point of a NVMe SSD, the speed.

I just bought a 1TB mushkin reactor (which is no longer american made, what a bummer) and an accelsior S from OWC. Works great, and gets rid of all the cable nonsense.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I've looked into it, but on my mobo (asus p8z77 v pro) it will work, but you have to manually select the SSD on every boot, which negates the entire point of a NVMe SSD, the speed.

I just bought a 1TB mushkin reactor (which is no longer american made, what a bummer) and an accelsior S from OWC. Works great, and gets rid of all the cable nonsense.

Never thought of this anomaly. Well as i said... if you are lucky. For me it went all good. Running nice. For an OS drive will never look back to a SATA3 one.

 

[R-T-B]

The performance likely comes down to throttling. the 950 pro is known for running hot, and throttling performance. with the heatsink, that is no longer an issue.


I'd love one of these things, sadly z77 does not support NVMe boot, and I dont want to rip my whole system apart for just a SSD.

It's also probably that the older chipset is providing a a slower m.2 slot than native PCIe would provide. This would not be an issue on Skylake and above.

 

[The Von Matrices]

These LEDs are always on. The only way to "turn them off" is by breaking or unsoldering a zero ohm resistor in the PCB's top-right corner.

This has been bugging me. Is a "zero ohm resistor" an actual thing in electronics, and if so, how is it any different from a wire or PCB trace?

 

[W1zzard]

This has been bugging me. Is a "zero ohm resistor" an actual thing in electronics, and if so, how is it any different from a wire or PCB trace?

It's just a dummy component, basically an always-on switch.

But you can remove (break) it to turn it off and just bridge the solder points somehow to re-enable.

 

[Ferrum Master]

It's just a dummy component, basically an always-on switch.

But you can remove (break) it to turn it off and just bridge the solder points somehow to re-enable.

Put a chewing gum on. Best solution.

 

[W1zzard]

Put a chewing gum on. Best solution.

I dont think that works to either break or make the connection

 

[Ferrum Master]

I dont think that works to either break or make the connection

It blocks the light... it hardens with time (remember places under desks at school) and actually does no harm. MacGyver mode on , we all liked the series, do we?

Also a permanent marker or nail polish can do the job, if really one hates the light. So you can still use this adapter.

No need to damage the PCB or do soldering. Okay, I did actually the same, I replaced the resistor so the LED is very dim and is unseen on mine... but it ain't a solution for everyone, and there is a lot of them here.

 

[Robert Francis]

It's just a dummy component, basically an always-on switch.

But you can remove (break) it to turn it off and just bridge the solder points somehow to re-enable.

The zero ohm parts are for machine insertion. Same size as resistors.

 

[Athlonite]

It's just a dummy component, basically an always-on switch.

But you can remove (break) it to turn it off and just bridge the solder points somehow to re-enable.

so they could just aswell have soldered a damn switch in there instead but were either to cheap and lazy to so

 

[warrior420]

DUDE! wtf?...

You tested this on a motherboard with only a PCI-E 2X M.2 slot...For the motherboard results, of course it's going to be slower. Why didn't you use a motherboard with a 4x (10Gbps) slot?? So we can actually see if this card is really faster. I have a board with 3 PCI-E 4x slots, so don't give me that crap about how no one has these. They are on just about every Z170 board you buy.

Terrible review, IMO. Please re-do it with a motherboard that has a port that can actually utilize a Samsung 950 Pro. If you don't have one, let someone else review it then. This is TechPowerUp, not TechSlowDown...

 

[Breit]

DUDE! wtf?...

You tested this on a motherboard with only a PCI-E 2X M.2 slot...For the motherboard results, of course it's going to be slower. Why didn't you use a motherboard with a 4x (10Gbps) slot?? So we can actually see if this card is really faster. I have a board with 3 PCI-E 4x slots, so don't give me that crap about how no one has these. They are on just about every Z170 board you buy.

Terrible review, IMO. Please re-do it with a motherboard that has a port that can actually utilize a Samsung 950 Pro. If you don't have one, let someone else review it then. This is TechPowerUp, not TechSlowDown...

Everything alright? You seem a little tense...

Why would anyone expect this adapter to be faster than the onboard M.2 slot? Just not a relevant test if you ask me.
The only reason for this is when the used PCIe-Slot is fed by the PCIe lanes from the CPU and not the chipset, whereas the M.2 slot is fed by PCIe lanes from the chipset only. But in this case you know upfront what to expect, so irrelevant either (at least for the usefulness of this adapter).
On X99 for example, all the lanes do come from the CPU, so even there is no need to test this.
I don't get your comment, sorry.