MSI Showcases Upcoming Four-Way M.2 PCIe Expansion Card Based on GPU Cooling Tech

[Raevenlord]

MSI showcased their upcoming overkill solution for users that want to have a dedicated PCIe x16 expansion card - and one that brings the true and final cooling solution to end all thermal throttling. Basically, the company appropriated its Aero cooler, which is used for some of their graphics cards, and applied it to a 4x M.2 expansion card. The result? Up to 50 W of cooling capability with this solution - which can go up to 75 W if users connect the additional 6-pin power connector for the fan to go into overdrive.

It's almost as if MSI was giving users a "yes we can" shout on designing this cooling solution, with the amount of overkill this has. No amount of thermal throttling should occur here - ever. Maybe overcompensating for the M.2 Shield debacle? Whatever the reason, this is certainly a competent cooling solution, and it will be included inside their Threadripper X399 MEG Creation motherboard - an outrageous motherboard, with an outrageous M.2 cooling solution. Balance is brought back to the world. Naturally, the company also has plans to offer their expansion M.2 card as a standalone product.



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[Deleted member 67555]

That's actually neat.
Just wondering if it also has a RAID controller built in.... Would be awesome to have RAID0 x4 on PCI-E x16

 

[dj-electric]

Awesome design but i kinda don't get the 6PIN connector part.
Technically, even 4 very power hungry M.2 drives would not even reach the 30W mark that can be easily provided via PCIE

 

[champsilva]

That's actually neat.
Just wondering if it also has a RAID controller built in.... Would be awesome to have RAID0 x4 on PCI-E x16

Doesnot seems to have.

 

[iO]

Awesome design but i kinda don't get the 6PIN connector part.
Technically, even 4 very power hungry M.2 drives would not even reach the 30W mark that can be easily provided via PCIE

It's needed for full spec conformity as m.2 slots are specified for up to 8 watts and non-GPU PCIe x16 cards are limited to 25W.

 

[Tartaros]

Pretty neat. I'd rather use this than the regular m.2 socket on my mobo.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That's actually neat.
Just wondering if it also has a RAID controller built in.... Would be awesome to have RAID0 x4 on PCI-E x16

Only Plextor (Lite-On) has hinted at such a product so far.

 

[Basard]

No heat pipes, vapor chambers or RGB? I'll pass....

 

[Caring1]

Only Plextor (Lite-On) has hinted at such a product so far.

I thought they had released a card with 4 drives on it, 2 on each side.

Intel better get their arse in to gear and start increasing lane outputs on their CPU's, or instruct Motherboard manufacturers to start adding another chip.

 

[CheapMeat]

Does it have a switch or does it require the board to have bufrication?

 

[bonehead123]

A great idea, if they implement it correctly, with the above mentioned raid capabilities.....

 

[Prima.Vera]

Are there any simmilar kind of cards where you can have bootable RAID on them?? And support older chipsets also?

 

[CheapMeat]

Yes: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7101a-overview.htm

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-n...oller-review-samsung-toshiba-m-2-ssds-tested/

Although I don't see the appeal of hardware RAID compared to software RAID if we're focusing on data integrity.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yes: http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7101a-overview.htm

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-n...oller-review-samsung-toshiba-m-2-ssds-tested/

Although I don't see the appeal of hardware RAID compared to software RAID if we're focusing on data integrity.

That seems a bit different from the Marvell based solutions that will use an NVMe switch, rather than a PCIe switch - https://www.marvell.com/storage/system-solutions/nvme-switches/
As the Marvell switch was designed for storage, it should offer better performance, but I guess we'll have to wait and see once there are some products out.

 

[newtekie1]

Intel better get their arse in to gear and start increasing lane outputs on their CPU's, or instruct Motherboard manufacturers to start adding another chip.

Intel's platform already has plenty of lanes(40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes on the mainstream platform), it is AMD that needs to get their ass in gear.

 

[ypsylon]

I just hope it's not firmware rigged to MSI only motherboards, like it was with all (vendors) early U.2 -> M.2 converters not to mention Thunderbolt cards which work only with board of manufacturer X and not Y or Z without any universal controllers available for everybody.

If it is "open-source" AIC then I like it. 5/5

If not they can choke it.

 

[newtekie1]

I just hope it's not firmware rigged to MSI only motherboards, like it was with all (vendors) early U.2 -> M.2 converters not to mention Thunderbolt cards which work only with board of manufacturer X and not Y or Z without any universal controllers available for everybody.

If it is "open-source" AIC then I like it. 5/5

If not they can choke it.

The card directly wires the PCI-E lanes from the slot to the M.2 slots, so it should work on any motherboard that has an x16 slot.