ASRock to Launch Hyper Quad M.2 PCIe 4.0 Expansion Card

[Raevenlord]

ASRock is looking to launch a PCIe expansion card for all of your M.2 needs. Should you find your current motherboard is already full to the gills with M.2 SSDs, ASRock's Hyper Quad M.2 PCIe expansion card will allow you to increase M.2 vacancy by up to four additional slots (there's an on-off toggle for you to move in the PCB to select the active M.2 SSDs). The card uses the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface to sufficiently feed the four M.2 SSDs (which typically use the PCIe 4x NVMe protocol) with data.

This is a top notch expansion card design, featuring an aluminium cover and a 50 mm fan to cool down all those SSDs' controllers. The cover features 4x 110 mm thermal pads which align with the M.2 mounts on the PCB, thus allowing the aluminium cover to serve as a veritable heatsink and improve operating temperatures. The expansion card is fed by a single 6-pin power connector, and there is an activity LED for quality of life improvements. No word on pricing just yet.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Daven]

Can you configure the 4x cards in a RAID array?

 

[thesmokingman]

Can you configure the 4x cards in a RAID array?

That's the idea. Though the mb would need to support bifurication.

 

[Deleted member 193706]

Reminds me of the old Gigabyte I-RAM drives Come to think of it, didnt OCZ have a similar thing? (ie: with DDR dimms not M2/nvme drives)

 

[bug]

Only one problem with this: no consumer motherboard can spare a 16x PCIe4 slot today. Unless you remove the graphics card.

 

[Deleted member 193706]

Only one problem with this: no consumer motherboard can spare a 16x PCIe4 slot today. Unless you remove the graphics card.

2x pcie 4.0 x16 - 8x8 would be just fine

 

[firewrath9]

Only one problem with this: no consumer motherboard can spare a 16x PCIe4 slot today. Unless you remove the graphics card.

TRX40?
They have 64 PCIe lanes. The ASRock TRX40 Creator can run in 16x+16x+8x mode, so you can have a GPU in the 16x and 8x slots and this in another 16x slot. Might be useful to have for video editors that need lots of fast storage i guess.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Can you configure the 4x cards in a RAID array?

It'd be only software RAID I believe... For something truly enthusiast, I'd recommend getting a Highpoint Storage SSD7103 4x m.2 RAID adapter that can do hardware RAID 0/1/10 and is Bootable (it can also do a single raid array across multiple adapters). It's PCIe 3.0, but I'm sure they'll have a PCIe 4.0 version soon.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

The airflow for this is going to be pretty whack.... the way the SSDs are positioned is going to mean that some get airflow and some dont at all and even then its going to be heavily restricted

 

[thesmokingman]

Only one problem with this: no consumer motherboard can spare a 16x PCIe4 slot today. Unless you remove the graphics card.

This is for HEDT and servers.

The airflow for this is going to be pretty whack.... the way the SSDs are positioned is going to mean that some get airflow and some dont at all and even then its going to be heavily restricted

This. I'ved used the Gigabyte AIC card and its overheat city. Remove the stupid shroud and slap on heatsinks.

Build: 3970x, dual 2080ti, 8TB m.2 RAID = Render Monster

Setup hwinfo and RTSS, kind of time consuming but it is nice. Probably on Sun evening we'll start loading the content apps and get to hammering it with some real loads. I need to take some final shots too I suppose. Also, this loop is configured to monitor water temps and not cpu temps, to...

hardforum.com

 

[TheLostSwede]

It'd be only software RAID I believe... For something truly enthusiast, I'd recommend getting a Highpoint Storage SSD7103 4x m.2 RAID adapter that can do hardware RAID 0/1/10 and is Bootable (it can also do a single raid array across multiple adapters). It's PCIe 3.0, but I'm sure they'll have a PCIe 4.0 version soon. View attachment 142128

I think your confused, that's a "fake" RAID card, as there's no local cache or battery backup. That's just as useful as soft RAID.

 

[newtekie1]

I think your confused, that's a "fake" RAID card, as there's no local cache or battery backup. That's just as useful as soft RAID.

It still has it's own RAID controller, so significantly better than software RAID.

 

[thesmokingman]

It still has it's own RAID controller, so significantly better than software RAID.

These cards are for RAID 0, which is wasted on a hw solution.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It still has it's own RAID controller, so significantly better than software RAID.

No, it doesn't. Go look up the spec and you'll see it has no such thing.
It has a pair of these, which are PCIe 3.0 switches.

PEX 8747

The ExpressLane PEX 8747 is a 48-lane, 5-port, PCIe Gen 3 switch device developed on 40nm technology. The PEX 8747 device offers Multi-Host PCI Express switching capability enabling users to connect a host to its respective endpoints via scalable, high bandwidth, non-blocking interconnection to...

www.broadcom.com

They've added a bit of software that allows you to make a fake RAID and that's it.
There's no real CPU offloading, there's as I said, no onboard cache, nor any battery backup, so this is not a hardware RAID card.

It also has one of these, for some reason (SATA support?)

https://www.marvell.com/documents/xnzfwfktuicdpjakssrh/

Apparently it's not particularly good either.

Highpoint 7102

My Thoughts On The Highpoint SSD7103 tested in Mac Pro 5,1 Initial impression is that the card is very well built. The board itself is high quality and I was pleasantly surprised to see the silicon on the pair of PEX8747. I wish I had nothing but good things to say, unfortunately that's not...

forums.macrumors.com

It's also $450, compared to $50-100 for something like the ASRock card.

 

[he_found_you]

software (Win10) RAID is simpler and usually faster than either way of connecting NVMe https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/NVMe-RAID-0-Performance-in-Windows-10-Pro-1369/

If you think about it, it's logical - the NVMe connection is the fastest way for data to travel between CPU and storage. Having PCI-E bifurcation - which is required for the M.2 x16 riser cards to work and putting more PCI splitters only adds latency to an already good protocol.
So if your CPU and MB give enough lanes, and you can somehow map each PCI lane to an NVMe drive's lane, it's irrelevant how you make your RAID.

 

[Axaion]

thats gonna be real toasty, heh

 

[bonehead123]

wait...doesn't ASUS already own the "Hyper M.2 card" moniker ?

Or did ASRock license it from them or what ?

 

[er557]

using this card

Amazon.com: ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 PCIe 3.0 X4 Expansion Card V2 Supports 4 NVMe M.2 (2242/2260/2280/22110) Upto 128 Gbps for Intel VROC and AMD Ryzen Threadripper NVMe Raid : Electronics

Buy ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 PCIe 3.0 X4 Expansion Card V2 Supports 4 NVMe M.2 (2242/2260/2280/22110) Upto 128 Gbps for Intel VROC and AMD Ryzen Threadripper NVMe Raid: USB Port Cards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

my mobo bifurcates the lanes, and I still can run 2x gpu @each pcie 3.0 x16, a marvell pcie sata controller, and a pcie soundblaster z card.

I also bought this

Amazon.com

initially, but it only has room for two drives, and is now a spare host for future use for nvme on boards that support but dont have the physical interface.

The more expensive controller cards do exist that have a bridge chip, hardware raid, and all the bells and whistles, but I dont accept splurging 400$ for them.

 

[kapone32]

These are for HEDT or people on X570 that have a 5500XT as the 2nd x16 slot should have 8 lanes available to run 2 drives. Well I have 2 of the PCI_E 3.0 variants in my rig and I absolutely love them. The difference between a hardware and software RAID using these cards is minimal. The temps are never more than 45 C on any drive I have in the enclosure. There is also the fact that you can set these up to run 4x,4x4,4x4x4, and 4x4x4x4. As I see up to 7000 MB/s sequential with 4 660Ps I can only imagine how fast 2 or 4 PCIE_4.0 drives would be using this adapter. The build quality and thermal materials are also very good.

TRX40?
They have 64 PCIe lanes. The ASRock TRX40 Creator can run in 16x+16x+8x mode, so you can have a GPU in the 16x and 8x slots and this in another 16x slot. Might be useful to have for video editors that need lots of fast storage i guess.

Actually I think there is one more 8 lane PCI_E slot. On my X399 I have 1 of these fully populated and another with 2 with my 2 GPUs.

 

[mak1skav]

Is this the same card that is included with the ASRock TRX40 Creator motherboard? There is a build video in Youtube using one and the transfer speed looked quite good.

 

[newtekie1]

No, it doesn't. Go look up the spec and you'll see it has no such thing.
It has a pair of these, which are PCIe 3.0 switches.

PEX 8747

The ExpressLane PEX 8747 is a 48-lane, 5-port, PCIe Gen 3 switch device developed on 40nm technology. The PEX 8747 device offers Multi-Host PCI Express switching capability enabling users to connect a host to its respective endpoints via scalable, high bandwidth, non-blocking interconnection to...

www.broadcom.com

They've added a bit of software that allows you to make a fake RAID and that's it.
There's no real CPU offloading, there's as I said, no onboard cache, nor any battery backup, so this is not a hardware RAID card.

It also has one of these, for some reason (SATA support?)

https://www.marvell.com/documents/xnzfwfktuicdpjakssrh/

Apparently it's not particularly good either.

Highpoint 7102

My Thoughts On The Highpoint SSD7103 tested in Mac Pro 5,1 Initial impression is that the card is very well built. The board itself is high quality and I was pleasantly surprised to see the silicon on the pair of PEX8747. I wish I had nothing but good things to say, unfortunately that's not...

forums.macrumors.com

It's also $450, compared to $50-100 for something like the ASRock card.

I wonder how they are making it bootable then?

 

[kapone32]

Is this the same card that is included with the ASRock TRX40 Creator motherboard? There is a build video in Youtube using one and the transfer speed looked quite good.

Yes it is. I guess that they have decided like Asus to sell the card as is.

 

[er557]

I wonder how they are making it bootable then?

because it has a physical additional controller from marvell/highpoint in addition to the pcie bridge chips, hence it supports boards that dont bifurcate natively, and even those without nvme support(any uefi pcie mobo). However, latency and throughput suffers and good luck with that 500$.

 

[InVasMani]

because it has a physical additional controller from marvell/highpoint in addition to the pcie bridge chips, hence it supports boards that dont bifurcate natively, and even those without nvme support(any uefi pcie mobo). However, latency and throughput suffers and good luck with that 500$.

That's some sticker shock.

 

[MRFS]

> "(there's an on-off toggle for you to move in the PCB to select the active M.2 SSDs) "

I believe the article is incorrect where it describes the DIP switches on the ASRock 4x4 AIC (see above):

ASRock's implementation supports multiple AICs, not merely four M.2 SSDs on a single AIC.
This graphic clearly shows 4 x AICs at lower right:

https://www.asrock.com/mb/features/Ultra-Quad-M2-Card05.jpg

If anyone is interested in some slightly dated documentation,
ASRock's Tech Support responded very promptly when we
requested documentation for designing a bootable RAID-0 array
on an AMD TR system using this Ultra Quad M.2 card:

Index of /systems/asrock/X399

supremelaw.org

Is this the same card that is included with the ASRock TRX40 Creator motherboard? There is a build video in Youtube using one and the transfer speed looked quite good.

Probably NOT: check with the seller, to be sure.

The Gen4 version was only announced very recently, so
there's a good chance the Gen3 version is the one that
is included with the ASRock TRX40 Creator motherboard.

I don't see any AIC in this documentation, just 3 integrated M.2 ports:

https://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/item/13/157/13-157-902/PCIeSteel-TRX40%20Creator_112719.jpg

EDIT: found this at Newegg's product page:

"ASRock Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA3) "

-and-

"M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen4 x4 (64Gb/s)*
* Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks"

Latter is NOT listed under "Accessories" however.

Hope this helps.

that's a "fake" RAID card, as there's no local cache or battery backup. That's just as useful as soft RAID.

For desktop systems, a functional substitute for an on-card battery
is a UPS / battery backup for the entire system, of which there are
now many to choose from e.g. APC now offers versions that
output a pure sine wave, instead of a digital "stair-step" approximation.

The one big disadvantage of an OS "software RAID" is that Windows will not boot from such a software RAID.
I can conceive of a way to make an OS software RAID bootable, e.g. by writing config files to a USB thumb drive
and choosing a related option in the motherboard's BIOS: but, MS has chosen NOT to consider such an option.

On the other hand, with so many cores in modern CPUs, an otherwise idle core is available
to do the computation that a dedicated RAID processor performed in older implementations.

Think of "bifurcation" as moving that "dedicated RAID controller" back into the CPU
to perform as a general-purpose central processor.

Re: on-board cache for dedicated RAID controller

See:

Adaptive SSD Program: A Hybrid Storage Solution | Enmotus

Enmotus offers gaming optimized SSDs with AI-managed programs that deliver maximum storage, instantaneous response, and gold level endurance. Shop here.

www.enmotus.com

When a RAID-0 array is enabled, the caches that may exist in each M.2 SSD
are effectively summed, to produce a much larger "aggregate" cache.

The MiDrive goes even further by moving most recently used files into SLC,
and moving the least recently used files into QLC.

I expect that we are now seeing only the beginning of extraordinary
engineering possibilities, now that storage vendors have recognized
the upstream potential of x16 expansion slots.