Icy Dock has introduced the ExpressSlot MB204MP-B device, which turns a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot into four M.2 slots for high-speed solid-state drives, with support for hot swapping and RAID. The new product is designed for those who require ultra-fast storage and for those who use systems with high-performance desktop processors such as AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Intel Xeon W.
Image source: Icy Dock
The ExpressSlot MB204MP-B does not have its own built-in PCIe switch, so the adapter requires special motherboards that have a switch. Specifically, these are boards for AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Intel Xeon W processors that can split 16 PCIe lanes across four M.2 PCie x4 slots, and also offer support for AMD RAID or Intel VROC (Virtual RAID over CPU) technologies for multiple SSDs could work in various RAID modes (0/1/5/10).
When installing four PCIe 5.0 drives, the ExpressSlot MB204MP-B expansion card can theoretically provide sequential read speeds of up to 56 GB/s. For example, four SSDs, each offering up to 10 GB/s sequential read/write speeds, can provide up to 40 GB/s combined read/write speeds.
For additional power, the Icy Dock ExpressSlot MB204MP-B adapter uses a 6-pin PCIe connector. In addition, the new product is equipped with a cooling system with a 50 mm tangential fan. The fan can be turned off if desired, although probably at the cost of performance, since PCIe 5.0 NVMe drives in most cases require the use of a very efficient cooling system. The new product supports drives up to 2280 format.
The cost of ExpressSlot MB204MP-B has not been announced. But given that the device doesn’t have its own PCIe switch, it shouldn’t be expensive. And yet, the new product is designed not for ordinary mass-produced PCs, but for professional workstations.