We’ve all heard of M.2 expansion cards, and Asus and ASRock have offered more than one in the past. This time, Asus is back with a Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 equipped with M.2 PCIe 5.0 interfaces. Data rates are set to be impressive!
Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5, 512 Gbps throughput!
With this card, the brand is showcasing a PCIe-format model with a full-length, full-height format, occupying a single slot in the case.
This model offers a total of four M.2 slots compatible with SSDs 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110 in length. Likewise, a thermal pad is present on each port to facilitate thermal dissipation. In addition, a blower fan is also present to improve cooling.
The card will require a 6-pin PCIe power connector, given the power consumption generated by so many SSDs.
With four PCIe 5.0 SSDs, total system bandwidth can reach 512 Gbps in RAID 0, or 128 Gbps per slot.
As for compatibility, things get more complicated. Indeed, on an Intel card, due to the limited number of PCIe 5.0 lines, it’s not impossible that you’ll be limited to two M.2 slots out of four. On the other hand, there’s no problem on the AMD side.
In terms of price, expect to pay around $80 for this model. Availability is expected within a fortnight.
Here’s the Asus product sheet!
