An American startup has designed the biggest PCIe 4.0 expansion card in history. The latter allows you to add no less than 21 SSDs to a computer.
An American startup called Apex Storage has launched a expansion card which brings together superlatives. There X21 sports 21 slots for M2 SSDs in PCIe 4.0 on a double-format printed circuit board, for a maximum of 168 TB of data. Bandwidth is to match, with a theoretical throughput that can reach a maximum of 107 GB / s write and 70 GB / s write, in a multi-card configuration. To be able to bring together so many SSDs on such a surface – the card still measuring 274.2 mm long – the designers had to play tricks. The Apex Storage X21 is actually made up of a heat sink sandwiched between two circuit boardswhich themselves house the SSD slots.
Mike Spicer, the founder of Apex Storage, already has the Storage Scaler to his credit, a map concept equivalent to the X21. This expansion kit, the production of which was financed through a Kickstarter campaign, proposed at the time to bring together no less than 16 SSDs on a compact format card. The success of this product prompted him to design the Apex Storage X21. Both devices have in common to adopt the PCIe 4.0 interface.
The Apex Storage X21 unites 21 SSDs for a total storage of 168 TB
Fans of speed and high speeds will regret that Me Spicer did not adopt the PCIe 5.0 specification, which would have had the advantage of doubling the transfer rates, already excellent on paper, of the Apex Storage X21. We suspect thatsuch material is not designed for the general public. Apex Storage does not reveal the price of its product, but such a combination of quantity of storage and performance undoubtedly comes at a high price.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 and Intel’s Raptor Lake processors supporting PCIe 5.0 were released between August and October 2022. While a few SSD models with this interface are tentatively announced by manufacturers, we don’t actually see any products yet. of this type on our shelves. 2023 should therefore be a year full of announcements.
Source: Apex Storage