Akitio Thunder3 PCIe SSD review: Blazingly fast external storage for rich kids - endothervitur

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• As fast as an internal PCIe NVMe SSD
• Attractive styling
• DisplayPort output

Cons

• Fabulously expensive

Our Verdict

This blazingly alacritous external Thunderbolt 3 drive earns four stars contempt its whopping $1,300 price tag. If the cost doesn't enervate you, the 2GBps transplant rates testament amaze, not to mention save you wads of clip.

If you'd walked away our test bed patc we were testing Akitio's Thunder3 PCIe SSD, external drive, you'd probably have stopped up and finished a double-take. 2GBps transfers from an international driving force? Nobelium agency.

How could this possibly be, you ask? The Thunderbolt 3 interface is basically PCIe over a wire, and features a massive 5GBps transfer rate. The Thunder3 PCIe SSD is a stylish-looking, Bombshell 3 enclosure that contains a single PCIe slot. Put over a 1.2GB Intel 750 NVMe SSD in said slot, and for all intents and purposes, it's the corresponding as putting it in an internal PCIe slot. 2GBps? Thunderbolt 3 isn't even breaking a sweat.

Alas, this marvelous demonstration of late technology isn't cheap. In reality, at $1,299, which includes the $800-plus get (OR symmetrical $1,270 on Amazon), it's not even within shouting distance of low-priced. But dang, if its zip isn't enticing.

Computer hardware

The silver-hued Thunder3 PCIe SSD measures some 9.2 inches profound, by 6 inches tall, by 3 inches fanlike. That's large, just requirement to accommodate all types of PCIe cards, including full-height and double-width if necessary. In this case, the card is the single-width, low-profile Intel 750, which means more room for airflow to keep IT cool. The back of the drive sports two Thunderbolt 3 ports, as well as what the online specs say is a individualist DisplayPort 1.1 port.

The Thunderbolt 3 micro chip is an Intel Highland Ridge, which supports DisplayPort 1.2, simply Akitio informed us that there have been issues with some 1.2 displays, so it's sticking with DP 1.1. Note that Bombshell 3 uses the duplicate Type-C connector as USB 3.x, merely requires a Thomas More expensive transmission line with embedded electronics. A Thunderbolt 3 cable television is enclosed with the force. And no, the Thunder3 PCIe SSD won't work with USB 3.1.

Akitio

If your laptop features Thunderbolt 3, it's quite possible that the Thunder3 PCIe SSD will be multiple times faster than your internal warehousing.

Our test corner came pre-populated with the Intel 750 SSD, but captive thumbscrews on the back make opening the unit and adding your ain PCIe card SSD a snap. So yes, you can pay $400 for the box and roll your own adapter card/M.2 PCIe solution.

Performance

We've already told you that the Thunder3 PCIe SSD is truly, really sudden, but there's null like a graph or two to drive home that level. We've enclosed internally decorated Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe and Intel 750 SSDs to illustrate the comparatively even performance between internal and extrinsic PCIe.

The Akitio Thunder3 PCIe SSD at the end of a Bolt 3 cable really outperformed two internal NVMe drives in perfect sequential read speed.

The Atech Flash VX-2SSD, a in no time external USB 3.1/SATA RAID enclosure that would dominate most external beat back graphs, seems slothful by comparison. Though not shown, random access times are in line with an internal NVMe SSD as intimately—0.03 to 0.06 milliseconds.

As shown below, the Thunder3 PCIe SSD's carrying out bu squashes that of other external drives. Especially plain USB 3.0 hard drives such as the Seagate Backup Plus Slim and WD My Passport Receiving set Pro. Then again, the Akitio labour costs nearly 30 times more than a plain 2TB USB 3.0 drive. Ouch.

There's simply no comparison between the Akitio Thunder3 PCIe SSD and normal USB storage in terms of unsanded throughput.

We used an Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard with an Asus Thunderex 3 expansion card loving to its Bolt header for examination. Note that the Thunder3 PCIe SSD is not congruous with Oculus sinister X, and you hindquarters't flush from it.

Final exam thoughts

The Akitio Thunder3 PCIe SSD is a great product, and a delight to use. But, of course, we didn't have to pay out for information technology. The almost $1,300 price tag beautiful much relegates the pre-inhabited version to deep-pocketed early adopters and cannonball along freaks, or multimedia system yield types in a hurry. Even $400 for the enclosure is sure to make the average substance abuser blanch. I, and I suspect the majority of the public, will cope with those $80 2TB, 130MBps USB 3.0 drives for a bit thirster. Suspire.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/416164/akitio-thunder3-pcie-ssd-review-blazingly-fast-external-storage-for-rich-kids.html

Posted by: endothervitur.blogspot.com

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