(Pulling up from child comment)<p>The chip this uses is likely a PM4x100 (x ∈ {0, 1, 2}) from Microchip (formerly Microsemi (formerly PMC-Sierra)):<p><a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM40100" rel="nofollow">https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM40100</a><p>^ runs you $800 without bulk discounts [<a href="https://www2.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology-Atmel/PM40100B1-FEI?qs=TuK3vfAjtkVxKfKx2Q%2F8sw%3D%3D" rel="nofollow">https://www2.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology-A...</a>] — if you can get them, that is.<p><a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM41100" rel="nofollow">https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM41100</a><p><a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM42100" rel="nofollow">https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM42100</a><p>^ these latter two I don't see publicly listed prices for anywhere.<p>The PCIe 5.0 equivalent is in "Samples available", i.e. not full production yet, which is likely why the card only does PCIe 4.0:<p><a href="https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM50100" rel="nofollow">https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/PM50100</a>
> the manufacturer confirmed that the X21 offers 100 PCIe lanes, suggesting the presence of a PCIe switch.<p>Almost like it's custom designed for a particular application where money's no concern... Perhaps someone in Utah needs big rainbow tables?
Does anyone else marvel at data throughputs nowadays? People talk about 5GB/s NVME cards as being "slow." Same with Internet speeds. It's unreal the progress that we've made (and continue to make.)
What are the current strategies for leveraging NVMe speed & volume in a NAS?<p>When I look at NAS offerings, I see lots of 2.5" and 3.5" bays and 1Gbe (maaaybe 10Gbe at the high end) which is a bit stifling.
Really hope they release a smaller version for home use.<p>Something with say 8 slots would turn all those gen 4 pcie gaming motherboards retiring soon into a great NAS.<p>Asus I think already makes a similar one but it isn't fanless
This nice approach has at least these drawbacks:<p>1. Swapping drives is hard<p><pre><code> * may be overcome by declaring failure domain = node
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2. No powerloss protection advertised to OS, ie. slow synchronous writes<p><pre><code> * may be overcome by software hacks and whole-system battery supply
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3. Potential slowdown on continuous write load (weeks or months, depending on drive)<p><pre><code> * may be overcome by software in _some_ situations
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At least the last two points are a no-go for enterprise use-cases, if not addressed.
>Apex Storage doesn't reveal the inner details of the X21<p>>In a single-card configuration, the X21 delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 30.5 GBps and 28.5 GBps, respectively.<p>did they test it or reprint press release?<p>>According to Apex Storage<p>ah<p>>The AIC has an average read and write access latency of 79us and 52us<p>that doesnt make sense unless its additional latency of controller or they ship it populated with drieves.<p>>However, Apex Storage didn't expose the type of RAID arrays. The X21 also flaunts "enterprise-grade reliability," NVMe 2.0 support, advanced EEC, data protection, and error recovery. Apex Storage didn't reveal the pricing or availability for the X21.<p>so only revealed performance figures and pictures<p>Their previous product was a fancy looking bracket for holding 16 SATA M.2 drives <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/storage-scaler/storage-scaler-16-x-m2-sata-iii-ssd-expansion-card" rel="nofollow">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/storage-scaler/storage-...</a>.<p>>A cross platform drop in card that can massively increase the amount of storage for your computer using cost effective m.2 SSDs.<p>You had to read fine print to realized its just a m.2 stand requiring proper 16 port SATA controller to function. It still hasnt shipped to this day. Im mildly optimistic.
I wonder how the SSDs are exposed to the OS.<p>While dealing with the Samsung Pro Firmware issue, I read that SSDs mounted on a hardware RAID controller need to be removed from the RAID in order to have their Firmware update applied, since Samsung's tool won't see the SSDs if they are placed on the controller.