With the need for fast external storage, enclosures that can house the latest NVMe drives are always available. Akasa has listed an aluminum enclosure that promises to provide USB4 speeds up to 40 Gbps for PCIe 5.0 SSDs, hence supporting USB4 and Thunderbolt 3.

The enclosure includes a heatsink with a couple of thermal pads for NVMe drives between 2242 and 2280 spec and has a built-in fan. To take full advantage of the output bandwidth, the enclosure supports up to PCIe 5.0 SSDs. It has a USB Type-C port and a small Type-C cable, supporting multiple operating systems, including macOS and Android. The casing is made of aluminum and has vents on its sides to allow airflow.

However, one couldn't say if the 8,000 RPM fan will be compelling enough or overkill to cool off SSDs with hot controllers. The heatsink with two thermal pads also helps with heat dissipation. The rest of the specifications are as follows:

The USB-IF specifies that the USB4 has a power delivery of up to 100W with a minimum requirement of 7.5W. While Akasa confirms the theoretical bandwidth the enclosure's output provides, it doesn't list any specific transfer speeds—apart from a CDMark benchmark screenshot with its Sequential 1M read/ write speeds of 3,629.72 and 3,475.02 MB/s—but doesn't list the drive it is paired with. There's also no confirmation of compatibility with dual-sided NVMe drives.

The ZikeDrive is one of the fastest enclosures we've tested. If Akasa can match its speed with no compatibility issue with any SSDs (or at least the one we test with), many may look forward to it, depending on the pricing. Naturally, the speed depends on the SSD you're using and its connected device.

The benefit of such enclosures is the ability to swap drives internally. Akasa's enclosure might be tricky since you need to apply the thermal pads and heatsink before mounting the drive. That said, there are USB4 drives with thinner profiles, such as the Adata SE920, so it largely depends on your requirements, preferences, and the investment you intend to make for an external drive.

For now, this drive is not listed on Amazon. However, we should see it listed soon, as Akasa tagged this enclosure as 'upcoming.'

If you want a speedy portable storage drive, you're often better served by pairing one of the best SSD enclosures with an SSD of your choosing than by getting one of the best external SSDs. But just like the drives themselves, the enclosures are not all created equal, particularly when you want the fastest possible speeds.

Right now, the quickest enclosures all use a 40 Gbps USB-C connection that's either labeled as Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 or USB 4, which are cross-compatible sort-of. Thunderbolt devices usually can't work when plugged into the slower: 5, 10 or 20 Gbps USB-C ports that most computers have. But true USB 4 devices are backward compatible with older standards such as USB 3.2 / 3.1.

ZikeDrive, an upcoming USB 4 enclosure from Zike (a maker of accessories such as USB hubs and chargers) promises wide compatibility and new speed records, delivering read speeds in the 3,700 MBps range and writes in the neighborhood of 3,100 MBps. The company sent us a pre-production sample to test and we can affirm that it is the fastest enclosure we've ever tested and meets its targets.

When we tested an Orico M2V01-C4 USB 4 enclosure with a WD Black SN850X PCIe 4.0 SSD inside, we got sequential  read rates of 3,154 MBps and writes of 2,835 MBps on CrystalDiskMark. However, the ZikeDrive, with the same SSD inside ran at 3,791 and 3,158 MBps. Those are improvements of 20.2 and 11.4 percent thanks to the ZikeDrive's ASMedia ASM2464PD-powered controller. 

When we copied 25GB worth of files using DiskBench, the ZikeDrive read at a rate of 1,270 MBps while the Orico delivered 1,219 MBps. However, the roles were oddly reversed when it came to writing as the Orico drive ran at 712 MBps versus 687 MBps for the ZikeDrive. However, given the wide difference in read rates, the ZikeDrive is clearly the better performer.  

Zike just launched an IndieGoGo campaign, hoping to raise $10,000 for the production of the ZikeDrive in the next 30 days. As of this writing, the company had raised $3,000 in just a few hours, making success seem likely. Early backers get the ZikeDrive for just $99, which is $15 to $50 cheaper than a typical 40 Gbps enclosure goes for.  The company estimates that the product will ship as soon as May. 

Design of ZikeDrive

At 4.75 x 2.75 x 0.75 inches, the ZikeDrive is a bit bulky in comparison to other enclosures we've tested such as the Orico M2V01-C4 (4.8 x 2 x 0.7 inches). However, one reason for the heft is that there's a 0.75-inch side chamber where you can store the included, 1.5-inch USB-C to USB-C cable. While it's nice to have a 40 Gbps cable you can stow and take with you, the length is painfully short and you'll probably want to buy a cable of your own.

The rectangular chassis is made from gunmetal gray aluminum with attractive ridges and some black plastic on the sides and in the cable chamber. Our review unit came with an ugly, non-removable clear plastic casing covering the aluminum that is not visible in the IndieGoGo campaign page product pictures. Zike told us not to try to remove the clear plastic and also said that it would be part of the final product so that's disappointing.

Installing an SSD in the ZikeDrive is really simple, but you will need a small philips head screwdriver to tighten the screw that holds the SSD down. The enclosure itself doesn't require any tools to open and close as you just flip up a panel on the top surface to reveal the M.2 slot below it. Conveniently, a heat pad is built into the panel so you don't need to attach a permanent, sticky pad to drive (like you do on many other enclosures).

How We Tested the ZikeDrive

To test the ZikeDrive, we attached it to our ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) testbed laptop's Thunderbolt 4 port and then ran DiskBench copying a 25GB folder both to and from the drive and CrystalDiskMark. We ran the same tests on the Orico M2V01-C4, which is on our list of best SSD enclosures.

We tested with both the WD Black SN850X (1TB) that ZikeDrive sent us and with our own Kingston Fury Renegade (2TB) SSD. The delta between the two enclosures was similar with both SSDs, but the SN850X had much faster write speeds of (3,158 / 2835 MBps versus 1,606 / 1,422 MBps on the Fury Renegade) presumably because it's a faster drive.

Both enclosures were also backward compatible with a 10 Gbps USB-C port on our desktop, showing that they meet USB's standard for backward compatibility.

Bottom Line

Zike claims that the ZikeDrive is the first USB 4 enclosure on the market and faster than Thunderbolt 3 or 4 competitors. However, other enclosures such as the Orico M2V01-C4 are already marketed as USB 4 and deliver backward compatibility with older USB standards.  

What we can say is that the ZikeDrive is much faster than the other enclosures we have tested in most scenarios, especially when it comes to read speeds. Write speeds are a bit more of a mixed bag as it is a bit faster on synthetic tests only. Considering that it's also cheaper than most competitors, the ZikeDrive seems like a really good buy, if you don't mind placing your bets on an IndieGoGo campaign and dealing with a little extra bulk.

Internal storage drives were designed to connect to the SATA or M.2 interfaces inside a PC, but with an SSD or hard drive enclosure, you can turn one into a portable backup device that connects via USB. Whether you want to give an old drive new life by turning it into external storage, buy a new SSD so you can turn it into an external drive, or you just need to plug your new SSD into a USB port so you can clone your system onto it, getting the right enclosure is important.

Depending on the type of storage you are enclosing and how fast you want the connection to be, an SSD or hard drive enclosure will cost anywhere from $12 to $199. While most SSD enclosures do nothing more than protect your drive, dissipate heat, and convert the interface to USB, some also have extra bells and whistles, such as a screen for status, or RGB lighting. To help you choose, we’ve tested more than a dozen different models.

If you don’t have a spare drive or don’t want to deal with installing an internal drive into an enclosure, you can get one of the best external SSDs from our tested list. But you can sometimes save money by going the DIY route of buying an enclosure and installing your own drive. Plus, you can always upgrade the drive to a higher-capacity model, without having to buy a new enclosure.

Prime Day Exceptional external storage deal

Here is a standout deals from the Prime Day event, which is currently taking place. Our list of best overall picks continues below.

FAQs: Best SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures

What Kind of SSD / Hard Drive Enclosure Do I Need?

Ask yourself the following questions when choosing an SSD or hard drive enclosure:

Best SSD and hard drive enclosures you can buy today

Best M.2 SSD Enclosure for Most People

Most M.2 enclosures require screw drivers to both secure the lid and to hold the drive in place, which is a hassle if you have to install a drive once and a tremendous headache if you plan to do it over and over again. Because of its seamless tool-free design, relatively low price and solid 10 Gbps performance, the Sabrent EC-SNVE is the best M.2 SSD enclosure for most people. It also promises to support both SATA and NVMe drives, but we only tested with the latter as those are the much more common type of M.2 SSDs and what we use in our tests.

Sabrent's EC-SNVE has the most seamless tool-free design of any enclosure we tested. A button on the side pops the top open, allowing the lid to fold back up to 180 degrees while staying attached to the rest of the gray aluminum chassis.

That's better than the Plugable Tool-Free NVMe enclosure's design, which forces you to slide its cover all the way off where you could potentially lose it or try to put it back on the wrong way. The EC-SNVE also has a built-in thermal pad attached to the inside of the lid so it transfers heat from the SSD to the metal chassis. In our use, it snapped closed really easily and flipped open without requiring a hard button push.

Once the enclosure is open and you slide in the M.2 drive, you can hold it in place by turning a captive fastener so it holds the SSD in place. The captive fastener only works for 2280 sized SSDs, but there's a rubber fastener you can insert in holes for 2260, 2242 and 2230 SSDs.

The EC-SNVE performed reasonably well on our performance tests. Though it was usually a few points behind the Plugable enclosure, it was within striking distance and sometimes ahead. On DiskBench, it read and wrote at a solid 811 and 538 MBps, and on CrystalDiskMark, its 4K Q32 Read and writes of 247 and 249 MBps were the fastest of all 10 Gbps enclosures.

Best 2.5-inch SSD / Hard Drive Enclosure for Most People

The market is full of inexpensive 2.5-inch SATA enclosures, but Sabrent’s EC-USASP stands out thanks to a couple of unusual features and a nice, but subtle design. The black plastic case easily popped open and snapped closed for us, with no struggling and no tools necessary. The interior has room for a 2.5-inch SSD or hard drive that’s either 7.5 or 9mm thick (the two common thicknesses). There are no screws necessary to hold the drive in place.

The Sabrent EC-USASP has an on / off switch, something you won’t find on most SSD enclosures but a nice convenience if you want to leave it plugged in but only power it on when you need it. Most 2.5-inch SATA enclosures have USB 3.0 micro B as their output port and come with USB Type-A to micro B cables. However, the EC-USASP has a USB 3 Type-A port (5 Gbps) and comes with a Type-A to Type-A cable. So, if you are planning to connect the enclosure to a laptop that has only Type-C ports, you can use a USB Type-A to Type-C cable (something many people have lying around the house) to do so.

Connected to our test laptop and with our test SATA SSD inside, the enclosure allowed us to write 25GB of files at 284.4 MBps and read at 340.2 MBps, which was among the fastest speeds we got from a SATA enclosure. We also liked the blue status light, which offers just a light touch of bling to an otherwise staid design.

Best USB 4 / Thunderbolt Enclosure

We tested two other USB4 enclosures alongside this model from Ugreen: a more expensive but similarly designed model from OWC, and a tool-free option from Cable Matters. While we liked the tool-free design of the latter, we weren't fond of its permanently attached cable – which could break over time, especially as it has a tendency to get caught in the door when you try to close the drive. The OWC enclosure, while it looks great wrapped in silver-finned aluminum, costs about $30 more than the Ugreen drive, which sports a similar metal shell, but in a darker gray. Both the Ugreen and OWC drives have removable cables, which may be slightly less convenient, but are a better bet if you want to keep using your expensive enclosure for several years.

In terms of performance, we saw minimal differences between the three using our external storage testbed (which we used to test the best external SSDs) and a 4TB Samsung 990 Evo Plus as our test drive. All three enclosures delivered sequential read speeds (in CrystalDiskMark 8) of between 3714 and 3717 MBps, and sequential writes between 3624 and 3632 MBps (both well within run-to-run variance).

Next, in order to test sustained write speeds and the enclosure's ability to keep the drive cool, we put all three drives through our 30-minute Iometer write test. All three drives wrote at speeds above 3 GBps for between 135 and 142 seconds, before dropping to lower sustained speeds. But the Cable Matters enclosure throttled briefly as low as 65 MBps before hovering between 1300 and 1650 MBps for the remainder of our test, while the OWC enclosure ranged between 1400 and 1650 MBps for the majority of our test. The Ugreen enclosure, after its 135 seconds above 3 GBps, dropped to between 1600 and nearly 1800 MBps for the rest of our test run, making it the fastest of the bunch, if not by a huge margin.

The Ugreen enclosure also topped out at 107 degrees Fahrenheit during the 30-minute write test, similar to the OWC drive's 106 degrees F. The Cable Matters enclosure was the warmest during this test, at 111 degrees F. Again, these aren't huge differences, but the Cable Matters device felt noticeably warmer to the touch than the others. But none got too hot to hold.

With a similar price and a lower test temperature than the Cable Matters enclosure, and better performance than the pricier OWC alternative, the Ugreen 40Gbps enclosure is our favorite USB4 SSD enclosure. But if you prefer a tool-free enclosure for frequently swapping out drives and don't mind a bit more heat, the Cable Matters enclosure is worth considering as well, especially if it's on sale.

Best Premium M.2 SSD Enclosure

The DockCase Visual Smart M.2 Enclosure offers a couple of really unique features and a very attractive, premium design. You’ll pay a bit more than you would for most other 10 Gbps SSD enclosures, but at $49 as of press time, it’s not crazy expensive.

The first thing you’ll notice about the DockCase Visual Smart M.2 is that it has a built-in 1.33-inch LCD screen, something we haven’t seen on any other brand of enclosure. The screen displays basic information about your SSD, including its capacity, partitions, free space, battery charge level and drive health information. You can toggle between different stats by short pressing a selection button on the chassis and you double press to rotate the screen.

There’s also a small, built-in battery that provides 5-10 seconds (depending on which model you get) of service time in the event of a power failure. That brief window of time might be enough to allow the drive to finish writing some data and avoid corrupting your drive in the event of an ill-timed unplugging.

The case is really swanky, with a gunmetal-gray aluminum alloy bottom and sides to go along with a tempered glass top (the location of the screen). Even the Philips head screws look a bit fancier than normal. Installation is pretty straightforward, as you just need to remove the bottom panel, which attaches with a single screw, connect the drive and then mount it with another Philips head screw. DockCase claims that its controller runs cooler than most other controllers, lowering the overall temperature, but we didn’t have a good way to verify this claim.

In terms of performance, the DockCase Visual Smart M.2 Enclosure is about on par with its less-expensive, 10 Gbps brethren. When we ran separate DiskBench 25GB read and write tests, it returned rates of 701.9 and 535.9 MBps respectively, slightly lower than the Plugable NVMe enclosure (718.4 / 564.9 MBps) but in the same ballpark. On CrystalDiskMark, its sequential speeds of 1067.3 and 1043.1 MBps were nearly identical to those of Plugable’s enclosure and the SSK SHE-C325.

The screen clearly isn’t necessary, but it’s a nice-to-have feature. We found that seeing the amount of free space on the drive is pretty nice, but it’s a little weird that the drive needs to “boot” and “detect disk” for several seconds when you first plug it in (you can avoid this problem by setting it to fast boot mode, which doesn’t give you the stats). Also, the screen frequently displayed warnings telling us that the drive was transferring data even when all we did was have a File Explorer window open to it. We wish, though, that we could do something cooler with it, like adding a photo or animated GIF.

We can’t tell how helpful the power loss protection is and we didn’t have a good way to test it. For that reason, we definitely wouldn’t pay the extra $10 to get the longer, 10-second PLP, unless you’re doing something where data integrity is of the utmost importance. Above all else, DockCase’s enclosure has a very premium look and feel that might make it worth spending an extra $20 to $30 over most competitors.

Best 3.5-inch Hard Drive Enclosure

If you still have a 3.5-inch hard drive hanging around and want to turn it into an external storage device, you’ll need something like Ugreen’s CM472. This hard drive enclosure comes with an external power brick, so it needs to spin up a power-hungry desktop hard drive and, despite the bulk, is a bit smaller than competitors like the Orico HM35C3.

Installing a drive in the Ugreen requires no tools at all as you just slide the top of the plastic case off and plug your drive into the SATA port inside. There are no mounting brackets inside so, if you use a 2.5-inch drive instead, it will have a lot of space around it and could, in theory, shake loose and roll around in there. However, we tested with a 2.5-inch SSD and it stayed tightly connected to the SATA port. Also, you wouldn’t buy a 3.5-inch enclosure like this if you planned to use it with a 2.5-inch drive.

On our tests, the Ugreen CM472 performed well enough, with transfer rates that were in line with other 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch SATA enclosures. On CrystalDiskMark, with our SSD installed, the enclosure returned sequential read and write transfer rates of 456.7 and 453.3 MBps, which is actually a better read speed than we got with the Orico HM35C3 (449.4 / 457 MBps) and is on par with the 2.5-inch Sabrent EC-USASP (456.1 / 453.6 MBps).

Best Dual SSD Enclosure

If you plan to use more than one M.2 NVMe SSD, Orico’s BM2C3-2N makes it easy by putting two SSD enclosures into one chassis. An aluminum rectangle with a couple of thin drawers that slide in and out to let you load in the SSDs, the BM2C3-2N is unremarkable apart from its ability to hold multiple drives.

For better or worse, each drive is completely independent of the other, with its own USB-C port. In fact, Orico only includes one USB cable in the box so, if you want to plug in both drives at once, you’ll need to get another USB-C cable. To help with cooling, the Orico BM2C3-2N comes with two sets of thermal pads and heatsinks to place on top of your SSDs.

Performance-wise, the Orico BM2C3-2N dual SSD enclosure was equivalent to single 10 Gbps enclosures. On CrystalDiskMark, it got sequential read and write rates of 1066.7 and 1043 MBps respectively, which is very similar to the Plugable enclosure’s rates of 1067.2 and 1044.9 MBps.

Best Cheap M.2 SSD Enclosure

If you just want an inexpensive SSD enclosure that makes it fairly easy M.2 NVMe SSDs in and out, the SSK SHE-C325 is a great choice. The relatively slim enclosure slides open and closed, though it comes with a tiny Philips head screw (and screwdriver) to lock the pieces together for a more permanent placement.

On a few M.2 enclosures, including the SSK SHE-C325, we found that our test Kingston Rage Fury SSD’s built-in graphene heat spreader, which adds 3.5mm of z height to the drive, didn’t leave much vertical clearance. However, the SHE-C325 could close anyway, without scraping the drive’s surface. Considering that many M.2 SSDs have built-in, non-removable heat spreaders, every enclosure should accommodate them.

The SHE-C325 isn’t the most attractive enclosure on the market, but it does use mostly aluminum casing (the left part near the USB port is plastic) and at 4.5 x 1.5 x 0.4 inches, it’s pretty portable. SSK’s enclosure also comes with a thermal pad to help send heat to the aluminum casing, but you’ll only want to use it if your SSD doesn’t have a built-in heat spreader.

The SSD enclosure and its 10 Gbps USB-C port deliver performance that’s in line with more expensive competitors. When we used CrystalDiskMark on the SSK SHE-C325, it returned sequential read and write rates of 1066.9 and 1044.2 MBps, which is within a few kilobytes of the Plugable enclosure. On the DiskBench test, it read and wrote a 25GB folder at a solid 712 and 559.2 MBps.

Best Compact, Cheap M.2 SSD Enclosure

One of the smallest and least expensive M.2 SSD enclosures you can get, the Orico M2PV-C3, combines great value with strong performance and good looks, but the installation could be a lot easier. At 4.3 x 1.2 x 0.5 inches, the M2PV-C3 enclosure is even smaller and more pocket-friendly than the SSK SHE-C325, itself a rather small enclosure and, with a price of $18 (at press time), it is even cheaper.

The Orico’s M2PV-C3’s design is less polarizing than that of the SSK SHE-C325, but it actually uses cheaper materials, as the top panel is ridged aluminum but the sides and bottom are ABS plastic.

To install our drive in this enclosure, we first had to remove the aluminum panel, which is attached with a tiny, 5-point star screw rather than a normal Philips head type. The enclosure comes with a small star-shaped screwdriver, but we lost it and had to go digging through our iFixit kit to find an appropriate head.

Inside, the enclosure’s controller board has mounting holes for 2230, 2242, 2260 and 2280 SSDs, but there’s no pre-installed mounting screw to hold the right side of the SSD. The drive comes with tiny rubber pegs that you must stick in one of these holes, but to pop the peg in, we had to pull the controller board out of the case and force it in. Once that is done, you can attach the SSD, use the peg to hold its edge down and reseal the case. If you’re just using your enclosure for cloning, this would be a hassle to do multiple times, but you could always just leave the enclosure open in that case.

When we ran DiskBench with a 25GB folder and our test SSD, the M2PV-C3 read and wrote at rates of 711.7 and 538.1 MBps, which was within the range of other 10 Gbps enclosures. However, when we ran CrystalDiskMark, the sequential read speed of 687 MBps was significantly lower than those of other 10 Gbps enclosures such as the Plugable NVMe enclosure (1067.2 MBps). However, the sequential write speed of 1047 MBps was actually higher than the Plugable’s rate of 1044.9 MBps.

Other SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures We Tested

• OWC Express 1M2
  A premium enclosure from a well-known brand, the OWC Express 1M2 performed well with our Samsung drive and stayed cooler than the competition thanks to its aluminum shell. It just didn't stand out in terms of performance or price, despite costing more than most competing enclosures. It's a great option if you don't mind paying extra for aesthetics and the brand name.
  
• Cable Matters 40Gbps Portable USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 SSD Enclosure
  We like the tool-free design of this enclosure, which makes it better for those who plan to swap internal drives regularly. But the permanently attached cable turned us off – especially since it has a tendency to get caught in the small cutout when you close the enclosure door. And in our testing, this was one of the warmer-running enclosures, which could also have contributed to its slightly lower performance than some of the competition.
  
• ZikeDrive
  The fastest enclosure we've tested, the ZikeDrive uses an ASMedia ASM2464 controller to deliver USB 4 read speeds that are 20 percent faster than we've seen on the competition. Write speeds were less impressive, but still strong in most scenarios. However, the ZikeDrive doesn't make the best list yet, because it's part of an IndieGoGo campaign and not available for general sale.
  
• Plugable USB C to M.2 NVMe Tool-Free Enclosure
  This is one of the most performant 10 Gbps enclosures and one of the most convenient, thanks to a tool-free design that allows you to slip the cover off by pressing a spring-loaded switch. It's a few dollars more than the Sabrent EC-SNVE at present and we prefer that enclosure's flip-up lid to the Plugble's slide-out one.
  
• Sabrent ECOCUB
  This 2.5-inch SATA enclosure is a sibling of the EC-USASP and costs the same $11 at publication time. It offers similar performance and an attractive clear case that lets you see your drive and some bright status lights. However, popping it open without cracking the plastic was a bit of a challenge.
  
• Anker PowerExpand M.2 and SATA SSD Enclosure
  On paper, this M.2 SSD enclosure looks like a winner with an attractive, all-aluminum chassis that pops open with a spring-loaded switch. However, we have to advise against buying the PowerExpand as it had so little vertical clearance that it would not close on our SSD, got stuck and ended up ripping some of our sticker off. We then attempted to benchmark the enclosure with the cover off and it just stopped working after a few minutes.
  
• Orico M234C3-U4
  This USB 4 enclosure is $20 cheaper than the Orico M2V01-C4 that we picked for our best list and it offers similar performance. However, the M234C3-U4 has a fatal flaw: though it is supposed to be backwards compatible with USB 3.x ports, it would not work (failing to mount its drive at all) when we connected it to non USB 4 / Thunderbolt ports.
  
• Orico 25PW1-U3
  The cheapest unit we tested, this 2.5-inch SSD / hard drive enclosure was just $6 at press time. However, opening its flimsy plastic chassis was extremely difficult and we nearly cracked it in the process.
  
• Wavlink WL-ST235
  This cheap, 2.5-inch SSD / hard drive enclosure cost less than $10 at press time and provided reasonable performance in our tests, but the tool-free case was difficult to open.
  
• Orico HM35C3
  This 3.5-inch hard drive enclosure has a USB-C 10 Gbps port that allows it to have higher theoretical transfer rates that other enclosures this size, but since you’ll be using it with a spinning hard drive, it’s doubtful you’d see a real-world advantage. Physically, the drive is bigger, bulkier and a bit more expensive than the Ugreen hard drive enclosure that sits on our list of best picks.

How We Tested SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures

How We Tested SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures

To see how each SSD and hard drive enclosure performs, we installed an SSD, connected the enclosure to our testbed laptop (a ThinkPad X1 Carbon 10th Gen) and then ran a series of benchmark tests, using three different apps: PCMark 10’s Storage Benchmark, DiskBench and CrystalDiskMark 8. To maintain consistency, we used the same M.2 NVMe SSD, a Kingston Rage Fury PCIe 4.0 SSD (2TB), in all of our M.2 enclosures and the same 2.5-inch SATA SSD (a 1.9TB Toshiba model) in all of our 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA enclosures.

PCMark 10’s Storage Benchmark returns three numbers: an overall performance score (higher is better), the bandwidth speed (measured in MBps, higher is better) and access time (measured in ms, lower is better). With CrystalDiskBench, a synthetic test that provides transfer rates under different conditions, we used a 1GB file size and recorded both the sequential read and write speeds, which are theoretical maximums, and the 4K (queue depth 32) read and write speeds, which are the most similar to everyday file loading and saving.

Using DiskBench, we ran two file copy tests, using a 25GB folder full of files. On the first test, we measured write speed by copying the files from our laptop to the drive in the enclosure. Then we measured read speed by copying the same files back to the laptop.

For better or worse, we found that most enclosures with the same USB interface (ex: USB 10 Gbps) offered fairly similar throughput. So what matters more is that we took note of how easy it was to install the SSD into each enclosure, the build quality of the enclosure, what goodies came in the box (cables, screwdrivers) and what extra features each enclosure has.

Benchmark Results

Benchmark Results: M.2 SSD Enclosures

It’s no surprise that, on most tests, the two 40 Gbps enclosures, which cost up to $100 more than the 10 Gbps competitors and require a USB 4 or Thunderbolt port, outperform their competitors. However, the more more expensive enclosures actually had slower read speeds on DiskBench and, strangely, very low 4K Q32 write speeds on CrystalDiskMark.

Among the 10 Gbps enclosures which make up the majority of the market and are most affordable, the results were almost always within a few points or MBps of each other. The one exception is that the Orico M2PV-C3 returned a much lower CrystalDiskMark sequential read rate than all of the others.

Benchmark Results: 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures

Among the SATA enclosures, the two models that have 10 Gbps USB ports stood out, but didn’t dominate all the tests. Note that a SATA drive only operates at up to 6 Gbps, so the 10 Gbps ports really act as 6 Gbps ports and are even labeled as such on the devices. Overall, the DockCase enclosure seemed to win on the most tests, though its 4K Q32 writes were below the rest of the pack.

Discounts on the Best SSD and Hard Drive Enclosures

Whether you're shopping for one of the best gaming laptops or another model that didn't quite make our list, you may find some savings by checking out our lists of Dell coupon codes, HP coupon codes, Lenovo coupon codes, Razer promo codes or Newegg promo codes.

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The latest Apple's Mac mini systems with Apple's M1 or Intel's Core i7 processors pack quite a bit of performance and capabilities, but they lack upgradeability, card readers, and ports on the front. As spotted by Notebook Check, Satechi's new USB Type-C dock not only adds an M.2 SSD slot and additional ports to a Mac Mini, but it also looks like an extension of the PC, not a standalone unit. Yet, there is a catch. 

Satechi's Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure docking station installs under the Mac Mini and connects to a Thunderbolt/USB-C port of the computer. The dock has an M.2 2280 slot for a SATA SSD, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C connector, a 3.5-mm audio jack, and a microSD as well as an SD card reader.

The manufacturer has not revealed any of the Stand & Hub's internal architecture, but we suspect that the device packs a USB-to-SATA bridge to enable the M.2-2280 slot, a USB-to-SD bridge to power card readers, and a USB hub that splits one USB port into four ports and can extract audio signal from USB-C's DP Alt Mode signal. 

Satechi's Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure definitely looks good, can add up to 4TB of extra storage, adds two card readers, and brings Mac Mini's ports to the front. The biggest catch about the unit is that it does not actually use Thunderbolt 3's 40 Tb/s bandwidth, but relies on a USB Type-C connection, so its aggregate bandwidth is limited to either 5 Gbps or 10 Gbps (Satechi does not disclose whether upstream connection is actually USB 3.2 Gen 1 or Gen 2).  

Wasting one of Mac Mini's two Thunderbolt 3 ports and not getting its full performance is not exactly a very good idea, but if you don't need the second port, then it is not a problem. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether it is possible to use a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter and connect the dock to a USB-A port instead (of course, the 3.5-mm audio jack will not work this way). 

Satechi's Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure docking station carries a $99 price tag, while it is not a bargain it does provide extra features while retaining the clean looks of the Mac mini.

Silverstone has released an external USB C SSD enclosure, the Raven RVS03, which features support for NVMe and SATA drives and speeds at up to 10Gbps (NVMe). It can also help reuse some of your older SSDs as external storage devices or used to migrate your install to a better, faster drive.

The Raven RVS03 measures 4.1 x 0.5 x 1.38 inches (105.7 x 13.5 x 35mm) and weighs in at 52.2g. The Raven supports 2230 to 2280 M.2 drives and installation is tool free. Connecting to your machine is via the USB C cable, so make sure that your machine has that connection, or use a USB A to USB C cable.

The Raven's compatibility with both NVMe and SATA Gen 3 drives comes via a Realtek RTL9210B-CG controller, a USB to NVMe / SATA bridge which automatically detects the drive type, with no end user configuration necessary. Supported drives feature the PCIe NVMe "M" key and for SATA both "M" and "B". Owners of Raspberry Pi 4 will be interested to note that there is support for USB attached SCSI (UASP) which provides faster overall transfer speeds via USB 3.

Silverstone's Raven RVS03 has an advertised 10Gbps transfer speed for NVMe drives which Silverstone demonstrates via a CrystalDiskMark test with an X-570 motherboard, a Ryzen 7 3800X and an Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD. Silverstone's test results showed that the Samsung 980 Pro produced SEQ1M Q8T1 of 1041.89 Mbps read and 976.01Mbps write.

At this time the release date and price are currently unknown.

Gigabyte updated its Aorus external GPU enclosure with the latest addition to NVIDIA's GeForce family - the RTX 3080 Ti graphics card. The Aorus RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box (GV-N308TIXEB-12GD) is designed to provide the best performance for all GPU-accelerated workloads.

The company already offers this Aorus external GPU enclosure for GeForce RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 cards, however, this update will round out the portfolio and fill the gap between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 models.

This external GPU is based on the regular GA102-225 silicon, with factory stock clock speeds. That means a base frequency of 1365 MHz and a boost speed of 1665 MHz, so factory overclocking wasn't applied here. The GDDR6X memory also runs at reference clock speeds of 19 Gbps.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU is cooled by Gigabyte's custom water-cooling solution. It features a copper heatsink that covers the VRMs, MOSFETs, memory, and the GPU die. The water is transferred to a 240mm radiator, cooled by two 120mm fans with double bearings.

A Thunderbolt 3 port connects the system to the GPU. By connecting it to the laptop, you get an additional Ethernet port and two USB 3.0 Type-A ports (two on the backside and one on the front side). Naturally, the Aorus RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box also has video outs; two HDMI 2.1 ports, and three DisplayPort 1.4 ports. The whole system is powered by an 80-Plus Gold 550W power supply.

We don't have any information yet on pricing and availability. It is not officially listed for sale, but it should become available in the coming weeks.

Sonnet has introduced its new DuoModo family of expansion boxes with Thunderbolt 3 interfaces. Three of the boxes are designed for add-in-cards that can be connected to TB3/TB4-equipped laptops or Apple's Mac Mini desktop, whereas the fourth box is designed to install Apple's Mac Mini into a rack. 

The Sonnet DuoModo Echo III Module is an expansion box that has one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot for double-wide graphics cards and two x8 PCIe 3.0 slots for other types of add-on boards, such as high-performance SSDs or video encoding accelerators. It can accommodate full-height, full-length (up to 12.28 inches long) PCIe cards and has a built-in 400W power supply. To cool down these cards, the DuoModo Echo III Module has two fans from Noctua that are rated at 17 dBA. 

For those who needs to add only a graphics card to their x86-based Macs or other systems, Sonnet offers its DuoModo eGPU module that can house a full-length, full-height, 2.5 slot-width graphics card. The DuoModo eGPU box is equipped with two fans and an 800W power supply, thus ensuring compatibility even with the most power-hungry GPUs.

Specifically for owners of Apple's Mac Mini that want to upgrade their systems with an add-on board and additional SSDs, Sonnet has the DuoModo xMac mini box. The DuoModo xMac mini can accommodate a Mac Mini itself, two M.2-2280 SSDs, and a graphics card or another AIB (depending on actual configuration). The enclosure provides access to Mac Mini's rear ports, but also has Thunderbolt 3, USB Type-C, and USB Type-A ports on the front. 

Many businesses these days use some form of remote desktops and workstations. To address these customers, Sonnet developed its DuoModo 2U Rackmount enclosure. The box can accommodate a Mac Mini, three PCIe cards, and two M.2 SSDs. Alternatively, the enclosures can be used without a Mac Mini.

Sonnet's DuoModo product line is available now directly from the company as well as its channel partners.

Akasa has released an external SSD enclosure called the Vegas SSD Mate that, as spotted by Hermitage Akihabara, features a cooling fan adorned with RGB lighting.

The Vegas SSD Mate is a tool-free aluminum enclosure said to fit both PCIe and SATA SSDs with the M.2 2280, 2260, 2242, and 2230 form factors. Equipping the enclosure with an M.2 SSD should be as easy as lining up the drive and snapping it into place.

Akasa said the enclosure connects to a system using USB 3.2 Gen 2, which means the Vegas SSD Mate's maximum data transfer rate should be 10 Gb/s. It's also backwards compatible with connections based on USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 1.

The same can be said of most recent external SSD enclosures. The Vegas SSD Mate stands out thanks to its fan, which Akasa said "improves and maximises natural air convection to keep the SSD cool and running optimally." (Emphasis theirs.)

Should that be necessary? Not really. Most external SSD enclosures manage their drive's temperatures via heatsinks and thermal pads. A fan might actually prove detrimental to people who don't want their drives to be exposed to debris.

On the other hand, the fan is surrounded by RGB lighting, and there's no denying that people love making their accessories shine with the brilliance of, well, several LEDs. (Akasa didn't say how many LEDs the enclosure features, but it can't be very many.)

More information about the Vegas SSD Mate is available via Akasa's website. The enclosure is currently available via Amazon for $74.99, but at time of writing there are only two left in stock, so either Akasa didn't make many or the demand for an RGB-lit external SSD enclosure is higher than many of us would have expected.

If you want super-fast external storage, Century might have just the solution for you: The company has unveiled an all-new M.2 SSD external enclosure featuring M.2 RAID 0 support for what it claims are the fastest read and write speeds from a portable device.

The external enclosure sports a 15W power delivery system, allowing the enclosure to run up to four NVMe SSDs at up to PCI-E Gen 3.0 speeds with all four SSDs in RAID 0. Due to the system being a software RAID, maximum theoretical speed can be up to 2550 MBps, which is incredibly quick for an external storage solution. The enclosure also features active cooling to help cool off the flash and memory controllers on your M.2 NVMe drives, which tend to get hot with no airflow.

Technically you can use any M.2 NVMe Gen 3.0 or Gen 4.0 SSD in the enclosure. However, Century does recommend four specific SSDs from Seagate, Western Digital, and ADATA for maximum compatibility: The Seagate BarraCuda 510 and FireCuda 510/520, the WD Black SN750, and ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro.

For the rear I/O, you get two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a single Displayport 1.2 for daisy-chaining a monitor if needed, and finally, a DC port for power.

This is a great solution if you need high-speed storage on the go. You'll have to supply the SSDs yourself, but you have the benefit of using your own SSDs for your own specific needs. At this time, there is no word on availability or pricing. 

Touted as the world's first Thunderbolt 3 bus-powered external enclosure, the new OWC Envoy Express will help you squeeze every bit of performance out of your M.2 NVMe SSD.

The Envoy Express has a black anodized aluminum exterior that protects your M.2 SSD and looks stylish in the process. The enclosure is specially designed for M.2 drives that measure 80 mm long so the overall length of the Envoy Express is shorter than your average ballpoint pen. It weighs in at 3.3 ounces, which makes it very pocket-friendly to accompany you on the go.

Having your favorite M.2 SSD at your fingertips can prove to be useful in many scenarios. The OWC Envoy Express can serve you as a backup device, and a very fast one at that. OWC recorded a transfer speed of 1,553 MBps with the brand's own Aura Pro P12 SSD and an iMac Pro Late 2017 (iMacPro 1.1). 

The OWC Envoy Express will most likely function as medium for backup, however, you could also use the enclosure to house a M.2 NVMe drive to act as a high-speed boot device.

The OWC Envoy Express communicates with your PC or Mac through the Thunderbolt 3 interface with a corresponding 10.2-inch cable that's connected nto the enclosure itself. This makes the enclosure rather inconvenient since you'd need to take it apart to remove the cable if you fancy lugging it around.

The enclosure targets mobile users that are always on the road. OWC has developed a primitive, but functional mounting system for the Envoy Express. A lightweight plastic holder, which comes with removable adhesive gel, can be attached to the back of your Mac or laptop. Then all you have to do is slide the Envoy Express into the adapter, and it'll sit happily behind your mobile device.

OWC sells the Envoy Express for $79.99. However, for a limited time, you can pre-order it for just $68 and you can probably get it for less with an OWC promo code. The enclosure is backed with a limited two-year warranty.

Czech manufacturer Unibos built an external M.2 SSD enclosure that uses the Thunderbolt 3 interface, as spotted by ComputerBase. The Unibos Portable SSD X4 Storage Box (SKU BR-TB3-X4) is quite a rarity, as most external Thunderbolt 3 enclosures are notably bigger, offering space for either multiple NVMe SSDs or RAID arrays with 3.5-inch hard drives.

This makes this enclosure a bit of a unicorn, though it's a welcome addition to the market. The Thunderbolt 3 interface gives the system direct access to the four PCIe 3.0 lanes that M.2 NVMe SSDs need, allowing up to 32 Gbps of transfer speed. It uses the Intel JH6340 as its internal controller.

• The best external hard drives and SSDs of 2020
• How to build an external SSD on your own
• AMD Ryzen 4000 laptops listed with March 16 release date. 

For comparison, the next best option that uses a USB interface is the WD Black P50, which uses a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface for up to 20 Gbps of bandwidth. But we've seen reports that that the portable drive doesn't play nicely with the existing USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 controllers, (but we haven't had the chance to test this ourselves). All other USB-based external SSDs have access to half that bandwidth at best, which is a shame considering that NVMe SSDs are capable of far higher speeds.

The enclosure of the Unibos Portable SSD X4 Storage Box is made from a CNC-machined block of aluminium. Cooling is handled passively.

MSRP pricing is €149, which isn't cheap, but that's the price you'll have to pay if you want one of the fastest external SSDs money can buy. Alternatively, you can wait for USB 4 to come out, which will come with Thunderbolt 3 support as standard. No word on U.S. availability. 

Get your massive media libraries ready, because we have a massive cavernous NAS giveaway, courtesy of our friends at Seagate and QNAP. There are several terabytes up for grabs, and all you have to do is head to the forums and let us know what you would do with all that space.

Up for grabs is the slim QNAP TS-032X, paired with a  spacious pairing of a 16TB Seagate IronWolf hard drive and 240GB SSD. Seagate IronWolf drives provide 28% more capacity and up to 25% more speed than other NAS drives. And the IronWolf SSD is the first solid-state drive built for NAS. You can combine hard drives and SSDs to experience 2.7× faster cache. Paired with the slim 9-bay TS-932X from QNAP, you can back up massive libraries with less desktop space. Do you have what it takes to #RunWithIronWolf?

To find out, head to the giveaway thread in the Storage category of the Tom's Hardware forums. Here's a direct link. Once in the giveaway thread, follow the instructions there for your chance to win.

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Giveaway is only open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States, and the District of Columbia, 18 or older. For a complete list of rules please see the Terms and Conditions on the Gleam Giveaway Widget. This giveaway is open until September 27, 2019.

​

LaCie, Seagate Technology’s premium brand, has announced two new external storage products for desktop use and a rugged portable in the LaCie 2big RAID and LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle. Both products offer an internal RAID 0/1 setup for increased speed or redundancy and USB-C USB 3.1 (Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.0 compatible) interface for faster transfer speeds. The 2big RAID is intended to be a more static fixture while the Rugged RAID Shuttle, as the name implies, is designed for the rigors of travel and its inherent abuse.

The Lacie Rugged RAID Shuttle offers the same features as the Rugged RAID Pro such as speeds up to 250 MB/s using Hardware-based RAID (0/1 supported as well as JBOD), IP54 dust and water resistance, as well as being 1.2 meter drop and shock resistant. The main differences between the Pro and Shuttle is the latter uses Seagate Secure Hardware Encryption on the drive, double the capacity (up to 8 TB, two 2.5-inch drives) and is slightly larger in size. The Shuttle does not have the include an SD card reader.

The Seagate Secure Hardware Encryption uses AES 256-bit encryption methods and is said to be transparent to the user – in other words, no performance overhead. It can be password enabled or used as normal. The chassis is a secure design Seagate says is hard to crack and open. The unit has an orange rubber surround on it to assist with that drop and shock resistance as well as being able to withstand a crushing force of a two-ton car rolling over it.

The unit is connected to the system through a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C interface and is also compatible with USB 3.0 Type-A with an included adapter cable. The device is powered through the USB port and in most cases, even when using two 4 TB drives, power is fine. However, if the device is used with an older generation PC or small compact devices, you will need to use the optional external brick (included).

The Rugged RAID Shuttle offers a three-year warranty and Rescue Services as well as a 1-Month Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps.

The Lacie 2big RAID, on the other hand, is designed to be an external desktop solution without the rugged capabilities of the Rugged RAID Shuttle. This device supports speeds of up to 440 MB/s (RAID 0), supports RAID 0 and 1 as well as JBOD - all of which is configured through LaCie Toolkit software. For increased reliability, IronWolf Pro Enterprise-class HDDs are used. 

The 2big RAID is suggested to be used for video editing, back up, and archiving and will support capacities up to 16 TB using full-size 3.5-inch drives. Compared to the 2big Thunderbolt 2, it adds USB 3.1 Gen 2 connectivity, compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 hosts without using an adapter, and preformatted exFAT drives.

The chassis is an aluminum unibody enclosure capable of fitting two 3.5-inch HDDs and is powered by an external power supply. The 5-year warranty also includes five years of Rescue Data Recovery Services.

The 8TB LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle will be available in May 2019 with an MSRP of $529.99. The LaCie 2big RAID is available starting April 2019 with an MSRP of $419, $529, and $739 for the 4 TB, 8 TB, and 16 TB models respectively.

Bringing Portable Convenience to NVMe SSDs

DIY hard drive and SSD enclosures are an uncomplicated way to build an external drive of your own, and they're convenient little devices to repurpose your older storage for your on-the-go lifestyle, or they're great for just plain old backup purposes.

But there is a sea of different models to choose from. Most are differentiated by the type of drive the enclosure supports, the interface of choice for connecting to the host, and thermal considerations. You wouldn’t want to spend good money on a slow USB 2.0 enclosure, or one that overheats and kills your drive, would you?

It's also important to consider if the enclosure requires any tools or screws. If using tools is something you dread, or if you have a lot of drives you are going to install and uninstall in the same enclosure, a tool-free design can be very convenient. Almost every external enclosure that I personally use is a tool-free design, and I’d have it almost no other way.

We recently reviewed the MyDigitalSSD M2X, a USB Type-C to M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure, and were rather impressed with its performance, but sadly, it wasn't a tool-less design. That’s where Plugable’s new USBC-NVMe SSD enclosure comes in with a tool-free design that brings convenience back to the table.

Specifications

Plugable’s enclosure can transfer data at up to 10Gb/s, or upwards of about 1GB/s, courtesy of the USB Type-C interface, USB 3.1 Gen 2 spec, and the USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP). The enclosure is compatible with USB Type-A and Thunderbolt 3 ports, too, but is limited to 5Gb/s on USB Type-A (USB 3.1 Gen 1) ports.

The enclosure supports TRIM and S.M.A.R.T. attribute passthrough. Additionally, it is compatible with M.2 M-key SSDs ranging from 30mm in length up to 80mm.

The unit is typically fully bus powered, so no extra cables are needed besides the single USB Type-C cable. The drive does work on USB 2.0 ports, but some SSDs may require more power than USB 2.0 can provide. In that case, the enclosure may not work.

Accessories

Speaking of which, the USBC-NVME enclosure comes with one USB Type-C to -C cable and one USB Type-C to 3.0 cable, both of which are 25cm in length. Plugable also includes three replacement SSD rubber locks, which are used for quick installation. The enclosure also includes “optional” adhesive thermal pads, but we recommend using them to help keep your drive cool.

Closer Look

The small unit is powered by a JMicron SMS583 controller and measures 99mm x 42mm x 13mm. The enclosure weighs in at 1.7 oz (48g) without an SSD installed. We also see a few slots on the side of the heatsink that help dissipate heat.

Installing an SSD is quick and simple. Just press the unlock switch at the bottom of the unit, pop off the heatsink shell, and pop in your M.2 SSD.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

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Performance Results

Comparison Products

We're using MyDigitalSSD’s BPX Pro inside the Plugable enclosure. Rated at over 3GB/s read/write, the BPX Pro will have no issue saturating the adapter's 10GB/s link. We've also included two Thunderbolt 3 devices, the 1TB G-Technology G-Drive mobile Pro SSD and 1TB Patriot Evlvr. We also threw in SanDisk’s 1TB Extreme Portable SSD, which also features a USB 3.1 Gen 2 link speed but is limited to SATA performance. Finally, we included two DIY USB 3.1 Gen 1 external drives using a WD Blue SSD and HDD.

ATTO

ATTO is a simple and free application that SSD vendors commonly use to assign sequential performance specifications to their products. It also gives us insight into how the device handles different file sizes.

Compared to the normal performance of the BPX Pro, we can see that the USB interface hampers performance with small files. But, just as expected, the Plugable USBC-NVMe delivers 1GB/s of sequential throughput for both reads and writes.

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark (CDM) is a simple and easy to use storage benchmarking tool.

Plugable’s USBC-NVMe enclosure achieved a little over 900/953 MB/s of sequential read/write speed at QD 32, which is similar to the M2X’s performance.

At QD1, however, performance fell to 500/475 MB/s read/write. The Plugable's 4K random performance hit 24/39 MB/s, which is, again, very similar to the M2X enclosure.

Transfer Rates – DiskBench

DiskBench is a storage benchmarking tool that allows us to test the transfer or copy performance of a storage device with real data. We test external drives with three file transfers that consist of 25GB of photos (10GB of iPhone jpgs and 15GB of RAW photos from a Canon 6D), 50GB of movies, and 25GB of documents. First, we transfer each folder from a 1TB NVMe SSD to the external device; then we follow up by reading a 3.7GB 7-zip file and a 15GB movie back from the device.

The Plugable enclosure is similar to the M2X, but it offers a clear advantage over standard USB enclosures and even SATA-based external SSDs. Thunderbolt 3 is still king, however. With performance that is more than double during the photo and documents transfers, they are the fastest devices on the market. But they do come with a healthy premium.

Trace Testing – PCMark 8 Storage Test 2.0

PCMark 8 is a trace-based benchmark that uses Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, World of Warcraft, and Battlefield 3 to measure the performance of storage devices in real-world scenarios.

In PCMark 8, Thunderbolt 3 proves to be the fastest, but the little Plugable enclosure paired with a BPX Pro still did well. Overall, with a total score of 5008 points and an average bandwidth of 317MB/s, it easily tops the performance of the SATA-based externals.

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MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

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Conclusion

Recently we took a look at the MyDigitalSSD M2X, a pretty cool USB Type-C SSD enclosure that houses M.2 NVMe SSDs. Like the M2X, the Plugable USBC-NVME enclosure offers portability for just about any NVMe SSD, but it features a tool-free design.

The Plugable USBC-NVMe delivered performance right in line with its specs. The drive proved to be plenty speedy during file transfers, easily surpassing any SATA-based external, but it still lagged the faster, and more expensive Thunderbolt 3 devices.

We also conducted some extra file transfers to and from the Plugable enclosure using the M2X adapter. Both enclosures sustained single-video file transfer speeds of 700-720MB/s and peaked at 850MB/s when transferring 2-3 folders simultaneously via independent drag-and-drops.

The adapters were both warm to the touch after the test, but not what we would consider excessive after transferring 300 GB of data. Both enclosures hovered in the ~50C range, though the Plugable USBC-NVME enclosure was 5 to 6C hotter under load. It was also 3C hotter at idle (41C vs. 44C).

We ran into problems when we connected the drive to an older Z170 motherboard with a Thunderbolt 3 AIC from ASRock (Intel JHL6540 chipset). Unfortunately, there was some delay during device detection. Additionally, the external enclosure would disconnect during some transfers. The M2X adapter suffers from this same issue. We've followed up with both vendors for more information.

Overall, this device is convenient for re-purposing older NVMe SSDs. The enclosure enables the full throughput of the USB interface while keeping the installed drives cool, even under heavy workloads. That, along with the friendly price point, makes the Plugable USBC-NVME a good option if you're searching for an economical and speedy DIY enclosure.

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Photo Credit: Tom's Hardware

Pocket your NVMe SSD

Today we’re taking a close look at the MyDigitalSSD M2X, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 to M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure. At $40, this external is three to four times more expensive than SATA to USB 3.1 Gen 1 enclosures or adapters, but unlike those, the M2X allows you to unleash even more performance by installing almost any M.2 NVMe SSD within a matter of minutes.

NVMe SSDs are all the rage. Performance in excess of 3 GB/s is now the norm, but interfaces and enclosures have had limited performance improvements as SSDs have gotten faster.

As a storage reviewer, I have a lot of internal SSDs that I don’t even know what to do with. Many of them end up in cheap do-it-yourself (DIY) USB 3 external enclosures for backup and various other tasks, like disk imaging and transferring large data sets between my laptop and desktop.

Years ago, I dreaded waiting for transfers to complete over USB 2.0, that’s why USB 3.1 Gen 1 and its 5 Gb/s transfer speed was a godsend. For years the speedy interface, paired with SATA SSDs, transferred hundreds of gigabytes of movies, pictures, and other various data within a reasonable amount of time. But more speed is always welcome for these tasks.

The USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface, however, is showing its age because SSDs now bottleneck the interface. That’s why the more recent introduction of USB 3.1 Gen 2 and the USB Type-C connector is so exciting–the speedier interface doubles performance up to 1 GB/s and can carry much more power over a single reversible cable.

Now we can pocket an NVMe SSD within a speedy little external enclosure. External drives like the M2X are becoming more common, and after today’s review, it might be time for you to indulge in one, too.

Specifications

MyDigitalSSD’s M2X is rated for USB 3.1 Gen 2 speeds, or 10Gb/s. In practical use, that means you can hit around 900 to 1,000 MB/s+ of throughput depending on the exact USB 3.1 Gen 2 port controller your system has and the SSD you use.

The enclosure accepts PCIe M.2 M-key NVMe SSDs ranging from 42mm to 80mm in length. SATA-based M.2 SSDs, like the Crucial MX500, and AHCI-based PCIe SSDs, like the older Plextor M6e or Kingston HyperX Predator, are not compatible.

The M2X is bus powered and plug and play, so you won't need additional power cables or drivers. Additionally, the device supports SMART passthrough as well as the performance-boosting UASP protocol. Windows detects any installed device as an SSD volume, so you can "Optimize" or TRIM the NVMe SSD just as you could if it were connected to a normal M.2 slot on your motherboard. MyDigitalSSD also backs the drive with a one-year warranty.

Accessories

The MyDigitalSSD M2X External USB 3.1 PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD enclosure includes a 1x 12 inch 3.1 USB-C to USB A cable, 1x 12 inch 3.1 USB-C to USB-C cable, M.2 SSD thermal pad (70 x 20 x 2mm), 1x M.2 SSD Mounting Screw Kit, and even a mini screwdriver to aid with installation.

Closer Look

The M2X uses the JMicron JMS583 controller. This is a PCIe 3.0 x2 to USB 3.1 Gen 2 bridge chip that allows NVMe SSDs to communicate over the USB protocol.

NVMe SSDs consume multiple watts of power at full speed, so thermal performance is also an important aspect. The whole enclosure is made of aluminum and has fins integrated into the design to aid with heat dissipation, yet it is small enough to easily fit into your pocket (99mm x 42mm x 13mm). It is also light at just 1.7 ounces (48 g). A small white activity light next to the USB Type-C port illuminates during data transfers.

The M2X is not tool-less, so you will need to unscrew the enclosure to install your NVMe SSD, but it is a fairly quick task. Simply unscrew the exterior screws and push the internal PCB out. Screw in the included brass standoff to the appropriate position to match the length of your NVMe SSD and attach your drive. Then apply the included thermal pad and slide the PCB in and screw the ends back in place.

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MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

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Performance Results

Comparison Products

We installed MyDigitalSSD’s latest BPX Pro NVMe SSD to test the external enclosure. Rated at over 3 GB/s read/write, the BPX Pro will have no issue saturating the adapter's 10GB/s link. For reference, we’ve also included three Thunderbolt 3 devices, the 1TB G-Technology G-Drive mobile Pro SSD, 1TB Patriot Evlvr, and 1TB Samsung X5. Additionally, we threw in SanDisk’s 1TB Extreme Portable SSD, which also utilizes a USB 3.1 Gen 2 link but is limited to SATA performance. Finally, two DIY USB 3.1 Gen 1 external drives armed with a WD Blue SSD and HDD round out the test pool.

ATTO

ATTO is a simple and free application that SSD vendors commonly use to assign sequential performance specifications to their products. It also gives us insight into how the device handles different file sizes.

Compared to the native NVMe performance of the BPX Pro, the adapter provides a bit less performance at the smaller file sizes. But read and write speeds come in at 1GB/s for the 128K file size, matching our expectations. This is double the SanDisk Extreme portable and far exceeds the performance of our DIY externals that lack UASP support.

CrystalDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark (CDM) is a simple and easy to use storage benchmarking tool.

As was with ATTO, the M2X adapter allows the BPX Pro to hit sequential speeds of nearly 1 GB/s. Scaling the load back to a QD of 1, which represents a dragging and dropping a single file, the M2X adapter seems to be limited to 500 MB/s read/write. While lower than the rated 10 Gb/s, this still exceeds the SanDisk Extreme’s performance of 364/400 MB/s read/write. Additionally, 4K random performance took a big hit compared to native speed, but overall, the drive is still decent for an external.

Transfer Rates – DiskBench

DiskBench is a storage benchmarking tool that allows us to test the transfer or copy performance of a storage device with real data. We test external drives with three file transfers that consist of 25GB of photos (10GB of iPhone jpgs and 15GB of RAW photos from a Canon 6D), 50GB of movies, and 25GB of documents. First, we transfer each folder from a 1TB NVMe SSD to the external device; then we follow up by reading a 3.7GB 7-zip file and a 15GB movie back from the device.

Like in our previous tests, the M2X surpasses both the DIY and pre-built SATA-based externals. During the 25 GB Photo and 50 GB Movie transfer, the M2X ranked behind the Thunderbolt-enabled devices but edged away from the other USB devices in the pool. During the transfer of 25 GB of document files, however, the SanDisk Extreme's faster 4K random speed helped it take the lead.

The M2X enclosure delivered speeds of about 840 MB/s during our two file reading tests.

Trace Testing – PCMark 8 Storage Test 2.0

PCMark 8 is a trace-based benchmark that uses Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, World of Warcraft, and Battlefield 3 to measure the performance of storage devices in real-world scenarios.

Without the adapter, the BPX Pro scored 5103 points and an average bandwidth of 704MB/s. Using the enclosure essentially halves the performance. But, overall, its total score of 5013 points and an average bandwidth of 326MB/s is faster than any internal SATA SSD we have tested yet. That makes it a good choice for video editors looking for a new scratch disk when internal expansion proves difficult.

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Conclusion

Games are constantly expanding due to increased texture sizes and larger data sets that drive better graphics. Our video and RAW photo files are also growing with each new camera release, so our data is growing from gigabytes to terabytes at a consistent pace. With such large volumes of data, it helps to have a faster interface to transfer it all.

Thunderbolt 3 is the fastest option available, but it is much more expensive than competing interfaces. If you have an extra NVMe M.2 stick laying around, MyDigitalSSD’s M2X enclosure is a great little DIY external enclosure. While not as fast as Thunderbolt 3-equipped devices, the MX2 still enables transfer performance up to 1 GB/s over the USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface, making it a much faster option than run-of-the-mill USB 3.1 Gen 1 enclosures.

MyDigitalSSD developed the MX2 with both speed and thermal performance in mind. The finned aluminum design helps a lot with heat dissipation. We transferred 100 GB of data to and from the device, yielding acceptable temperatures that ranged from the high forties to mid-fifties (C) at most.

We only have one reservation with the MX2: We also tested the enclosure with a Z170 motherboard equipped with a Thunderbolt 3 AIC from ASRock (Intel JHL6540 chipset) and experienced a delay during device detection. The external enclosure also disconnected during some transfers even though its thermal readings stayed within the safe zone. Although the JMicron chip itself could have been overheating, it never disconnected from our main test system which features a fairly new ASMedia ASM3142 controller. We aren't sure if this problem is specific to the JHL6540 chipset, but we have noticed similar complaints in Amazon reviews. We're following up with the company for more information, but you should take this into consideration if you have a motherboard with the Intel JHL6540 chipset.

If you need more performance from your external storage or have an old NVMe SSD sitting around, check out MyDigitalSSD’s M2X USB-to-NVMe adapter. At $40, it is a killer deal compared to alternatives that are $20 to $40 more expensive.

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Photo Credit: Tom's Hardware

Not everyone wants to crack open their system's case to install NVMe storage--especially if they want to use the same drive across multiple devices. That's what external drives are for, but they can sometimes be a hassle to transport. The new Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure announced today is supposed to address both problems for people who want it all.

The enclosure features a tool-free, spring-loaded design for simplifying the drive insertion and removal process. All one has to do is open the enclosure, pop in an NVMe drive and then plug the enclosure into whatever system they like via USB 3.1 Gen 2. Mercifully, the company includes both USB-C and USB-C to USB-A cables. (The struggle to keep up with ever-changing ports and cables is real.)

The enclosure's speed depends on the inserted drive, but Plugable said it supports up to 10 Gb/s transfers, which should be more than quick enough for most people's needs. 

Plugable didn't offer specific details about heat though. All it said is that the enclosure offers "advanced thermal management" thanks to an "aluminum body" that "allows for peak heat dissipation compared to other solutions available on the market."

You may not need something like the Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure. External SSDs are smaller than ever, and for those who need something even smaller, an SD card might do. A lot of the data with which we interact every day is also synced via the cloud, so some consumers may see little reason to buy an NVMe SSD and the accompanying enclosure. Business users, however, might appreciate the ability to easily transport sensitive information in a small, but still manageable, device.

Besides, part of the reason so many people have entrusted the cloud with their information is that transporting it used to be such a hassle. Drives were big, didn't hold a lot of data and were about as quick as a geriatric turtle. Enclosures like this could help solve all those problems and, perhaps, lead more people to manage their data themselves, rather than letting tech companies do so. At least the option will be available.

And, hey, at this point it makes more sense to get an external NVMe SSD than it does to get a hard drive. It's 2019: the spinning disk's time has ended. We're all about SSDs now, folks, no matter what form they take. SATA? Sure. NVMe? You bet. Internal? External? Eh, there's little difference. As long as storage is quick and easy to transport (if desired) then it's good enough for most people.

The Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure is available now on Amazon for $50. We're told that price includes a $10 launch discount, so don't be surprised if the price jumps to $60 before long. Remember, the drive is sold separately--this isn't an NVMe SSD giveaway in disguise.

MyDigitalSSD is asking the age-old question: does a dongle by any other name smell just as sweet? (Or something like that.) We're used to dongles bridging the gap between headphones, USB connectors and the like. Now a much larger one is going to let you use your NVMe SSD as external storage.

The new M2X USB 3.1 Gen 2 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Enclosure Adapter lets you connect an NVMe SSD to your system via USB so you can get maximum performance from your external storage when a Thunderbolt port is unavailable. Actual performance will vary based on the SSD and USB generation used, but the enclosure's basic premise remains the same no matter what NVMe SSD you decide to put in it or what system you connect it to.

MyDigitalSSD said the M2X is fully bus-powered and features a heatsink that "combats high heat issues commonly found in small form factor SSDs and ensures peak performance even under heavy use." It's also operating system independent and compatible with M 2242, 2260, and 2280 form factor SSDs. According to the company, that means the M2X supports up to 2TB of storage.

The company also said the M2X's JMS583 USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe Gen3 x2 bridge controller offers data transfer speeds up to 10Gbps. You won't see that kind of performance, though, if you take advantage of the enclosure's support for USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections. Then you'll be limited by those previous-generation capabilities--but at least you won't have to worry about your data being inaccessible via anything other than USB 3.1 with the M2X.

The M2X USB 3.1 Gen 2 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Enclosure Adapter is available now from Amazon for $40. It comes with a one-year warranty, a foot-long USB 3.1 Type-C cable, and a foot-long USB 3.1 Type-A cable. You will, of course, have to supply your own NVMe SSD if you want to store anything.

Introduction and Product Tour

eGPUs (external GPU enclosures) promise the best of both worlds, allowing you to carry a thin-and-light laptop while you're on the road and then turn it into a gaming behemoth when you're at your desk. $499 (GPU not included), the Razer Core V2 can turn Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptops into bonafide gaming PCs, but competitors are significantly cheaper.

Specifications

* Height measured from top of PCIe connector to bottom of locking pin ramps

Exterior

Razer’s minimalist aesthetic and premium build quality are the Core V2’s highlights. The case is built out of solid aluminum with a matte, anodized finish. The aluminum is quite thick and hefty, and is wrapped into a single rectangular piece with soft corners. The left side features a cutout and a mesh grille, allowing your GPU fans to suck cool air. The opposite side features an engraving of Razer's company logo.

The top of the Core V2 features a wide cutout for additional airflow. The top grille consists of two layers; the top layer features thick, slotted vents, while the bottom layer has a honeycomb vent cut from a thinner piece of metal. The front of the Core V2 features a solid metal shroud with a slotted design complimenting the top vent. The bottom of the slotted front shroud has small openings to allow the Core V2’s RGB lighting to peer through. Finally, the bottom of the Core V2 features two large rubber feet to keep the chassis stable.

Interior

Accessing the interior GPU dock is as simple as can be. The rear folding handle acts as a locking mechanism; pulling the handle out releases the lock, allowing you to pull the GPU dock out. The handle is made of solid metal, and every bit as hefty as the rest of the Core V2. However, the finish isn’t as refined as the anodized aluminum exterior.

The first time you release the Core V2’s GPU dock, you’ll be presented with a thick, GPU-sized foam pad featuring a GPU sizing guide with simple installation instructions. For reference, your graphics card must be 11.81 x 5.71 x 1.69 inches at most, including the amount of space needed for the 8-pin power cords. Removing the foam pad reveals a small motherboard, which contains the PCIe x16 slot.

The bulk of the Core V2’s internal space is taken up by the 500W Enhance Electronics power supply. The rear of the power supply has an AC power cord leading to the rear I/O ports. Two 8-pin PCIe power cords connect from the power supply to the motherboard, providing power to the Core V2 and the connected GPU. Additionally, whichever laptop you pair with the Core V2 will receive power via Thunderbolt 3.

The Razer Core V2’s rear I/O ports consist of a Type-C port supporting Thunderbolt 3, four USB 3.0 ports, one gigabit Ethernet port, and an AC power input. Additional video ports will be dependent on your graphics card.

The bottom of the interior dock features a slotted vent similar to the top and front of the Core V2’s exterior chassis. The vent contains three fans to keep the motherboard cool.

To the left of the motherboard you’ll find an aluminum shield shield secured by a hand screw; you’ll need to remove this before installing your GPU.

Two additional 8-pin PCIe power cables extend from the right of the motherboard and wrap upward. There are two velcro strips near the end of the power supply to keep the PCIe cables stable.

If you want to remove your GPU, you’ll have to flip the GPU release lock, which can be accessed from behind the power supply.

Software

The Razer Core V2 is compatible with all Razer laptops out of the box, but it will support any Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptop with external graphics support. Furthermore, your laptop must have all of the latest Thunderbolt 3 drivers, up-to-date graphics drivers, and Windows 10. If your laptop has a discrete graphics card, you’ll need to download the GPU Switcher software from Razer’s website to allow the dock to work seamlessly.

The Core V2 has two RGB LED lighting strips: one beneath the front shroud and one next to the GPU. If you have Razer Synapse installed on your laptop, you can adjust the Core V2’s lighting effects. Effects include spectrum cycling, breathing, wave, and static light. If you have Razer peripherals such as a Chroma V2 keyboard or Naga Epic mouse, the lighting can be synced via Razer Chroma. Attaching a Chroma supported Razer laptop such as the Blade or black Blade Stealth will sync the RGB keyboard with Core V2's lighting.

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Synthetic Benchmarks

To test the Razer Core V2, we used an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition. Razer recommends using the Core V2 in tandem with an external display to minimize bandwidth restrictions. However, we tested the Core V2 with and without an external display to illustrate the performance decay imposed by the internal display’s loopback.

For the purpose of this review, Razer provided its a Blade Stealth ultrabook. It features an Intel Core i7-8550U, 6GB of LPDDR3-2133 memory, a 512GB M.2 SSD, and a 13.3” QHD+ (3200x1800) IGZO touchscreen display. The Razer Blade Stealth isn't an "affordable" laptop by any means, but its specifications are in line with the type of laptops Razer intends the Core V2 to be paired with: portable ultrabooks with little-to-no graphics power.

The Razer Core V2 is the first eGPU we’ve tested, so we don’t have any apples-to-apples comparisons to draw. This will change as we secure more reviews under our belt. Performance is determined by your graphics card, so when we cover eGPUs in the future, we’ll draw comparisons based on build quality, features, and price. That being said, our Core V2 review includes test results from several previously tested laptops and our Z270 test system, to give you an idea of how well an eGPU stacks to a gaming PC.

Now for the competition.

For a standard GTX 1070 laptop comparison, we’re pitting the Razer combo against the MSI GE63VR Raider. It contains an Intel Core i7-7700HQ, a GTX 1070, 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory, a 512GB M.2 SSD, and a 15.6” FHD IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate. As far as gaming laptops go, the Raider is as straightforward as it gets. It offers excellent performance, but it has fairly typical drawbacks that you can expect from a gaming laptop, namely its price, making it unattractive for those wanting a portable solution.

The Gigabyte Aero 15X represents our Max-Q contender, containing a GTX 1070 version of said technology, an i7-7700HQ, 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory, a 256GB M.2 SSD, a 15.5” FHD IPS display. Max-Q offers an attractive balance between size and power, and gamers shopping for the a laptop + GPU dock combo may instead be pleased with the size and performance a Max-Q laptop such as the Aero 15X offers.

To compare how well a GTX 1070-equipped GPU dock performs against a lower-end mobile graphics card, we’ve included the venerable Acer Predator Helios 300, one of our favorite and most recommended laptops. It contains an i7-7700HQ, a GTX 1060, 16GB of DDR4-2133 memory, a 256GB M.2 SSD, and a 15.6” IPS display. The Helios received top marks for its outstanding performance given its price, but like the MSI Raider, it isn't as affordable as an ultrabook.

Finally, we’ve added our Z270 test rig results to the mix. It contains an Intel Core i7-7700K desktop processor, a GTX 1070 Founders Edition, and 16GB of DDR4-2133 memory. Our results will illustrate the amount of performance lost between a standard gaming desktop and a GPU dock setup with and identical GPU.

3DMark

3DMark’s game-like workloads give us a sneak peak of our roundup’s gaming results. The Razer Core V2 falls behind the Gigabyte Aero 15X and MSI GE63VR Raider on all accounts. The GTX 1070's performance is bottlenecked by its Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth restrictions, and physics performance is bottlenecked by the Blade Stealth’s i7-8550U, which is weaker than the i7-7700HQ. Unsurprisingly, the Core V2 delivers better graphical performance than the Acer Predator Helios 300, but its physics performance doesn’t quite stack up.

Cinebench R15

3DMark is our main graphical synthetic benchmark, whereas Cinebench measures CPU prowess, particularly the single and multi-core tests. On the other hand, the OpenGL shading test is platform-based, with a slight preference for GPU strength.

Our Core V2 configuration didn't fare as well as the gaming laptop during 3DMark’s Physics tests due to the Blade Stealth's i7-8550U. It falls behind again during Cinebench’s multi-core rendering test. It fares better in OpenGL shading, offering higher frame rates than the Max-Q GTX 1070 as long as you have an external display. However, the Core V2 trails behind the MSI Raider’s standard GTX 1070.

CompuBench

CompuBench offers a platform-based Video Processing test and a GPU-bound Bitcoin Mining test, which complement our 3DMark benchmarks. In CompuBench, a strong GPU can offset a low end CPU.

If Cinebench’s CPU tests are any indication, the Razer setup doesn’t perform well comparatively during CPU-based tasks. In Video Processing, it delivers anywhere between 31% to 47% the frame rate as an i7-7700HQ-based laptop. However, the Razer setup fares quite well in a GPU-heavy benchmark like CompuBench’s Bitcoin Mining test; the docked GTX 1070 offers about as much performance as a Max-Q GTX 1070.

PCMark 8

To approximate a system’s common workday performance, we use PCMark 8’s Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative tests. The Microsoft Office scores are primarily CPU-bound. Conversely, the Adobe Creative test loads assets such as photo and video, so it requires a fine balance between fast storage speeds, a strong CPU, and a strong GPU. We've included the Razer Blade Stealth's standalone results to illustrate how a docked GPU may impact your laptop's common workday performance.

All of the laptops in this comparison contain Samsung SSDs, except for the Acer Predator Helios 300. The Razer Blade Stealth contains a 512GB PM961. The MSI Raider has a 512GB PM871. The Gigabyte Aero 15X is equipped with a 256GB SM961. The Acer Helios features a 256GB Micron 1100. Finally, our Z270 test rig has a 960GB Kingston HyperX Savage.

The Razer Blade Stealth's PM961 boasts excellent SSD speeds, so it should come as no surprise that it exceeds the three competing laptops in Adobe Creative performance. The competition contains slower SSDs, lower storage capacities, or some combination of the two.

However, the Z270 test rig exceeds the Razer Core V2 for several reasons. It's Kingston SSD is faster and nearly double the capacity. Furthermore, the desktop-class i7-7700K offers more performance. Finally, its GTX 1070 performs far better than the Core V2's because it has none of Thunderbolt 3's bandwidth restrictions.

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Gaming Benchmarks and Conclusion

Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation is one of the easiest titles to run in our benchmark suite, making it the perfect test to ease into our gaming benchmarks. Its workload is incredibly light, allowing any modern gaming laptop to achieve over 60 FPS with ease. Alien: Isolation illustrates our first example of performance loss from internal display loopback. Without an external display, the Core V2 runs slower than the Acer Predator Helios 300, despite the latter containing a weaker GTX 1060. However, with a display connected, Cover V2 achieves over 150 FPS, running around 6% slower than the Gigabyte Aero 15X.

Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity sits on the opposite end of the spectrum, pushing even high-end systems to their knees. For example, our high end desktop rig cannot deliver 60 FPS consistently without reducing the graphics. The Razer Core V2 performs even slower, losing over 10 FPS at best when compared to our desktop rig. At this level, it delivers about as much as the Gigabyte and its Max-Q GTX 1070, but falls short of the MSI Raider's GTX 1070.

In this scenario, the Core V2 doesn't gain much additional performance with an external display. This is because Ashes is a GPU-intensive title, so the Blade Stealth's i7-8550U doesn't impact performance as much as it would in a platform-based title like Alien: Isolation.

DiRT Rally

DiRT Rally is an interesting metric for the docked GTX 1070. Without an external display, the Core V2 delivers around 48 FPS, which is 12% slower than the GTX 1060-based Acer Helios. With an external display reducing internal display loopback, the Razer setup performs about 29% faster. This means that an external display can make all the difference when shooting for 60 FPS.

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is one of our most demanding titles, and it’s a GPU-intensive one at that. As such, the performance gap between using an external display and your laptop's internal display is minimal. However, the docked GTX 1070 still underperforms the Gigabyte Aero 15X by 7% at best and 29% at worst.

The Core V2 manages to deliver better frame rates than the Acer Helios almost across the board, and this is to be expected thanks to the former’s stronger GPU. However, it falls behind the Helios during the Vinewood Sign benchmark scene. This metric is incredibly demanding because it loads distant objects and landscapes, which relies on your system's CPU. In this case, the Core V2's performance is bottlenecked by the Blade Stealth's processor.

GRID Autosport

GRID Autosport is our second racing title, and a platform-based title at that. However, it has an interesting quirk: it gives a slight edge to GPUs with high clock speeds. For example, the Acer Helios features a mobile GTX 1060, which has a maximum boost clock of 1670 MHz. The Gigabyte’s Max-Q GTX 1070 has a max boost clock of 1468 MHz, and the MSI’s mobile GTX 1070 has a max boost clock of 1645 MHz. The mobile GTX 1060’s maximum boost clock allows the Acer to give the MSI and Gigabyte a run for their money.

Meanwhile, the Z270 test system has an i7-7700K and a desktop GTX 1070 with a max boost clock of 1683 MHz, boosting the test rig’s performance well over 100 FPS. In the Razer’s case, you’ll find performance matching the Aero 15X thanks to the desktop GTX 1070’s higher boost clock. Unfortunately, the i7-8550U holds the Core V2's potential back once again.

Hitman

Hitman is yet another platform-based title, so adequate CPU performance is necessary. On one hand, the Razer Blade Stealth’s i7-8550U provides the Core V2 just enough performance for the docked GTX 1070 to maintain 60 FPS consistently. Unfortunately, the processor still holds back the GTX 1070; the Acer Helios and its GTX 1060 perform around 9% faster than the Core V2 thanks to its i7-7700HQ.

Metro: Last Light Redux

Metro: Last Light Redux is a venerable benchmark title which brought even the highest end systems to their knees in the past. These days, most gaming laptops can maintain excellent frame rates at high settings. But can an ultrabook achieve great performance with an external GPU dock?

The answer is yes, at least, so long as you have a GTX 1070. The docked GTX 1070 just barely manages 60 FPS with an external display. Because Metro is a GPU-bound title, the performance gap between the MSI Raider and the Core V2 setup is minimal, but the extra performance provides just enough performance to make a difference.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the most demanding titles of this generation, making it an ideal benchmark for high-end systems. At maximum settings, even our Z270 test rig delivers sub-60 FPS with a GTX 1070. The MSI Raider only falls behind our test rig by about 7%, suggesting that only additional GPU horsepower will raise frame rates significantly. In this scenario, the Core V2’s extra GPU power nets it a win over the Gigabyte Aero 15X.

The Division

The Division is our last demanding title. However, it also imposes significant CPU demands on top of its already demanding GPU requirements. As such, the docked GTX 1070 can only go so far with an i7-8550U holding it back. Once again, the Core V2 setup delivers less performance than the Acer Helios, whereas other GTX 1070-based systems deliver over 60 FPS, easily surpassing it.

Thief

We round off our gaming benchmarks with Thief, yet another CPU-intensive title. As always, the Core V2’s performance is bottlenecked by the Blade Stealth’s processor; the competing GTX 1070 systems deliver close to or over 100 FPS. On the bright side, the docked GTX 1070 provides just enough performance to reach 60 FPS.

Versus the Competition

The Core V2 is just one of many in a growing market of eGPUs. For example, Asus offers the ROG XG Station 2 for $550, a bit higher than Razer’s contender. For an extra $50, the XG Station 2 provides similar build quality and ease of use, a different aesthetic, and arguably better RGB lighting.

If you’re looking for the most affordable eGPU, you can find the AKiTiO Node for around $269. However, you’ll get what you pay for; the Node lacks the I/O ports higher end eGPUs offer, and several users have reported compatibility issues with many laptops.

The Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box might be the best value of all. Priced at $599, the Aorus costs $100 more, but contains a mini-ITX GTX 1070, whereas the Razer will cost at least $970 with an equivalent GPU. The Aorus’s downside is that the GTX 1070 is mandatory, throwing it out of consideration if you already own a perfectly good graphics card.

Bottom Line

If you want to add graphics might to an ultraportable laptop, an eGPU like the Razer Core V2 is your best and only option. However, as our tests show, even when you have a powerful graphics card like a GTX 1070 inside of the dock, an Ultrabook with a 15-watt, U-series processor is not going to perform as well as a dedicated gaming notebook with a 45-watt, H-series processor. The good news is that you will be able to play demanding titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider on a laptop with integrated graphics inside.

Among its direct competitors in the eGPU market, the Razer Core V2 is on the pricey side, but has a really premium design, thanks to its aluminum chassis and customizable lights. It's also really easy to install a GPU. Just keep in mind that you'll have to bring your own video card, which can bring your total expenditure to $900 if you combine the V2 with a GTX 1070. Aorus's $599 Gaming Box, which has a 1070 built-in, is a better deal but less premium. However, if you want to supply your own graphics card, the Core V2 is a fantastic choice.

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Gigabyte launched a new Thunderbolt 3 external graphics enclosure with AMD Radeon graphics inside.

The RX 580 Gaming Box features a Radeon RX580 graphics card under the hood, which sports 2,304 shaders clocked at 1,340 MHz in Gaming mode (1,355MHz in OC mode) and 8GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 8,000MHz. Similar to the Nvidia models, the RX 580 Gaming Box utilizes a 450W 80 Plus Gold certified PSU to power the GPU. The enclosure is identical to Gigabyte's other docks, measuring in at 212 x 96 x 162mm. Essentially, this is just the same Gaming Box with an AMD GPU, which has slightly different display connectivity than the Nvidia GPUs (the RX 580 Gaming Box has three DisplayPort 1.3 ports and one HDMI 2.0 port).

Interestingly, the RX 580 Gaming Box drops the Aorus branding of its Nvidia counterparts, despite being a nearly identical product. This could be due to the RX 580 falling behind in performance compared to the other boxes that house GTX 1070 and 1080 graphics cards, with Gigabyte possibly reserving Aorus branding for a certain level of performance. However, some have taken this as a sign that the company joined Nvidia’s now-infamous GPP program, which purportedly requires partners to abandon AMD graphics cards in order to join. This is all hearsay, but the missing branding is ominous and lends to the narrative that Nvidia could be making such deals behind closed doors.

The new RX 580 Gaming Box isn’t available for purchase yet, and pricing has not been disclosed. However, we should expect to see it in the $500 zone when it arrives, considering the graphics card inside.

With the graphics card market in a state of disarray due to cryptocurrency miners’ lust for anything more powerful than a GTX 1050 or Radeon RX 560, we recently took a look at some of the ways you can score a graphics card if you really need one. Now we've discovered yet another way you can get a powerful GPU for less than the going market price: via external graphics enclosures with GPUs pre-installed.

The External Graphics Dock Proposition

External graphics docks are designed to connect to laptops and under-powered desktop PCs to provide a significant graphics performance boost as well as an array of connectivity options (such as networking, storage, and USB). Most eGPU manufacturers (including Asus, Razer, PowerColor, and Zotac) offer their chassis sans graphics card, leaving the installation and choice of GPU to the end user. Lenovo offers a graphics enclosure sporting an MXM GTX 1050 inside, but full-sized desktop versions of this particular Nvidia GPU are neither in short supply nor severely overpriced like their higher-end counterparts, making that particular product not ideal for this solution.

These aren’t the docks you’re looking for if your intention is to snag a graphics card deal, but Gigabyte has a couple of completely configured eGPU enclosures, the Aorus-branded Gaming Boxes, with powerful graphics cards already inside. There are two versions of these docks available at Newegg, and they’re currently selling for significantly less than standalone in-stock graphics cards.

The Gigabyte Aorus GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Gaming Boxes both come with small versions of their respective GPUs installed. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 Mini graphics card in the 1070 Gaming Box is the same one that’s available at retail, but the 1080 Gaming Box features a custom-cooled small form factor GTX 1080 that you can apparently get only in the eGPU. You can still of course harvest that card from the dock if you don’t mind the oversized cooler (and even if you do, you could get an aftermarket GPU cooler, liquid or air, if the stock heatsink is too big for its new home), but it does make the price comparison slightly less apples-to-apples.

What Do You Save?

Currently, the Gigabyte Aorus GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Gaming Box graphics docks are in stock and selling direct from Newegg for $700 and $600, respectively. We were able to find a GTX 1080 graphics card for $780 from a Newegg Marketplace seller. Getting the Gigabyte dock will save you about $80 for the same base GPU in this case.

A larger price delta exists with the GTX 1070 version of the dock, with the closest match (another Newegg Marketplace seller) being a Gigabyte-branded 1070 going for about $100 more than the Aorus Gaming Box with the same GPU.

Shifting over to Amazon, the GTX 1080 dock is selling for significantly higher than Newegg, but the GTX 1070 enclosure is only priced slightly higher. There are a few stand-alone GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 options that save you a few dollars over the Newegg comparisons, but you still end up saving between $50 and $80 buying the docks at current component market pricing (which will undoubtedly shift again soon, depending on availability).

Although there may be some existing and future bundle deals that could end up saving you some more money (after some legwork reselling the bundled component), and there are a few cheaper options floating around on Amazon and other retailers, the pair of Gigabyte Aorus GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 Gaming Box external graphics enclosures now have renewed value thanks to the low availability and high pricing of standalone graphics cards. We don't expect the pricing or availability of the Aorus Gaming Box to stay this way for long, and without an end in sight for the component market's GPU woes, we'd suggest striking while the dock is in stock.

What To Do With The Dock?

If you don’t just want to use the external graphics enclosure for its intended purpose, taking out the graphics card and using it for your desktop build (or adding it to your mining rig, you crypto-mining cause of all our problems, you) seems to be the logical end result. However, this leaves you with an external graphics enclosure sans GPU. Technically, those can be worth a few hundred bucks on their own.

The obvious suggestion is to sell it, but eGPU docks are already such a niche market that finding a buyer willing to fork over a few hundred bucks for one is a tall order, never mind the added detriment of an opened product (and a presumably voided warranty) that has been robbed of its primary component.

However, utilizing it as a backup gaming device by loading it with a cheaper (and small) in-stock graphics card such as a GTX 1050 Ti could give a compatible laptop or desktop PC new legs as a secondary gaming system (newer TB3-enabled mini PCs and laptops without discrete GPUs come to mind). If you go this route, just make sure to get a card that falls under the same dimensions as the removed GPU. We don’t know the maximum dimensions of a suitable replacement GPU, but it’s obvious the docks will not accommodate full-sized graphics cards.

The GTX 1070 Mini has a length and height of 6.65 x 5.16", and we’d presume the 1080 Gaming Box accommodates GPUs of a similar size (they have the same exterior dimensions). AMD cards may not work with the Gaming Box docks (which come equipped with Nvidia graphics cards) if it can’t load the Radeon driver, but there are several smaller Nvidia graphics cards that measure in at or under the 6.65” length available from several manufacturers that could fit the bill.

Reselling the dock after you load it up with a more affordable GPU could yield more interest than selling it without one, too. Regardless, it wouldn’t surprise us if you end up holding onto the empty chassis for a while either way.

LAS VEGAS, NV -- CES 2018 saw the continuation of the Thunderbolt 3 external graphics dock paradigm, with vendors such as Asus, Gigabyte, Lenovo, and Powercolor showcasing new or recently released eGPU devices at the Las Vegas event. These docks ranged from small and compact with built in GPUs, to large and feature-rich enclosures meant to accommodate your own choice of graphics card. Here's what we saw.

Asus

Asus unveiled a new, professional-looking version of its XG-series eGPU dock, the XG Station Pro. Although the name implies compatibility with professional-grade GPUs (such as AMD FirePro or Nvidia Quadro cards), Asus did not explicitly claim support for workstation-class hardware. The new iteration is mostly an aesthetic downgrade, trading in the edgy and flashy windowed chassis of the XG Station 2 for a toned-down In Win case with smooth panels and no windows to speak of. However, a major improvement to the design came in the form of an external power supply (AC adapter), which results in a considerably reduced size compared to the previously available version.

Gigabyte

Gigabyte debuted a new version of its Thunderbolt-3 powered Aorus Gaming Box, upgrading the GPU to a GeForce GTX 1080 (the previous version sports a GTX 1070). The Box remains mostly unchanged from its previous iteration, featuring a 450W power supply, three USB 3.0 ports (and one red charging-only port), and shipping with the graphics card already inside. (Gigabyte does not offer the dock sans GPU).

However, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 inside is a custom card with a large fan (we eyed it at about 120mm) over some heavy heatsinks, indicating Gigabyte took thermal performance into account when it stuffed an even more-powerful GPU inside its impressively small Gaming Box. The new version will hit stores for $600, and the company hinted an even-larger GTX 1080 Ti version of the eGPU dock is also inbound.

Lenovo

Lenovo entered the eGPU dock fray with a pint-sized Thunderbolt 3 device with a built-in GTX 1050 MXM graphics card. Lenovo claimed that the device can provide adequate 1080p gaming performance and that it supports Windows Mixed Reality (WMR). We're enticed by the idea of smaller MXM GPU-powered Thunderbolt 3 docks that can add some serious gaming horsepower to an ultra thin and light devices, but Lenovo stopped short of a high-end VR-ready (GTX 1060) GPU with a design and power ceiling (170W AC adapter) that clearly targets the mainstream market. Measuring in at only 5.12 x 9.76 x 0.89 inches, the new Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock is certainly one of the smallest eGPU devices we've seen.

PowerColor

PowerColor showcased a new eGPU device called the Gaming Station, a second entry in the company's graphics dock lineup that appears to be an aesthetically toned-down (yet internally beefed-up) evolution of PowerColor's first TB3 enclosure, the Devil Box.

The new Gaming Station features a sleek chassis that sports ample USB 3.0 connectivity and a 550W 80 Plus Gold-certified SFX power supply that can feed up to 375W of juice to Nvidia's most-powerful GeForce and Quadro graphics cards. It can also house AMD Radeon GPUs ranging from the R9 285 to the RX 500 series. We were disappointed to see RX Vega left off the official compatibility list (especially with a power ceiling seemingly designed for it), but the PowerColor Gaming Station could be a compelling choice in the growing graphics dock market if the price (which is currently unknown) is right.

Zotac

We were already aware Zotac would be showcasing its production-ready Amp Box and Amp Box Mini graphics enclosures at CES 2018, but the company also brought back an updated version of its original eGPU dock prototype. The familiar white chassis is larger than the soon-to-be-released Amp Box (more in line with the original design) with room for graphics cards up to 12 inches in length and a beefier 550W internal power supply. Zotac said the unnamed Big Amp Box (there, we just named it) is designed for workstation environments, especially for Nvidia Quadro or Titan users.

The larger PSU also affords a higher GPU power ceiling (350W) than the other upcoming Zotac eGPU dock offerings. Full I/O specifications, availability, and pricing aren't finalized, but being that this is a larger dock aimed at professional-grade power users, it will likely feature plenty of USB connectivity and some internal storage options (such as M.2 or 2.5" SATA bays). Zotac appears to be playing the numbers game with a total of three external graphics dock options, something few (if any) other companies offer.

Lenovo joined the external graphics enclosure party at CES 2018, revealing a new Thunderbolt 3-powered graphics dock with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 inside.

The Lenovo Thunderbolt Graphics Dock is designed to connect to a thin and light Ultrabook (Lenovo recommends the IdeaPad 720S). The GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5 MXM graphics card inside can provide mainstream graphics performance, and the boost is enough to get the device well-past the Windows Mixed Reality door (Lenovo claimed it supports WMR at 90Hz). Although it won’t handle the top-end VR HMDs (and we're somewhat speculative of the company's claim of 90Hz WMR performance), the Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock is ideal for average users looking for a little more GPU horsepower at the desk.

The new dock is powered by a 170W AC adapter and connects to your PC via a USB Type-C cable. The dock offers up to 65W of power for attached PCs, but the only currently certified device is the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S. However, the company showcased the new dock with a ThinkPad X1 attached, indicating that more devices will likely be added to the dock’s compatibility list in the coming days.

The Lenovo graphics enclosure is much smaller than competing devices that require end users to purchase their own graphics card, measuring in at 5.12 x 9.76 x 0.89" and weighing around 1.51lbs. The gun metal chassis gives it a sleek look that would mesh well with a home office, and you can use the three USB ports (two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0) to connect additional peripherals and storage to your PC without using all of your ports or having dongles dangerously dangling from the sides of the PC.

You can connect up to three displays to the dock using an HDMI 2.0 port or two DisplayPort 1.3 interfaces. It also sports a gigabit Ethernet port and a headphone-out/mic-in audio combo jack.

The Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Graphics Dock will be available sometime this month for $399.

Asus announced a new external graphics enclosure, taking the blueprint for the XG Station 2 and giving it a professional-looking makeover.

The new Asus XG Station Pro ditches the edgy ROG gamer-centric design of the previous iteration, with Asus instead opting for an In Win-manufactured chassis with smooth edges and solid panels. Gone is the side panel window; the XG Station Pro sports a vented side panel with two 120mm fans that exhaust heat for improved thermal performance. The fans have a preset curve, but you can adjust the settings using Asus GPU Tweak II software. They can also be plugged directly into standard 4-pin fan headers found on Strix-branded graphics cards, allowing the case fans to react to the GPU temperature for more responsive cooling.

The new XG Station Pro chassis is also considerably smaller than its previous iteration, measuring in at only 4.3 x 14.8". To make it this tiny, Asus saved space by removing the internal power supply and using an external 330W power adapter (the same adapter found on its massive liquid-cooled GX800 gaming laptop). This is enough juice to support Asus’ factory-overclocked Strix graphics cards, with the XG Station Pro sporting two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Asus stated that the new XG Station Pro can support up to GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics cards (with no mention of workstation-class GPU support, despite the business professional marketing lingo). These powerful GPUs draw considerable power (Nvidia and AMD flagships are rated at 250W and 295W, respectively), leaving only about 80W-to-35W for additional power for the attached Thunderbolt 3-enabled laptop. This makes the XG Station Pro adept for thin and light devices with low power consumption, such as the Asus Zenbook, which the company explicitly suggests as a suitable match. The XG Station Pro also supports macOS Sierra devices, but only with AMD Vega graphics cards for the time being (Nvidia does not have a certified driver for macOS).

The external graphics dock still connects to a mobile device via a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C interface (Asus also provides a near five-foot cable), but the USB Type-A and network connectivity found on the XG Station 2 is reduced to a single USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C port on the new XG Station Pro. The interface is capable of data speeds up to 10 Gbps and can be used to charge 15W mobile devices.

Although the look of the new XG Station Pro is toned down compared to the loud ROG-branded predecessor, it still has a few flashy features to suit your fancy. An RGB LED light illuminates the interior (it glows white by default), and the colors and effects can be customized using Asus Aura Sync software. You can also use the LED control software to adjust the lights on compatible Asus and ROG graphics cards.

The Asus XG Station Pro will be showcased at CES next week, and it will hit stores later this month for $329.

Zotac finally put a name to its Thunderbolt 3-powered external graphics and PCIe SSD enclosures. Meet the AMP Box and AMP Box Mini.

Big Box

The company has been teasing its eGPU tech for about a year now, announcing its plans for what is now known as the AMP Box at CES 2017. The prototype device was initially designed to house dual-slot graphics cards up to 13" long, but Zotac reduced the size of the chassis in a later revision (revealed at Computex) to accommodate GPUs up to 9” long. Both of these early prototypes were powered by a 400W PSU and featured three USB 3.0 ports in addition to a Quick Charge USB 3.0 port.

The new (and properly branded) Zotac AMP Box is the polished production version of these early designs, and most of the features remain the same. The device is still limited to dual-slot GPUs up to 9” in length, and although this limitation eliminates a vast majority of graphics cards on the market as a potential occupant of the AMP Box, the design makes sense when you consider that Zotac manufactures a mini version of each of Nvidia’s major GPUs (#brandloyalty). However, the Amp Box is compatible with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, and similar to an overweight cat attempting to get comfortable in a shoebox, if it fits, it sits.

Zotac also increased the PSU wattage to 450W (50W more than the prototypes) and expanded compatibility to PCIe SSD devices, a feature that was the primary focus of a similar Zotac-branded product we also saw at Computex.

Mini Box

Zotac’s AMP Box Mini was simply known as “External Box” when we first saw it at Computex, but the device has evolved in the past few months. The initial design focused on PCIe SSDs, with Zotac showcasing the prototype with one of its Sonix SSDs inside. The company also said you could use the Thunderbolt 3 device to power a small graphics card, but the prototype’s lack of interior space and PCIe power connectors made this difficult to achieve with anything more powerful than a GTX 1050 Ti.

The company may have taken our critique into consideration with the production version of the AMP Box Mini; it looks like Zotac increased the depth of the chassis, and it added a 6-pin PCIe power connector (along with more juice in the form of a 180W adapter) to accommodate graphics cards that draw up to 150W and measure in under 7.87 inches in length. With less power and space, the selection of compatible graphics cards is less than that of the larger AMP Box, but you can at least get into the VR-ready door with the AMP Box Mini thanks to the added power (and connector), which enables support for a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card (at most).

The new Zotac AMP Box and AMP Box Mini still don't have a price tag, but we should find out more at CES.

PowerColor released a new external graphics enclosure called the Gaming Station.

We first saw the eGPU device back at Computex, when the company was simply referring to it as “Gaming Box.” This isn’t the first eGPU dock from PowerColor; the company already released a similar device called the Devil Box, and it has been rather quiet about the Gaming Box since it was first revealed. However, the renamed Gaming Station has now made its official debut.

The PowerColor Gaming Station is a Thunderbolt 3-powered external graphics enclosure measuring in at 343.2 x 163 x 245mm. It’s compatible with both AMD Radeon (via AMD XConnect technology) and Nvidia GeForce and Quadro graphics cards measuring up to 310mm in length. The dock features a 550W SFX power supply, giving it enough juice to power top-tier graphics cards. Although the Gaming Station is able to accommodate Nvidia’s flagship GPU, the GTX 1080 Ti, AMD graphics compatibility stops at the RX 500 series, leaving the recently released Radeon RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 out of the running.

The dock also sports five USB 3.0 ports (two on the front, three in the back) in addition to the Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port (which is used to connect the PC). A gigabit Ethernet port also gives users more networking options for their attached Thunderbolt 3-equipped mobile device.

Pricing and availability of the PowerColor Gaming Station is still unknown, but with CES just around the corner, we may be seeing it sooner than later.

Galax may not be the first brand that comes to mind when you think of a Thunderbolt 3 GPU dock, but that’s precisely what the company had on display at its booth during Computex.

A Small GPU Dock For The Masses

Unlike others of its kind, the Galax SNPR External Graphics Card Enclosure doesn’t support full-sized GPUs; rather, it features a GeForce GTX 1060 on a custom PCB. This design allows for a small footprint--so small, in fact, that we initially mistook the SNPR for a mini PC as we browsed Galax’s new wares.

The Galax SNPR External Graphics Card Enclosure is powered by an external power supply and can support up to 45W of power delivery via the Thunderbolt 3 interface. For video output, there’s a DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI-D interface on the rear panel. A power button on the front illuminates when it’s on, and the top and sides of the aluminum chassis are ventilated.

Full specifications (such as the clock rate and memory capacity) of the SNPR’s custom GTX 1060 graphics card weren’t revealed, and Galax wasn’t too keen on letting us open it up for a quick look at its cooling system and interior design intricacies. However, we can say that this is one of the smallest Thunderbolt 3 graphics amplifiers (if not the smallest) that we’ve seen to date.

Mac Support?

Galax also said that the new SNPR GPU dock would be compatible with Mac. This was a questionable statement, so we followed up. As of Saturday, we were told that it's unofficially supported, as Apple doesn't have the standard solidified yet. However, we now know that eGPU compatibility for Mac is nigh (at least for AMD graphics cards), and it's plausible to say that Nvidia GPU compatibility isn't far behind (if not already in the works, Apple wasn't specific in its announcement).

Pricing and availability of the Galax SNPR External Graphics Card Enclosure is not yet known, but considering there’s a GPU already loaded in it, we can expect it to range between $350-500 if we had to go by what the competition has brought to market.

Zotac joined the growing list of manufacturers launching new external graphics enclosures at Computex 2017. Although details are extremely light at this point, we do know that this eGFX enclosure will connect to its host system via Thunderbolt 3 over USB Type-C connector and have its own internal power supply.

As we’ve said before, the benefit of an internal power supply with a Type-C port capable of Power Delivery is that not only does it supply juice to the power-hungry GPU, it also enables you to charge connected accessories and devices. The device also has four USB 3.0 ports and a Quick Charge 3.0 port.

Oddly enough, the Zotac external VGA box supports graphics cards up to 9" in length, which means most of the company's high-end GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards are not compatible with this external enclosure. Thankfully, the company recently announced the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Mini, which measures just 8.3" in length. It should go without saying that cards from any manufacturer can be used in this eGFX enclosure as long as they adhere to the under 9" space constraint.  

As far as aesthetics are concerned, you would be forgiven for accidentally mistaking the Zotac External VGA box for a Western Digital My Book external hard drive. In fact, we believe the two would look great side-by-side on your desk.  But that’s just our own sensibilities talking.

Information on pricing and availability was not available at press time. We expect more details to trickle out during the rest of Computex 2017.

Thermaltake upgraded the Toughpower Gold, Smart M Bronze, and Smart Bronze lines with new enclosures that, besides sporting improved looks, also offer enhanced airflow that lowers the operating temperatures, leading to lower noise output and a longer lifetime. Airflow plays a key role in a PSU’s performance, especially under tough conditions.

The photo below shows the previous SP-750M. We provide it in order to show you the differences with the new model (shown above), which, besides the new chassis, also features flat cables with dark (stealth) wires. The semi-modular cable design remains in the Toughpower Gold and Smart M Bronze lines. It would be a notable improvement if all cables were modular, but this would significantly affect the final prices of the PSUs.

The Toughpower Gold series mostly serves demanding users who don’t mind investing in a reliable and efficient PSU, whereas the Smart M Bronze and Smart Bronze lines are for users on tight budget. The specifications of all lines are provided in the following tables.

The max operating temperature at which the PSUs can deliver full power continuously is rather low (40°C), because the ATX spec recommends at least 50°C. In addition, we would like to see two EPS connectors in the TPD-0750M model. Moreover, the hold-up time, according to Tt's statement, isn't in line with the ATX spec's requirements (17ms minimum). Finally, the lack of Over Temperature Protection is a major downside in this category.

The hold-up time of these units, according to Tt at least, is higher than 16ms with 80% load. Normally it should be higher than 17ms with full load, though. In addition, even the largest member of this line, the SP-850M, has only a single EPS connector, which is too bad in our opinion. On the contrary, the number of provided PCIe connectors is sufficient for all PSUs of this line, given their budget orientation. 

The Smart Bronze, non-modular, units are for mainstream systems, and this is clearly indicated via the amount of the PCIe and EPS cables of the 650W and 550W models. If you need more PCIe connectors, then you should get either the SP-750P or a Smart Bronze M unit.

GPU docks have been appearing from major manufacturers over the past year or so, with companies including MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, PowerColor and Razer developing external graphics enclosures intended as companions for lightweight mobile PCs. However, the new products have been receiving mixed reactions from the enthusiast community, with some espousing the opinion that a GPU dock has no purpose in a world where desktop-class graphics cards are available in mobile devices.

In the arena of Windows-based PCs, this point does bear an aspect of truth. Unless you’re using a thinner and lighter device such as the Razer Blade Stealth (an Ultrabook), most laptops can now support desktop-level graphics power without the need for an external enclosure. However, one untapped market for the GPU dock phenomenon is the MacBook, where price tags are high and the GPU horsepower is considered low. Although many of the aforementioned PC-based GPU docks claim compatibility with any device sporting a Thunderbolt 3 interface, Mac support is not part of the package. A Kickstarter campaign from Cambridge-based Wolfepack Inc. seeks to change that with its Wolfe GPU Dock, which specifically targets MacBooks, where an eGPU device could be the missing link for high-end gaming and VR in a macOS-based device.

The Wolfe Among The Sheep

The Wolfe is an external graphics enclosure that supports half-length GPUs powered by a 220-watt power supply, and it focuses on Mac compatibility (though it’s also capable of connecting to Windows-based devices). It comes with a software package that enables plug-and-play support for the dock, and it can also be used to choose the specific applications you want to run using the eGPU.

The Wolfe DIY kit allows users to equip the dock with their GPU of choice, but the Wolfe can also come preloaded with either an Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 (the Wolfe) or a GTX 970 (Wolfe Pro). The company also said support for the GTX 1060 (in place of the GTX 970 in the Wolfe Pro) is a likely option.

“As of right now, The Wolfe Pro includes an NVIDIA GTX 970,” stated the Kickstarter campaign. “However, it's more than likely that Wolfe Pro level backers will be able to opt for the new GTX 1060 in our post-campaign survey for even better performance.”

Like all GPU docks, the Wolfe is designed to bring desktop-level performance to a mobile device. However, MacBook users in dire need of more horsepower could use it to power AAA game titles and VR applications, which previously wasn’t plausible in Apple devices due to their limited GPU horsepower. A device like the Wolfe could make Palmer Lucky eat his infamous words on the subject of VR-capable Mac products:

“It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn’t prioritize high-end GPUs,” said the Oculus founder. “We’d love to support Mac, but right now there’s not a single machine out there that supports it [VR].”

Your move, Oculus.

Compatibility

The Wolfe is compatible with Thunderbolt 1-, 2- or 3-enabled devices, but only Kickstarter backers will get the backwards compatibility, with the company stating it will use the Thunderbolt 3 standard moving forward. The company stated the following MacBooks (built in specific date ranges) should be compatible with the Wolfe DIY kit, Wolfe and Wolfe Pro:

MacBook Air 11-inch, Mid 2011–2015MacBook Air 13-inch, Mid 2011–2015MacBook Pro Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012–2015MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012–2015MacBook Pro 13-inch, Early 2011–2015MacBook Pro 15-inch, Early 2011–2015Mac mini, Mid 2011–2015iMac, Mid 2011–2015Mac Pro, Late 2013-2015

The Wolfe GPU docks are built on the eGFX standard, so they will also work with any Thunderbolt-enabled Windows-based device. In addition, the dock is compatible with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift (Mac users will have to use Bootcamp to get the HMD-specific software to work).

Multiple GPUs? Sort Of…

Wolfepack Inc. claimed the number of Wolfe docks you can use is limited only by the number of Thunderbolt ports you have, meaning you can connect multiple GPUs to a single device. We’re not sure how this is implemented and whether or not this could be considered a true SLI configuration, but the company was quick to point out that multi-GPU support was dependent on the applications you use, and that full support “isn’t quite there yet.” However, if this comes to pass, the troves of enthusiasts pining for multi-GPU graphics docks could have an answer in the form of the Wolfe.

Pricing And Availability

The Wolfe GPU docks are available on the company’s Kickstarter page. The Wolfe DIY kit appears to already be sold out, but it was going for a reasonable $269 (much cheaper than other GPU-less alternatives). The GTX 950-equipped Wolfe is available for $449, and the Wolfe Pro (GTX 970 version) is priced at $599. The Wolfe and Wolfe Pro start shipping in February and March 2017, respectively.

The company already reached its $50,000 goal, and is currently exceeding $215,000 in support. For all intents and purposes, the Wolfe could be the must-have companion device for Macbooks in the age of virtual reality.

External graphics card enclosures designed to add gaming performance to otherwise pedestrian laptops seem to be popular in 2016. Earlier this year at CES we saw an enclosure from Razer that connects to its Razer Blade Stealth ultrabook, and Asus unveiled the ROG XG2 graphics dock, which uses PCIe over USB Type-C. MSI later introduced an AIO PC with an external enclosure hanging off its back.

AMD also jumped into the fray by creating AMD XConnect, a technology (part of Radeon software) that allows AMD graphics cards to function over Thunderbolt 3.

PowerColor is the latest company to join the club with its PowerColor Devil Box, which leverages AMD’s XConnect technology. The Devil Box is a 15.75 x 6.75 x 9.5-inch enclosure that sits next to your mobile or compact desktop PC. The Devil Box features a 500w internal power supply, with 375w dedicated to the GPU. The additional wattage powers the enclosure itself, which also features a number of I/O ports. PowerColor included four USB 3.0 ports, one USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-C port, a gigabit Ethernet jack and a SATA III port to support an additional hard drive, and all of this is handled by a single Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps cable.

The Devil Box is large enough to handle graphics cards as long as 12.2-inches and as tall as 5.5-inches. The box is also only capable of enclosing graphics cards that are 1.96-inches wide (or less), which will make it difficult to fit many of the custom R9 390X cards since they are typically wider than the Devil Box’s limitations.

PowerColor said the Devil Box will support most of AMD's current GPU lineup, with the exception of the Fury X (no water cooling support), as well as the R9 285, R9 290 and R9 290X. Nvidia's entire Maxwell lineup, from GTX 750 through Titan X, is also supported. There was no mention of the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, but we can’t imagine why they wouldn’t work also.

PowerColor did not say when the Devil Box would be available, and we don’t know the price yet.

Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

AMD announced a Radeon Software update that includes support for a new technology called XConnect, which allows AMD graphics cards to work in Thunderbolt 3-powered external graphics enclosures, such as the Razer Core.

We first saw the Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook and its companion external graphics enclosure, the Razer Core, at CES. At the time, Razer was demoing the new product with an Nvidia GPU, but we were told that any GPU with driver support would work. AMD GPUs now have support for Thunderbolt 3 external graphics enclosures as well, albeit with a few caveats.

AMD revealed that R9 300-series, R9 290X, R9 290,  R9 285, R9 Fury and Nano GPUs are compatible with the new XConnect technology, leaving out the entirety of the company’s older and mid-tier GPU offerings (R9 280 and below, R7 300-series and below) and setting a strict performance entry level in order to enjoy the benefits of external graphics enclosures.

However, this is acceptable considering that most consumers purchasing these docks are likely looking for some serious GPU horsepower anyway. Fury X is not specifically listed as compatible, due to its 120 mm radiator.

AMD’s XConnect is available now as part of the Radeon Software Crimson Edition update 16.2.2 and higher.

Updated 3/10/16 4:40 PM CT: A change was made to reflect the graphics card compatibility.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Derek Forrest on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

A few months back a company called Riotoro was born, which was started by folks who worked at Corsair and Nvidia. At first, it only operated in Latin America, but for CES 2016, the company announced a case that it will use to enter the U.S. market – the Prism CR1280. The interesting thing about this case is that it is fully RGB-lit.

Lighting aside, the case features a relatively straightforward design. Inside, there is room for an E-ATX motherboard, four dual-slot graphics cards up to 400 mm long, CPU coolers up to 180 mm tall, and PSUs up to 220 mm long. There is also room for four 3.5” hard drives and four 2.5” drives. The hard drives and PSU reside in a separate compartment at the bottom of the case so that they have their own airflow channel for noise isolation.

The case’s frame is made from steel, but also has bits of aluminum and plastic, and it measures 478 x 250 x 577 mm with the feet installed.

For cooling, the case can hold two 120 or 140 mm fans at the front, three 120 mm or two 140 mm fans at the top, and a single 120 or 140 mm fan at the rear exhaust port. On all these locations, the corresponding radiators for water cooling can be mounted, too. Included as standard kit is a single 120 mm exhaust fan and two RGB-lit 120 mm intake fans.

The RGB lighting in the case lights up a ring around the front I/O, the Riotoro logo, and the two fans on the inside. The lighting can be adjusted to any one of 256 different colors with the switch at the front. Next to that are also two switches to control the fan speed, along with two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and the usual pair of HD audio jacks.

Pricing will sit at $139.99, and Riotoro plans to launch the case in the U.S. in February.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Seagate's new Backup Plus Ultra Slim, which the company unveiled at CES 2016, reduces the thickness (Z-height) of its 1 and 2 TB enclosures to a mere 9.6 mm. Competing mobile HDD enclosures feature a Z-height of 20.9 mm (51 percent thicker), and the previous-generation mobile Seagate 2 TB HDD already provided the thinnest profile at 12.1 mm.

The new Seagate 5,400 RPM mobile 2 TB HDD with a 7 mm Z-height is nestled inside the enclosure, and is the key technological advance that enabled the thinner enclosure. Seagate managed to pack up to two platters into the thin drive and coupled them with its SMR technology, which is a first for the 2.5" HDD segment.

The svelte design allows users to tote around more data in a slimmer package. Seagate included its Dashboard software, which allows users to configure either one-click or customized scheduled backups for their devices. Seagate also provides a few extras for its customers, including 200 GB of OneDrive cloud storage for two years and the Lyve photo and video sharing application, which merges photos and videos into a single automatically managed library that is accessible from any computer or mobile device. 

The slim design features either a golden or platinum motif and the USB 3.0 connection, which is the primary speed limitation. Both the 1 and the 2 TB models are expected to provide enough speed to saturate the bus. The drive is compatible with the downloadable Paragon driver, which allows the use of the Backup Plus with both Windows and Apple machines.

The company referenced its "breakthrough ultra-mobile hard drive technology" as the driver behind the increased density, which refers (at least in part) to its SMR technology. SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) is a revolutionary new HDD recording technique that overlaps an HDD's tracks to improve storage density (we have a deeper explanation in our SMR 101 article) in comparison to the commonly-used PMR recording (which is found in the vast majority of HDDs).

The only disadvantage to SMR recording is that it suffers slow performance in some workloads due to the nature of the overlapped data tracks, which have to be re-written in large blocks whenever data is changed or moved. The internal functions of an SMR drive borrow heavily from SSD technology, namely the technique of abstracting the sector mapping scheme, to reduce the overall impact of the inevitable data re-write process.

As a result, SMR drives are unsuitable for any type of random write data but perform fine with sequential data. SMR HDDs debuted in the enterprise space with the Seagate Archive 8TB HDD, which brought the cost-per-GB down to a mere 3 cents-per-GB. Unfortunately, the architecture requires customizations to the broader computing environment to mitigate the performance limitations, which has hampered adoption (particularly in the face of very efficient helium HDDs). 

In an effort to increase adoption, Seagate is expanding its SMR scope to the client space for select applications, such as backup, archival tasks, videos and photo storage. Seagate is wise to position the drives for backup, photo and video applications. These types of data almost always consist of large-block sequential data patterns, thus preventing users from experiencing any noticeable performance slowdown.

SMR is geared to provide increased density and reduced cost. The Backup Plus Ultra Slim will retail for $99.99 for the 1 TB model and $129.99 for the 2 TB model. The new Backup Plus Ultra Slim features a two-year warranty, which is the same as the previous-generation PMR-based product.

The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim will be available in the first quarter of 2016 at either Amazon or Seagate.com and features a two-year warranty. 

Specifications, Interior & Exterior

We don’t often refer to size as a metric of greatness, but when it comes to size the “greatest” form factor enthusiasts have encountered is EVGA’s old HPTX at 13.6” tall by 15” deep. Yet even that wasn’t the tallest board developed for enthusiasts, as Foxconn once attempted to establish a 10-slot, 14.4” form factor called Ultra ATX. Rosewill’s latest big tower, the B2 Spirit, is large enough in both directions to support both standards. More importantly, the tenth “Ultra ATX” rear-panel slot allows HPTX users to put a double-slot graphics card in the motherboard’s bottom slot.

The “Greater Than” symbol is my latest solution to the naming problems of oversized parts, as it’s less likely to be misidentified as a “new form factor” than a plus sign following the form factor’s name. My hope is that readers will ask “how much larger” when they see it in a title. But just how large is Rosewill’s latest “Greater Than HPTX” solution?

Don’t let the slender visual effect of black fool you: Over 26” tall and nearly 26” deep, the B2 Spirit is larger even than Azza’s recently-tested GT1.

Exterior

Potential buyers need not worry that panel rigidity decreases as panel size is increased, as the B2 Spirit is reinforced with nearly 38 pounds of steel and heavy-duty plastic. Worry instead about your back, or whether your reach is broad enough to tote this case without having it slip from your grasp. Spirit of the B2, indeed!

Notice that the top panel has six USB ports, in addition to two audio jacks, under a tiny slide-away cover? That cover is nearly as wide as a dollar bill!

The B2 Spirit is larger than a traditional “Full Tower,” breaking from that tradition by having neither a rear drive rack or second power supply mount. Instead, the extra height is devoted to mounting space for thick top-panel radiators and lower expansion cards.

A pair of fans are mounted to hinged brackets behind the face panel for easy access, replacement, and filter cleaning. Although they look fairly small in the photo, each of these is 140mm square. When it comes to scale, the word “staggering” comes to mind.

A slide-in filter protects the power supply intake plus a pair of 120/140mm fan mounts on the B2 Spirit’s bottom panel. It's over 17.5” long, so most users will probably need to turn their case around to pull it out.

Interior

Marketed both with and without the hyphen in its name, the B2 Spirit includes a 10-drive, and a removable 3-drive drive cage. The smaller cage covers the second bottom fan mount, and the larger cage includes a 2x140 / 2x120mm radiator mount.

The B2 Spirit has access holes for boards both big and huge: The inner cable access holes are spaced for a 12” x 10.7” oversized ATX board, such as MSI’s X99S XPower AC and Asus’ Rampage V Extreme. That means the outer access holes are spaced for something really big!

Rosewill didn’t sneak any extra storage behind the motherboard tray, but the B2 Spirit does have enough space for all your cables.

The B2 Spirit top panel can hold up to three 140mm or 120mm fans, with enough space to sandwich a 1.5”-thick radiator between two layers of 1”-thick fans.

If 3.5” of space above the board isn’t enough for your cooling bits, you could dig into top panel space. Sliding bars that tie together the top panel’s opening mechanism could get in your way, but modders are welcome to customize.

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The Build, Test Results & Conclusion

The Build

The B2 Spirit includes a reasonable good user’s manual, plus bag of screws with motherboard standoffs and cable ties.

Cable ends include two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, HD Audio, switch and LED. The power LED lead is split for both standard and Asus (old-school AT) spacing, and the similarly-outdated AC-97 pigtail is eliminated.

Cushioned pins reduce vibrational transmission from 3.5” mechanical drives, and slide out to ease screw mounting of 2.5” drives with the connector positioned in the same place.

Our full-ATX parts look tiny inside the B2 Spirit.

Perhaps the tiny appearance of full-sized parts is why Rosewill decided to use a small window, relative to the huge size of its side panel? That does help the case appear more “filled” in an ordinary configuration.

How We Test

We continue to use our reference PC with its reference overclock for case testing, apart from replacing the X99S XPower AC with the X99S Gaming 7. That replacement has allowed us to compared tighter “Standard ATX” cases, since the XPower motherboard is oversize.

Noise is measured .5m from the case’s front corner, on the side that opens. The numbers are corrected to the 1m industry standard — used by many loudspeaker and fan manufacturers — by subtracting six decibels.

Drivers & Settings

Comparison Cases

Test Results

The closest match in market to Rosewill’s B2 Spirit is Azza’s GT1, though the B2 Spirit has a slightly higher-quality fit and finish. The Define S and MasterCase 5 by comparison are ATX-based, with only the Define S supporting slightly oversized ATX boards, and both of those smaller cases are designed to be used with additional fans.

Equiped from the factory with two intake and three exhaust fans, the B2 Spirit is designed to run well out-of-the-box. It returns excellent temperatures from our overclocked Haswell-E and mid-sized cooler, and likewise beats all competitors in GPU cooling.

The B2 Spirit isn’t just cooler, it’s also quieter than its closest competitor in size. As for the closest in design (having a closed front-panel over front fans), the Define S achieves the same average noise level.

Cool and quiet are both great ways to top an acoustic efficiency chart, and that’s exactly what the B2 Spirit does. Rosewill should be thrilled with these results.

Value seekers on the other hand would point to the Define S’ ultra-low $70 price as a reason not to buy the B2 Spirit. Of course the markets aren’t the same, as the B2 Spirit supports over four times as many hard drives, over three times as many total drives, front-bay devices such as fan controllers and system monitors, three times as many USB devices, four-way SLI, and huge dual-socket motherboards.

Conclusion

Because the Azza GT1 is the only case we’ve tested with the same hardware, and that’s also in the same target market as the B2 spirit, we really only need to figure out if the $170 B2 Spirit is worth $40 more than the $130 GT1. The answer to that question is far tougher than I’d like it to be, if only because I value the B2 Spirit’s higher quality, better performance and flip-out fan holders over the GT1’s removable motherboard tray and somewhat-flimsy card brace. To say that I’d pay the extra $40 for the B2 Spirit would only be meaningful to those who understand my excruciating frugality.

Even though I’d rather call B2 Spirit a “better bargain” for its remarkable step upward in quality, my willingness to make concessions to those who demand removable motherboard trays demands that I treat the cheaper GT1 as having similar value. Since the GT1 already received our stamp of approval, so too proceeds the B2 Spirit.

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Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware, covering Cases, Cooling, Memory and Motherboards. Follow him on Twitter.

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Gamers are a prime group targeted by SSD manufacturers. Brand loyalty is strong with this group. Many purchase video cards, headphones, keyboards, mice and other peripherals from the same company based on preference and trust in product quality.

Zotac is one of the companies cashing in with an expanding product portfolio. A subsidiary of PC Partner, Zotac went from selling video cards to offering motherboards, small form factor PCs, external storage enclosures and as of late, solid state drives.

The new Premium Edition solid state drives are not the company's first entry into the SSD market. Last June, Zotac released the Zotac Speed in China, a 120 GB SSD with up to 521 MB/s sequential read and 170 MB/s sequential write performance. The drive shipped in only one capacity. The limited performance from just a few interleaved NAND die wouldn't have made this a popular product in more developed nations. SSDs that sell well in China usually have a very low cost. Some companies even sell very low-performing products based on controllers designed for cache use in SSD + HDD configurations as premium solid state drives.

The Zotac Premium Edition SSDs (yes that is the product name) appears to be a global product. Zotac will bring the Phison S10-controlled models to market in 240 GB and 480 GB capacities. The quad-core S10 processor offers a number of exciting features such as end-to-end data path protection, Smart ECC, Smart Refresh, host power fail protection, and dynamic wear leveling. You can read our preview of the Phison S10 for a detailed look at the controller and feature set.

Initially, the Phison S10 controller was billed as a premium part that would compete with Samsung's 850 Pro and SanDisk's Extreme PRO. Corsair released the first retail-branded SSD with the controller, the Neutron XT.

I remember Corsair employees excited about the product's performance and potential performance. Early performance tests run with compressible data showed that the S10 could compete with the best from South Korea at the time. Moving over to incompressible data, though, put the S10 performance more in line with mainstream SSDs at the time. Phison promised a future firmware update that would increase sustained random write performance to 10,000 IOPS. A year after release, users have turned blue in the face, passed out, or at the very least grown more gray hair for an update that never came. Now, the Phison S10 has entered the mainstream market with products from Kingston, Mushkin, Patriot Memory, and others -- including the just-announced Zotac Premium Edition.

However, this isn't a product we're very excited about for a couple of reasons. Patriot Memory already has a very low cost model on the market with a razor-thin margin (the Torch Pro 240 GB at $79.99, 480 GB at $139.99), and it delivers higher sequential read performance (up to 560 MB/s). I don't see Zotac being able to compete on price with more established SSD providers with just two SSD product lines. The NAND flash is the most expensive component of any client-based SSD, and Zotac just doesn't have the purchasing power to buy on the same scale as companies with several SSDs on the market.

The new Premium Edition SSD should be a solid offering in terms of reliability, though. Phison develops the hardware, writes the firmware and manufactures the drives in Toshiba factories that are known to produce some of the most reliable SSDs sold today.

Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Tom's Hardware on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Transcend announced its new StoreJet 35T3, which offers a whopping 8 TB of storage in a USB 3.0 external storage enclosure. The world of high-capacity external storage is heating up, and it is all fueled by a new HDD recording technology that offers the lowest price-per-GB on the market.

There are currently only two 8 TB HDDs available, the Seagate Active Archive HDD and the HGST Ultrastar He8 (reviewed here). The HGST offering is designed for cutting-edge datacenter applications, and its price reflects that. The Transcend JetStore, which is available in 3 TB, 4 TB, and 8 TB capacities for $159, $209 and $409, respectively, costs less than a single Ultrastar He8. This indicates the StoreJet enclosure employs the Seagate Archive 8 TB HDD.

The Seagate Archive HDD utilizes SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording), which is a new technique being used to increase the density of HDDs. The standard form of data recording, PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording), lays data tracks out in parallel with a nice space between them to avoid interference when reading data. SMR lays data tracks over one another, much like the shingling on a roof, which boosts capacity (as noted in the graphic above).

Unfortunately, SMR has performance implications that relegate it to the backup/archival space. The Seagate Archive HDD doesn't handle random write data very well, but its industry-low price of only 3 cents-per-GB offers a great "cheap and deep" storage solution. However, this class of HDD isn't recommended for desktop usage.

The Transcend StoreJet boasts speeds of up to 200 MBps, but the Seagate Archive HDD is only spec'd at 190 MBps on the outer portions of the platter. SMR drives do have a large cache that can speed up bursty data transfers, and that is likely the source of Transcend's estimates.

The enclosure also offers a One Touch auto-backup button that instantly backs up users' data. This functionality is enabled by the free Transcend Elite data management software, and the product also features AES-256 file and folder encryption. 

Like the Archive HDD itself, the Transcend StoreJet comes with a three year warranty. This is actually longer than the woeful one year warranty offered for most desktop HDDs. The internal 3.5" HDD requires too much power for the USB bus, so the enclosure requires an external power source.

Seagate offers its own Backup Plus 8 TB model with an MSRP of $299, but you can often find it for $250 when it is on sale. Transcend's competition will be stiff.

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At Computex 2015, BitFenix had three new cases on display – the Pandora ATX, the Nova, and the Atlas. None of the cases were production samples, but they were close-to-finished prototypes.

Pandora ATX

The Pandora ATX is a full-size ATX version of the original Pandora, which BitFenix built because people quite liked the external design of the Pandora, but weren't too fond of its rather cramped interior. Not only has it been upgraded from a Micro-ATX board housing to an ATX-board housing, but the PSU is now located in a more conventional location (under a cover to keep it out of sight), and there is more room behind the motherboard tray for cable management.

The display on the Pandora will also be upgraded, being up-sized to a 2.8" model, as opposed to the old Pandora's 2.4" screen.

To keep the case at the same price point, BitFenix decided to ditch the use of brushed aluminum side panels and resorted to a coated steel. In all fairness, that's not really an issue either, because the finish on the steel is actually quite nice – possibly even nicer to the touch than brushed aluminum.

Nova

The Nova is meant to be a budget-oriented enclosure, and it therefore has quite simple construction. It features an entirely conventional internal layout, and it doesn't do anything remarkable on the outside. It does feature a side panel window, which is a nice addition for a budget case.

The manufacturing quality of the case that BitFenix had on display was actually rather good, with the use of higher-quality plastics than we find on most cases, and the seams between the various parts of the case were quite thin, meaning that it is still manufactured with tight tolerances.

In Europe, the case will carry a €32 price tag, and in the U.S. it will go for $55. Do note that the only reason that BitFenix priced the case a tad higher in the U.S. is because it intends for this case to be on promotion at lower prices throughout most of its lifetime.

Atlas

BitFenix' Atlas takes a somewhat different approach to a chassis, with an unconventional dual-chamber design. The larger left chamber will hold the motherboard, cooling equipment, and graphics cards, while the smaller right chamber will house the power supply, storage devices, and the massive cable clutter.

Most intriguingly, the motherboard is mounted inside a removable tray, and the power supply and case holding area is a tray, too. Both are removable, and you can swap them around in order to change the orientation of the PC.

It is also the first case onto which BitFenix built a USB Type-C port. The top of the case features two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 3.1 port, and a USB Type-C port, along with the usual audio jacks, power buttons, and LEDs.

BitFenix is wrapping up the designs of these cases and will be working to bring them to the market over the coming months.

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Back at CES, Antec revealed that something big was coming, but we weren't allowed to talk about it. Today, mere days before the big trade show Computex, the company announced the S10, its new flagship enclosure. The S10 case is part of the new Signature-series of cases.

Unfortunately, this is just an announcement teasing at the release of the new case, and nothing more. Antec isn't giving us much information about the S10 case beyond the rather unrevealing teaser video below. All we can share at this time is that the case will have a "new design and interior structure," and that it will "definitely turn some heads."

The S10 will cost $499.99 and will be available exclusively in the U.S. through Newegg on the first day of Computex, on June 2. A month later, on July 1, it will be available worldwide.

And that's it! We're going to have to sit tight for a week to see what all the fuss is about. For now, we'll have to go by Antec's motto: "Believe it."

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HGST announced two new G-Technology products at the BVE Expo in the UK. The Expo focuses on broadcast and production technology, making it an ideal forum to release two new products geared for audio/video and photography production. The G-RAID is a removable RAID enclosure with dual 7200 rpm enterprise-class hard drives. The all-aluminum enclosure features an internal RAID controller and a quiet cooling fan. Users can select RAID 0 for performance, RAID 1 for redundancy, or JBOD to address the drives individually.

The enclosure provides up to 440 MB/s of sequential throughput, which represents the overwhelming majority use-case for video/photography production environments. The enclosure supports multi-stream HD, 2K and compressed 4K workloads.

G-RAID is available with versions sporting dual USB 3.0 and a Thunderbolt 2 connection, or with USB 3.0 only. The MSRP for an enclosure with 16 TB of storage weighs in at $1,295, 12 TB for $999.95 and 8 TB for $599.95. The enclosures come with a limited three-year warranty and will be available in March.

HGST also recently expanded its Evolution Series, a family of rugged storage devices geared for use in the field. The Evolution Series consists of the G-DRIVE ATC with Thunderbolt, the G-DRIVE ev ATC with USB 3.0 and the G-DRIVE ev RaW. These drives feature a watertight compartment and float when dropped in water. The enclosures are shock-resistant and can sustain a two-meter drop.

The rugged external market is becoming increasingly competitive as SSD manufacturers release new 1 TB external SSDs that are fast, small, light and shock resistant. Expect prices to continue to drop as SSDs continue to apply pressure in this market, and the HDD manufacturers attempt to stave off the SSD competition.

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If there's one thing Lian-Li is good at, it's making very pretty cases entirely out of aluminum. The company's latest number is no exception, although we don't entirely see why a NAS enclosure has to look so good. Despite the lavish form, the PC-Q26 also has function to back it up, so it's not a case of form over function.

Inside the PC-Q26 there is room for a single Mini-ITX motherboard and graphics cards up to 19 cm long. Hopefully, you don't intend on mounting a graphics card in this case, though, as it has a total of ten 3.5" bays along with a single 2.5" slot. That matters because Mini-ITX motherboards (with just a small handful of exceptions) at best have six SATA slots, meaning you'll need a RAID or SATA card in order to be able to utilize this case to its fullest potential. To power the lot, you can use a standard ATX PSU that's up to 190 mm long.

Included with the case is a single hot-swap plate, which is mounted behind the top two 3.5" mounts; more hot swap plates can be easily added.

Lian-Li hasn't skimped on cooling options, either. The front of the case has a total of three 120 mm fans and the top has another acting as exhaust. If that's not enough, you can add another 120 mm fan on the side panel along with an 80 mm fan as rear exhaust, too. All the fan intakes are also covered with dust filters, so despite the fact that you'll probably leave your NAS running 24/7, it won't fill up with dust too fast.

It's clear that this case is for the enthusiast storage-happy home server builder, who keeps it in the same room as his main PC. It's built primarily for storing lots of hard drives, it looks good (although your taste might differ, we can surely agree that the looks are home office-worthy), and it has enough fan mounts to make a silent build. True, hard drives make noise as well, but modern-day hard drives aren't nearly as loud as they used to be, and you can set them to spin down when not in use anyway.

The Lian-Li PC-Q26 will cost $189 and should be available on Newegg.com by the end of October.

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With its latest case, the Thormax GT, Enermax brings ample space for hardware in combination with extravagant looks.

The Thormax GT is a full-tower chassis capable of housing up to E-ATX size motherboards along with up to four 360 mm dual-slot graphics cards, or if you remove the hard drive bays, graphics cards up to (an unnecessarily long) 490 mm.

The case has room for up to four 5.25" optical drives, along with five 3.5" or 2.5" drives. Included with the case is an adapter that allows you to place two 2.5" drives and a 3.5" drive in a single optical drive slot, and there is room for one additional 2.5" drive behind the motherboard tray.

Airflow in the case is provided by front and side 180 mm or 200 mm fans (with two 180 mm Vegas Blue LED fans pre-installed), a rear 120 mm or 140 mm fan (with a 120 mm Twister Bearing fan pre-installed), three top 120 mm fans (with support for 360 mm radiators), and two bottom 120 mm fans.

Front I/O on the case is also extensive, consisting of two USB 3.0 ports, a shocking four USB 2.0 ports, the usual pair of HD audio jacks, and power and reset switches; it's topped off with a four-speed fan controller.

_­The case also comes with a magnetic headphone-holding hook, an acrylic side window, 360-degree rotating feet, and a rear case handle that frankly doesn't look all that strong.

All things considered, aside from being slightly behind the times with the four 5.25" optical drive bays, the case also seems to have a bit of an identity crisis: it might be designed to house an enthusiasts' hardware, but we're not sure whether it's styled to that same audience.

Enermax priced the case at $159, with availability slated for mid-October.

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Thermaltake is working hard to expand its Core series of PC enclosures, and its latest addition, the Core V51, brings a well-balanced enthusiast case to the table with support for E-ATX motherboards. Going along with the enthusiast design, the case also has excellent support for cooling equipment.

Inside the case there is room for graphics cards up to 310 mm long, along with CPU coolers up to 185 mm tall. The case has room for two 5.25" optical drives, along with a modular hard drive cage system. The case comes with two hard drive cages, one of which fits three 3.5" or 2.5" drives, while the other fits two drives. These cages can be placed at different heights in order to accommodate different hardware or simply removed altogether for maximum radiator support. If you are doing an extreme water cooling build, you'll still be able to house a single 3.5" drive and a single 2.5" drive behind the motherboard tray, so you won't be completely out of storage options.

As mentioned, the case has room for a lot of cooling hardware. You'll find that without the hard drive cages installed there is space for up to three 140 mm fans not only up front, but also up top in the case. The bottom of the case supports two 120 mm fans, and as always, you'll find a single 120 mm fan in the rear of the case acting as exhaust. On all these locations you'll be able to fit the respective-sized water cooling radiators, giving you the possibility to mount more cooling power than you'll need for the amount of hardware you can mount in the case.

Thermaltake has also ensured keeping all the finishing touches, so you'll also find excellent cable management possibilities, a tool-free design, anti-vibration rubbers and a windowed side panel to show off your hardware. Front I/O is handled by dual USB 3.0 ports along with the standard pair of HD audio jacks.

Pricing for the case is set at $109.99, with availability later this month.

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Raidon announced a new external hard drive enclosure, the rather cryptically-named GR3660-B3, that promises something a little different than most units on the market.

The new unit is different in the sense that rather than being a neat and tidy enclosure, it is built using two hot-swap bays. The unit has support for two 3.5" drives, but you can also install 2.5" drives if you need to. Raidon has to live up to its name, of course, and so the unit also has support for RAID 0 (Striping), RAID 1 (Mirroring), and JBOD.

The GR3660-B3 is powered by an external power supply and connects to your PC through a USB 3.0 interface. It also has UASP support, which might not help much when you're using traditional hard drives, but when you have SSDs installed, it can really boost performance. Note that you will need a compatible client.

There is no exact word on pricing or availability yet, but we hope that this one will be widely available soon.

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Phanteks is a newcomer to the enclosure market, but that hasn’t stopped it from making some rather impressive cases. The company just announced its third enclosure: the Enthoo Luxe.

This enclosure takes a number of design cues from the company's existing cases, and makes this one a slightly more luxurious case. It is a full ATX enclosure capable of housing Extended-ATX motherboards, up to six 3.5" drives, two 2.5” drives, graphics cards up to 347 mm with the hard drive cages installed, and CPU coolers up to 193 mm tall. The front of the case looks like it can house four 5.25" optical drives, but it will actually only house three. The top bay features a flap, behind which you will find the front I/O connectivity.

The case is made with a steel chassis, along with aluminum faceplates. The main design aspect that sets this case apart in Phanteks' lineup is the sand-blasted front and top panel. This finish results in a rough matte texture. The side panel is built using two windows made of acrylic. The case also has built in LEDs.

Airflow in the case is provided by one 200 mm intake fan, one 140 mm top exhaust fan, and one 140 mm rear exhaust fan. These are only the included fans; the case has room for a lot more, including up to four water cooling radiators.

So, we’ve got a luxury PC enclosure with a lot of room for expansion. As such, the case measures 235 by 560 by 550 mm, and weighs a hefty 13.9 kg, empty.

Pricing is set at $149 for the black version, while the white version will set you back $10 more. Both come with a five-year warranty, and will be available sometime in August.

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A handful of pictures has been made available of SilverStone's upcoming Grandia GD10 case.

This case is an ATX-size HTPC enclosure with seven expansion slots. Inside the case you will find room for two 3.5" drives, a single 2.5" drive, an optical drive, and graphics cards up to 12.2 inches long. The front of the case has a door with a lock to seal off the optical bay, behind which you will also find the front I/O connectivity. There are two USB 3.0 ports along with the standard set of HD audio jacks.

The case measures 442 x 171 x 362 mm and weighs 4.8 kg. Three 120 mm fans provide airflow while spinning at 900 RPM.

If you are looking for an HTPC case but need more space for hardware than you can find in Mini-ITX or Micro-ATX enclosures, this one might be worth a peek. Its elegant appearance allows it to fit in most home theaters inconspicuously, despite its larger dimensions.

Pricing appears to be set at €90 in Europe, so expect a price tag of about $100 when it comes to the US.

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The DS200 was originally displayed at Computex, but Aerocool has finally launched the enclosure for real. The enclosure stems from the design of the original DS gaming case, which was a Micro-ATX enclosure. This case is an ATX mid-tower, and thus will fit a bit more hardware and feature a more standard layout.

Graphics cards inside the case can be up to 290 mm long; however, if you remove the middle hard drive cage you can fit graphics cards up to 410 mm in length. For hard drives there is room for up to five 3.5-inch drives along with another two 2.5-inch drives. PSUs can measure up to 22 cm long, so that won't be a problem either. The case also has two 5.25-inch optical drive bays.

Silence is one of the case's biggest selling points. Its name even stems from it, as DS stands for Dead Silence. The case comes with a built-in fan controller capable of powering up to 25 W of fans split over three channels. It's not a lot compared to aftermarket fan controllers, but for most folks this is far more than adequate. Each channel has four speed settings, one of which is simply powering a channel down. For added silence the case comes with two tops: one with a closed design and the other with a mesh design. You can pick the top that suits your needs best, be that silence or cooling performance. Furthermore, the case comes packed with sound insulation material and a number of rubber grommets spread throughout the enclosure.

Front I/O is handled by a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, along with the standard pair of HD audio jacks.

The case will come in a number of different versions. Color options include black, red, orange, black and white, blue, and green. All cases cost $163.90, except the black version, which costs $158.90. Aerocool has also revealed a so-called Lite edition of the case, which is a black version of the case that is missing a number of non-essential parts like the sound-isolation material and the middle hard drive cage. This one sells for $120.90.

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We've already seen the DeepCool SteamCastle enclosure at CES and Computex, but it hasn't been officially unleashed until now. The Steam-Punk inspired chassis is a Micro-ATX enclosure with support for high-end hardware.

The case's main selling point is undoubtedly its appearance. The case is built with lots of vents, and on top of the chassis there are four chimneys. Underneath these chimneys LEDs are installed, which are wired to a controller to adjust the color changing, breathing, and brightness effects.

Inside the chassis, beside the Micro-ATX motherboard, you'll also be able to fit tall CPU coolers and graphics cards up to 320 mm long. There is also room for a 240 mm water cooling radiator as well as a 200 mm front mounted fan.

When we met with DeepCool at Computex 2014, we were told that the case would cost $150, which we believed was too expensive. We're happy to say that DeepCool has taken our advice to price it at $120 instead, making this case worth having a look at for a lot more buyers. We also suggested to change the accent colour of the white version of the case from red to dark-gray, and though we're not sure if we were the only ones that suggested this change, it's nice to see that the enclosures have all merged to a unified theme.

European pricing is set at €89, and global availability is set for July 2014.

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Editor's Note: While Computex took place last week, and all of the news announcements are behind us, we're still sorting through hundreds of in-person meetings and demonstrations, picking out just a few more of the most interesting items we saw up close.

In November 2013, we jokingly accused Xigmatek of being a bunch of Martians who design cases from in a hut. Well, at Computex 2014 we met the folks behind the Xigmatek Nebula, and we've now verified that they are not Martians, nor do they work in a hut.

In all seriousness though, while we were visiting Xigmatek's booth we spotted the very pretty Nebula enclosure in several new colors. Originally, it was only available in black anodized aluminum with orange accents, but at the show it was displayed in silver, yellow, blue, red, pink, purple, and white. The white version was not made of aluminum though, but rather out of glossy plastic.

Inside the Nebula there is room for mid-range Mini-ITX systems. Buyers can mount a Mini-ITX board, ATX PSU, graphics cards up to 200 mm long, along with two 3.5" or 2.5" drives. Pre-installed users will find a 1200 RPM 120 mm fan. While this room won't accommodate the most high-end systems, it will let you build quite a nice HTPC, for example.

The aluminum versions are likely to come to the market over the next few months, although the company wasn't sure about the white variant yet. Pricing for the aluminum versions will be in line with the current Nebula.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Editor's Note: While Computex took place last week and all of the news announcements are behind us, we're still sorting through hundreds of in-person meetings and demonstrations, picking out just a few more of the most interesting items we saw up close.

Among the vast number of new products that Corsair had on display at Computex 2014, we found a very cute little enclosure: the Graphite series 380T. Upon first sight we almost mistook the cases for lunchboxes, but upon closer inspection we found high-end gaming systems inside. Yummy!

The Graphite series 380T is a Mini-ITX case built to be able to house and cool high-end gaming hardware, and it is shaped to be very portable, with a handle built into the main frame of the enclosure. This handle is particularly impressive, and is one of the first that we've actually felt we could trust. For other implementations we often find ourselves still grasping the case at the bottom.

Internally, the layout of the case resembles that of the Obsidian series 250D. In the bottom half of the case, you can place your hard drives and PSU, while the top half of the case houses the motherboard horizontally, with room for a long graphics card of up to 290 mm on one side, and a 240 mm water cooling radiator on the other. Up front, users can mount up to a 140 mm fan; when lit (LED), it makes the case look a little less like a lunchbox.

The side panels of the case also come off easily, so quickly diving in to make adjustments or simply assembling the system shouldn't be much of a pain at all.

This is a good case worth looking at, so keep an eye out for it when it hits the streets. The case is expected to ship in August and will have an MSRP of $129.99.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Editor's Note: While Computex took place last week and all of the news announcements are behind us, we're still sorting through hundreds of in-person meetings and demonstrations, picking out just a few more of the most interesting items we saw up close.

At Computex 2014 DeepCool announced a new chassis called the SteamCastle. This chassis indeed looks like a SteamPunk inspired chassis.

Inside the chassis users will find an unusual Micro-ATX layout. The bottom segment of the chamber houses the PSU and a number of hard drives, while the upper segment will house the motherboard, cooling hardware, and graphics cards. Graphics cards can measure up to 320 mm long, with CPU coolers up to 200 mm tall. There is also support for a 240 mm water cooling unit, as there is a large front 200 mm fan installed as the default kit. Rear exhaust is dealt with by a 120 mm fan, although a 140 mm fan can be mounted.

Front I/O is handled by a relatively standard kit consisting of two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, along with the standard set of HD audio jacks. There's also a fan control dial.

DeepCool indicated that the chassis would carry an MSRP of about $150. It will be available in black, white, yellow, and red, some of which will come in matte variants (which have a very nice feel to it), and others will come in glossy variants. Some colors will be available in both versions.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.