HighPoint has unveiled its brand-new Rocket PCIe Gen5 NVMe Switch & M.2 RAID AIC adapters with up to 32 SSD support & 960 TB capacities per slot.
HighPoint’s PCIe Gen5 NVMe & M.2 Adapters Offer 64 GB/s Transfer Per Slot, 8 Independent SSDs & Up To 32 SSDs With Backplance Connectivity
The SSD (NVMe) AIC market is a niche with only a few couple manufacturers offering some unique products. We’ve previously seen OWC and Apex Storage pioneer this segment with their PCIe Gen4 offerings with up to 16 devices supported per slot but HighPoint has introduced the first PCIe Gen5 solution on the market.
HighPoint told us that they are launching their brand-new Rocket 7600 and Rocket 1600 series which are aimed at different market segments. The Rocket 7600 series is designed for edge servers based around Linux and Windows platforms along with high-end workstation PCs while Rocket 1600 Gen5 adapters are designed for the enterprise segment. Both Gen5 Rocket adapters are powered by Broadcom’s PEX89048 PCIe Switch IC which is based on the PCIe Gen5 protocol and can fully harness the x16 lanes offered by a Gen5 slot.
These SSDs are designed to be compliant with the latest Intel and AMD desktop, workstation, and server platforms by utilizing the CPU lanes directly.
The Broadcom 48-Channel PEX89048 switch IC provides 16 dedicated PCIe Gen5 lanes offering up to 64 GB/s of transfer bandwidth, minimal latency, and supporting as many as 32 NVMe SSDs per slot.
So coming to the products themselves, the Rocket 1608A offers 8 Gen5 NVMe SSD slots with up to 2280 form factor compatibility. The adapter features a full-length aluminum heatsink and an active cooler to keep the thermal performance in check. It comes with a single 6-pin connector and comes in a single-slot full-length design. The Rocket 1628A features four MCIO ports to support a total of 8 U.2/U.3 or E3.S SSDs.
Then we have the Rocket 7608A and the Rocket 7628A AIC adapters which are similar to the other two SKUs but aimed primarily at the enterprise market. Now while there are 8 physical NVMe SSD slots on the M.2 adapter AIC variants, HighPoint’s Rocket lineup also supports backplane connector technology which allows support of up to 32 Gen5 NVMe SSDs and up to 960 TB capacities per slot.
Rocket 1600 PCIe Gen5 NVMe Switch Series AICs & Adapters
HighPoint Rocket 1600 series switch AICs/adapters provide enterprise-class NVMe storage connectivity and administrative capability and are suitable for use with a wide range of industry-standard x86 server and workstation platforms. These versatile, high-performance AICs and Adapters are equipped with our revolutionary PCIe Gen5 Switch Architecture and are capable of directly supporting up to eight M.2, U.2/U.3 or E3.S SSDs, or as many as 32 NVMe devices via backplane connectivity. NVMe media hosted by Rocket 1600 Switch AIC/Adapters will be automatically recognized by any OS platform with Native NVMe driver support. This makes them an ideal for businesses and organizations seeking to enhance critical workflows with flexible, robust and easily managed Gen5 NVMe storage performance.
Rocket 7600 PCIe Gen5 NVMe RAID Series AICs & Adapters
HighPoint RocketRAID 7600 PCIe Gen5 NVMe RAID AICs and Adapters are engineered to enhance the capabilities of Linux and Windows-based Edge Server and High-End workstation platforms. Built on the foundation of our Rocket 1600 Switch series product lines, each RAID AICs/Adapter is armed with industry proven RAID technology and an unparalleled storage health monitoring and management suite designed to maximize the performance, reliability and serviceability of NVMe arrays. Rocket 7600 Series AICs/Adapters can directly support up to eight M.2 or U.2/U.3/E3.S NVMe SSDs, and are ideal for professional and industrial workflows that require uncompromised Storage Performance with the flexibility of proven RAID technology and enhanced SED data protection.
Now it will be really interesting to see the adapters in action when loaded up with 8 Gen5 NVMe SSDs. We know that a single Gen5 SSD can run hot so this singular heatsink with active fan cooling has a lot of work to do to ensure optimal performance when running up to 8 devices. The lineup is listed below along with their respective prices:
HighPoint PCIe Gen5 NVMe product Lines
NVMe Switch Series (Shipping Q3, 2024)
NVMe RAID Series (Shipping Q3, 2024)
