Icy Dock RAID Card Supports Up to Four Gen 5 SSDs, Reaching 56GB/s

Icy Dock has launched a new board for placing up to four M.2 Gen 5 SSDs in RAID. The component is aimed at high-performance builds, promising speeds of up to 56GB/s with all drives working together via the PCIe 5.0 interface.

The official name of the product is Icy Dock ExpressSlot MB204MP-B, and not just any home user will be able to take advantage of all this storage speed. That’s because the board doesn’t include a PCIe switch, so you’ll need a motherboard that supports “forking” the connection.

Basically, the ExpressSlot connects via the x16 slot and the motherboard divides it into four x4 “virtual slots” for each SSD, making the set operate in RAID. Thus, the product is compatible with platforms for AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Intel Xeon W.

For those who can take advantage, the Icy Dock board offers several RAID modes, including 0, 1, 5 and 10. It also includes a dedicated 6-pin power connection, to ensure high-performance operation.

With Icy in the name, it’s to be expected that the manufacturer is paying attention to the heat of its products. Thus, the ExpressSlot MB204MP-B comes with a 50mm blower-style fan for active cooling of SSDs. Users will have the option to turn off the fan to reduce noise if they wish.

Icy Dock is yet to announce pricing for its new RAID card

The manufacturer chose not to reveal the price of its ExpressSlot MB204MP-B alongside the product announcement. The folks at Tom’s Hardware, however, speculate that the absence of a PCIe switch could help make the product more affordable.

Related news:

In any case, this is a RAID card for high-performance professional use. In other words, even though the price is competitive, we will probably see values ​​well above what we are used to for the home PC segment.