MSI Unveils Turbo U.2 Host Card

[btarunr]

Ever wondered why nobody made a SATA-Express SSD? We guess it's probably because of its IDE-sized connector. The SSD industry is turning its attention to other connector standards, such as M.2 and the newer U.2 (formerly known as SFF-8639). The U.2 is essentially a cabled M.2 connector, designed for drives in more common form-factors, such as 2.5-inch. The connector itself is more narrow, although it has the same pin-count as M.2, and the same bandwidth (up to 32 Gb/s with current PCI-Express standard).

ASUS debuted the connector on its flagship Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard, but MSI doesn't plan to be left behind. MSI released a new accessory that converts M.2 slots into a U.2 port. The MSI Turbo U.2 Host Card has wiring to support 32 Gb/s physical layer. The card could be included in MSI's upcoming high-end motherboards, and looking at the way it's branded and packaged, it could even be sold separately. One of the first U.2 drives is Intel SSD 750 in its 2.5-inch avatar.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[RejZoR]

Actually, ASUS Sabertooth X99 already has it, just not bundled with the board. I've seen this very addin card in Sabertooth X99 reviews, so it wasn't exactly debuted with Maximus VIII Extreme board...

 

[HumanSmoke]

Actually, ASUS Sabertooth X99 already has it, just not bundled with the board. I've seen this very addin card in Sabertooth X99 reviews, so it wasn't exactly debuted with Maximus VIII Extreme board...

The Asus Hyper Kit. About $20 from the Egg

 

[Per Hansson]

Why is there a chip on the U.2 board?
I don't see one on Asrock's nor Asus boards...

EDIT: Seems to be a signal amplifier, guess it could be good for longer or cheaper cables...
http://be.msi.com/product/mb/TURBO-U.2-HOST-CARD.html

 

[ensabrenoir]

....unfortunately for me and other itx users who have a m.2 port on the bottom of their motherboard....we're out of luck .

 

[bug]

....unfortunately for me and other itx users who have a m.2 port on the bottom of their motherboard....we're out of luck .

Look at it this way: it's not like you bought that board with the prospect of inserting an adapter into that M.2 slot anyway.

 

[Uplink10]

I must be one of the few who thinks we would be better without M.2, Sata Express, U.2, mSATA.

I can see a real mess because there is so many different standards which you use to connect a drive internally to the motherboard. I swear on SATA 3 because there are no compatibility problems out there and unless there is one universal standard which will be succesor to SATA 3 I will be sticking with it.

When people use so many different interfaces inside PCs it makes compatibility problems harder.

They should just make more compact SATA connector (and SATA power) and better software interface like "NVMe over SATA" and use it instead of SATA, SATA Express, U.2, M.2, mSATA.
3D SSDs are already small enough they just need a smaller universal connector and a new standard defined size.

I would not mind only two (PCIe gets a pass since it is not exactly a consumer like) connectors like SATA and some other one but now we get another one and that takes it too far.

 

[Per Hansson]

I must be one of the few who thinks we would be better without M.2, Sata Express, U.2, mSATA.

I can see a real mess because there is so many different standards which you use to connect a drive internally to the motherboard.

I'll ease it up for you:
Sata Express is Dead.
M.2 is the successor to mSATA
U.2 is just M.2 with a cabled interface.

Basically before we had mSATA for laptops and SATA for desktops.
Now we have only M.2 going forward, desktops using the same interface as laptops.
So you see it's less confusing now than it was before

 

[Patriot]

I must be one of the few who thinks we would be better without M.2, Sata Express, U.2, mSATA.

I can see a real mess because there is so many different standards which you use to connect a drive internally to the motherboard. I swear on SATA 3 because there are no compatibility problems out there and unless there is one universal standard which will be succesor to SATA 3 I will be sticking with it.

When people use so many different interfaces inside PCs it makes compatibility problems harder.

They should just make more compact SATA connector (and SATA power) and better software interface like "NVMe over SATA" and use it instead of SATA, SATA Express, U.2, M.2, mSATA.
3D SSDs are already small enough they just need a smaller universal connector and a new standard defined size.

I would not mind only two (PCIe gets a pass since it is not exactly a consumer like) connectors like SATA and some other one but now we get another one and that takes it too far.

Probably... ignorance does that.

m.2 and u.2 are the successors.

mSata and SataExpress were stepping stones to getting there.
Nvme over sata is Sata express...
https://www.sata-io.org/sites/defau...A Express Interface Options - Whitepaper_.pdf

Nvme direct is u.2
Which requires a card, plug on motherboard or adapter from m.2

They aren't yet in mass cost availability yet to warrant a port on the motherboard.
If you want pcie speed you do m.2 or u.2 adapted from it.

 

[ensabrenoir]

Look at it this way: it's not like you bought that board with the prospect of inserting an adapter into that M.2 slot anyway.

True....but didn't think m.2 would be trumped this quickly........ maybe some one will invent a m.2 to nnme drive cable. I must have these drives....for science

 

[meo3000]

The Maximus VIII Extreme actually has a u.2 connector directly on the board, just below sata express. Look closer. Now if they can replace the unusable sata express by u.2 in the future, im good with that.

 

[Vlada011]

This is MSI advertising of their Internal USB 3.1

USB 3.1 Gen 1 - 5Gbps
USB 3.1 Gen 2 - 10Gbps

 

[bug]

True....but didn't think m.2 would be trumped this quickly........ maybe some one will invent a m.2 to nnme drive cable. I must have these drives....for science

M.2 isn't really "trumped". Very few drives out there work over PCIe/NVMe, so M.2 is still alive and well.
Plus, the few drives that are available and work over PCIe/NVMe only really improve the sequential transfer rates and very little on 4k reads/writes. Thus, in day-to-day usage, you won't fell much difference anyway. At least not today. Sure, manufacturers love to sell you "futureproofing" because it costs them very little and you can't hold them accountable if/when they don't deliver. But that doesn't make your current hardware any less capable.