THUNDERBOLT

Connect a Low-Profile PCIe Card to Computers Without Expansion Slots

Shopping for a new computer? Small and thin is in—the latest ultra-light notebooks, small form factor, and all-in-one desktops are slender marvels of engineering. But, thinness comes with a cost—there’s nowhere to install PCIe cards that provide additional connectivity and processing capabilities beyond a computer’s standard ports. Thin Mac® and Windows®(1) computers with Thunderbolt™ 3 ports still offer tremendous processing power, but for many, such as pros in the creative fields, onboard processing power alone is not enough. Fortunately, you don’t have to limit your choices to desktop workstations—think external. Sonnet’s Echo Express SEL - Thunderbolt 3 Edition enables you to connect a single low-profile PCIe card outside of the computer. Through its x8 PCIe 3.0 slot, this little Thunderbolt 3-to-PCIe card expansion chassis supports many Thunderbolt-compatible 16Gb and 8Gb Fibre Channel, 40Gb and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, video capture and processing, SAS and SATA host bus adapters, and RAID controller cards.

The Echo Express SEL - Thunderbolt 3 Edition features 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3, which offers double the speed and connectivity of Thunderbolt 2, and yields up to 2750 MB/s of PCIe bandwidth, enabling it to support 4K video capture and processing cards at high frame rates, and 16Gb FC cards and dual-port 10GbE cards at full performance(2)(3). With the ability to handle the most demanding, highest performance PCIe cards, support for connecting two 4K displays @ 60Hz or one 5K display @ 60Hz(4), and support for a vast array of Thunderbolt(5) and USB(6) peripheral devices, Thunderbolt 3 is a leap forward in every way.

LOW PROFILE VERSION!

It’s amazing how much processing power Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® computers with Thunderbolt™ ports offer today's creative professionals. However, these sleek marvels of engineering thinness come at a cost — they lack PCIe expansion slots for adding PCIe cards for connectivity and processing capabilities. Sonnet has a solution – Echo™ Express SE I Thunderbolt Expansion System provides a compact, one-slot system that enables you to connect a single PCIe card to your computer via a single cable.

Nearly Every Thunderbolt-Compatible, Non-GPU PCIe Card Supported

Designed to accommodate cards up to 7.75 inches long and measuring a compact 5.6 inches wide by 8.6 inches long by 3.5 inches tall, Echo Express SE I has a small footprint, yet it is large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt compatible PCIe 4.0, 3.0, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 1.1 card available. Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? We’ve put together a compatibility list that identifies cards conforming to Thunderbolt technology requirements, and organized by fit and power compatibility with specific expansion systems.