HighPoint Technologies has updated their NVMe switch and RAID solutions with PCIe 5.0, and supporting up to eight NVMe drives. The new HighPoint Rocket 1600 (switch add-in card) and 7600 series (RAID adapters) are the successors to the SSD SSD7500 series adapter cards introduced in 2020. Similar to its predecessors, the new Rocket series cards are also based on a Broadcom PCIe switch (PEX 89048). The Rocket 7600 series runs the RAID stack on the integrated ARM processor (dual-core Cortex A15)
The PEX 89048 supports up to 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes, out of which 16 are dedicated to the host connection in the Rocket adapters. The use of a true PCIe switch means that the product doesn't rely on PCIe lane bifurcation support in the host platform.
HighPoint's Gen 5 stack currently has two products each in the switch and RAID lineups - an add-in card with support for M.2 drives, and a RAID adapter with four 5.0 x8 SFF-TA-1016 (Mini Cool Edge IO or MCIO) connectors for use with backplanes / setups involving U.2 / U.3 / EDSFF drives.
The RAID adapters require HighPoint's drivers (available for Linux, macOS, and Windows), and supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10 arrays. On the other hand, the AIC requires no custom drivers. RAID configurations with the AIC will need to be handled by software running on the host OS. On the hardware side, all members of the Rocket series come with an external power connector (as the solution can consume upwards of 75W) and integrate a heatsink. The M.2 version is actively cooled, as the drives are housed within the full-height / full-length cards.
The solution can theoretically support up to 64 GBps of throughput, but real-world performance is limited to around 56 GBps using Gen 5 drives. It must be noted that even Gen 4 drives can take advantage of the new platform and deliver better performance with the new Rocket series compared to the older SSD7500 series.
The cards are shipping now, with pricing ranging from $1500 (add-in card) to $2000 (RAID adapters). HighPoint is not alone in targeting this HEDT / workstation market. Sabrent has been teasing their Apex Gen 5.0 x16 solution involving eight M.2 SSDs for a few months now (involving a Microchip PCIe switch. Until that solution comes to the market, HighPoint appears to be the only game in town for workstation users requiring access to direct-attached storage capable of delivering 50 GBps+ speeds.
