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General discussion

PCIe and Storage Help

Jan 28, 2015 7:12AM PST

Hey all,

I'm looking for an external PCIe expansion solution of some sort for my post-production work. I'm also looking for an external SSD storage solution that connects via Thunderbolt because I want to take advantage of as much speed as I possibly can. I stumbled upon this: http://www.mypccase.com/nethstandpce.html
It has 2 PCIe 2.0 x8 slots and 4 SSD slots. Ideally it would allow me to run an audio card and video card whilst working off of the SSDs at Thunderbolt 2 speeds. Does anyone have any experience using this product or one like it? All advice is greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Why the audio card?
Jan 28, 2015 7:20AM PST

Didn't Tom's (link to follow) squash the notion that the audio card matters?
Read http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733.html

http://serverfault.com/questions/11633/whats-the-bandwidth-and-form-factor-for-pcie-x1-x4-x8-and-x16 explains why they stuck to x8 slots but so far I've yet to find such a card. x1 and x16 yes.

Frankly for a thousand bucks I'd get some assurances and the right for a full refund if they can't answer your questions.

Here, my son with editing on the local drive and moving old projects to a Drobo.
Bob

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You make some good points
Jan 30, 2015 2:51AM PST

That may make more sense... I was somewhat prepared to buy new cards if needs be but I reckon at that point I may as well just invest in a more powerful laptop and external storage. Perhaps I'll investigate further. Somebody has to have some experience with one of these right?

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No one in my circles.
Jan 30, 2015 5:29AM PST

I see why straight up thunderbolt would cost less and deliver more speed than this box. But I guess some need to try it. That is, I tried other than this sort of box years ago and learned that lesson.

If you need drive space, just get a thunderbolt drive.
Bob