Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Archived Post

Sonnet’s Echo Express III-D, Echo Express III-R are now available with Thunderbolt 3

Sonnet Technologies has announced that its $899 Echo Express III-D (desktop) and $999 Echo Express III-R (rackmount) Thunderbolt-to-PCI Express (PCIe) three-slot expansion chassis are now shipping with full support for Thunderbolt 3. 

With the new interface, both systems enable users of Mac® computers equipped with 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, such as the new MacBook Pro, to take advantage of Thunderbolt 3’s 2750 MB/s of PCI Express bandwidth to support more fully even the most demanding, highest-performance adapter cards, says Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. 

The Echo Express III-D and Echo Express III-R Thunderbolt 3 Editions provide one x16 and two x8 PCIe 3.0 slots to support three full-length, full-height, single-width PCIe cards. The III-D and III-R Thunderbolt 3 editions support the use of every Thunderbolt 3- and macOS-compatible PCIe card available, including professional video capture, audio interface, 16Gb and 8Gb Fibre Channel (FC), 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), SAS and SATA HBA, and RAID controller cards. 

A dual-port 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 interface, which offers double the bandwidth and connectivity of Thunderbolt 2, enables the Sonnet systems to support 4K video I/O cards at high frame rates, as well as other bandwidth-hungry cards. In addition to support for highest performance PCIe cards, the III-D and III-R Thunderbolt 3 editions offer support for connecting two 4K displays or one 5K display. For connected devices requiring extra power, 15 watts is provided to connected bus-powered devices through the Thunderbolt cable.

Both chassis feature a built-in universal 300-watt power supply with a 75-watt auxiliary power connector to support PCIe cards with higher power requirements. Also, the systems integrate two large temperature-controlled cooling fans to enable their use in noise-sensitive environments. In addition to providing extra space to install two 5.25-inch mobile rack devices within the same enclosure using one of Sonnet’s Mobile Rack Device Mounting Kits, the III-R also features captive thumbscrews for easy card installation.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.