It’s amazing how much processing power Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® computers with Thunderbolt™ 4 or Thunderbolt 3 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–the Echo™ Express SE I Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system provides a compact, one-slot Thunderbolt expansion system that enables you to connect a single PCIe card to your computer via a single cable.
The Thunderbolt Connection
Plugged into one of your computer’s Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 ports, this compact desktop expansion system supports one professional PCIe card (video capture, audio interface, 6Gb or 12Gb SAS or SATA host bus adapter, 8Gb or 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10Gb or 40Gb Ethernet, or RAID controller) plus a daughter card.
Key Features
Connects a PCIe Card
Use high-performance PCIe cards with any computer with a Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3 port.
One PCIe 3.0 x8 Slot
Supports one low-profile PCIe card.
40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 System
Offers 2750 MB/s of PCIe bandwidth to the installed card. Learn more about Thunderbolt 3 performance benefits over Thunderbolt 4.
Small Package. Full Performance.
Smallest Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion system available; supports the most popular low-profile, Thunderbolt-compatible PCIe cards at full performance.
Two Thunderbolt Ports
One port connects to computer; second port supports daisy-chaining of up to five additional Thunderbolt peripheral devices.
Remarkably Quiet
Temperature-controlled, variable-speed fan automatically and quietly cools the card.
Energy Saver Mode
Powers on/off automatically with the computer.
Rugged Aluminum Housing
Provides robust and secure protection.
Power for Peripherals
Daisy chain port provides up to 15W of power to connected peripherals.
Nearly Every Thunderbolt-compatible, Low-profile PCIe Card Supported
The Echo Express SEL accommodates a wide variety of PCIe cards. Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? We’ve put together a list in our supporting PCIe Card Thunderbolt Compatibility Chart (PDF). There you’ll find cards identified as conforming to Thunderbolt technology requirements, and organized by fit and power compatibility with specific expansion system.
Designed for Low-profile PCIe Cards
Echo Express SEL supports one half-length (up to 6.6 inches long), low-profile, single-width PCIe card; PCIe 1.1, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 3.0 cards are supported. Many of the most popular Thunderbolt-compatible high-speed networking and storage controller cards are a perfect fit, and even the BlueFish 444 Epoch 4K Neutron video card can be accommodated.