vertex storage (opens in new tab)Newcomers to the storage game have launched the X21, an AIC (add-in card) that supports up to 21 PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs. With X21, consumers can use the best of his SSDs to build configurations with capacities up to 168 GB and speeds up to 31 GBps.
Apex Storage is headquartered in Utah and focuses on AIC products. Mike Spicer and Henry Hill look like the team behind Apex Storage. You may have heard of Spicer, who kickstarted Storage Scaler. (opens in new tab) 2021 expansion card that houses up to 16 M.2 SATA drives. The only product listed on his website for Apex Storage, the X21, appears to be a jacked-up version of the original Storage Scaler. But strangely enough, Apex Storage opted for PCIe 4.0 with X21. This is because PCIe 5.0 SSDs are already available in the retail market.
The X21 adheres to the Double-Wide Full-Height Full-Length (FHFL) form factor with a single-slot PCI design. The 274.2mm long AIC communicates through a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot. Backwards compatible with PCIe 3.0, but significantly lower performance. Apex Storage essentially sandwiches two PCBs together with the X21, so the AIC can handle up to 21 M.2 SSDs, overwhelming rival options such as the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Destroyer 2. Indeed, this concept takes us down memory lane. If you’re old enough, it’s the same concept Nvidia used for its prehistoric GeForce 7900 GX2.
Inside the X21 are 10 PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots and a huge heatsink covering an unspecified controller. I suspect the PCIe switch is under the heatsink, which may cause the X21 to make a ticking noise. The remaining 11 PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots are on the outside of the PCB.
Given the sheer number of SSDs the X21 can support, the AIC can’t get all its power from a single expansion slot. Therefore, Apex Storage implemented two regular 6-pin PCIe power connectors to provide auxiliary power. This configuration allows up to 225W. The X21 features a passive cooling design, but the manufacturer recommends a minimum airflow of 400 LFM for optimal operation.
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The X21 photo shows an AIC with a Samsung 990 Pro SSD, so this card only supports M.2 2280 drives. It also accepts Intel’s Optane M.2 SSDs like the H20. There aren’t many Optane drives floating around now that Intel is out of the Optane business, and Apex Storage hasn’t revealed any details about the X21’s internals. However, the manufacturer has confirmed that the X21 will offer his 100 PCIe lanes, hinting at the presence of a PCIe switch.
In a single card configuration, the X21 offers sequential read and write speeds of up to 30.5 GBps and 28.5 GBps respectively. AIC random performance consists of 7.5 million IOPS read and 6.2 million IOPS write. The X21 shines even more in multi-card setups. According to Apex Storage, consumers can enjoy up to 107 GBps sequential reads and 80 GBps sequential writes. Random performance is also greatly improved. The X21 boasts over 20 million IOPS read and over 10 million IOPS write in multi-card configurations. The average read and write access latencies for AIC are 79 ms and 52 ms, respectively.
With an 8TB SSD such as the Corsair MP400 or Sabrent Rocket Q, the X21 can deliver up to 168TB on a single card. It also supports large capacity drives. When his future 16TB M.2 SSD hits the market, consumers will be able to have up to 336TB of storage on his X21. In terms of feature set, the X21 supports RAID configurations in Windows and Linux environments. However, Apex Storage did not disclose the type of RAID array. The X21 also boasts “enterprise-grade reliability”, NVMe 2.0 support, advanced EEC, data protection and error recovery.
Apex Storage has not disclosed pricing or availability of the X21.
