The newly created company Apex Storage has presented Apex Storage X21a add-in card (AIC), which integrates 21 M.2 SSDs. It has a maximum capacity of 168TB…which could be folded to 336TB in the future.
The SSDs that we can find now in stores offer a space of 1 or 2TB. There are already models 8TBbut they are hard to find, and cost almost 1,000 euro.
With games that occupy 200 GB, 4K videosand other large-capacity content, a 1 or 2TB SSD fills up in a breath
For this reason, the AIC cardscomprising several M2 SSD slots, so that they work in parallel, as a single giant SSD. the new card Apex Storage 21X it is one of the largest. It has two plates with 21 M.2 slots: 10 inside, and 11 outside. With a heatsink in the center:
if we insert 21 SSDs with the largest size that exists, 8 TB, we get a capacity of 168TB. If in the future they are released 16TB SSDwe will reach the 336TB. They are already working to obtain this support.
The card Apex Storage 21X it does not offer only capacity. Its performance is spectacular.
A 168TB SSD
To install it on the PC you need a PCIe 4.0 16X slot, the typical one where the graphics card is inserted.
It reaches speeds of 30.5 GB/sg in reading, and 26.5 GB/sg in writing, with 7.5 million IOPS in reading and 6.2 million IOPS in writing, respectively.
Accepts all brands of SSDs, and works with Windows 10, 11, Server, and Linux. It also has a RAID mode, so multiple cards can be installed in one PC.
It is the definitive solution to the storage problem, without losing performance… but at a price. Just the card, no SSDs, it costs 2,800 dollars. If you start adding 8TB SSDs, which are around 1,000 euros, reaching the maximum capacity can cost more than 20,000 euros.
The card Apex Storage 21X with 21 SSDs and a maximum capacity of 168TBis intended for servers, enterprises, video editors, artificial intelligence, and data science analytics. Although we do not rule out that some hardcore gamer ends up getting it…
