Has anyone tried the QNAP 2 × M.2 to U.2 adapter or the OWC U.2 Shuttle and measured random I/O performance?
Specifically, I want to aggregate the I/O performance of multiple Intel Optane P1600X drives under one PCIe 3.0 x4 link. The P1600X barely saturates PCIe 3.0 x2, and all the Optane drives (including the P5800X series) I’ve tested tend to max out at around 340 MBps for random 4K reads regardless of generation or PCIe link speed.
The QNAP device seems to fit the de facto 2.5 inch × 15mm U.2 form factor, but is out of stock on the U.S. website. I really don’t want to commit to purchasing one off Amazon and eBay for the 200%~250% price-gouging markup just to test it.
The OWC U.2 Shuttle is an alternate option, but is for 4 M.2 drives and occupies the volume of a 3.5 inch drive which I have no space for.
It’d be nice to get one of these: U20040 NVME Drive - Viking Enterprise Solutions (4 × M.2 over PCIe 3.0 x4 in a 2.5 inch form factor). But i reached out to them and have been ignored probably because I’m not a lucrative target.
Reviews of these kinds of devices are scant or vague, and I doubt any normal person has gotten their hands on a Viking Enterprise Solutions (VES) U20040.