ASRock has launched an AIC (add-in-card) that will allow you to use up to four of the best SSDs on the same board. The Blazing Quad M.2 Card (opens in new tab) does justice to its name and provides housing for four lightning-fast PCIe 5.0 SSDs.
ASRock has been making these AICs for M.2 SSDs for quite a while now. The company previously released the Ultra Quad M.2 Card for PCIe 3.0 SSDs and Hyper Quad M.2 Card for PCIe 4.0 SSDs. However, the Blazing Quad M.2 Card embraces the PCIe 5.0 interface, and ASRock had to make a few upgrades on the new AIC.
As a result, the Blazing Quad M.2 Card is the largest M.2 AIC ASRock has produced so far. Although it still sticks to a single-slot design, it measures 4.97 inches wide, 13% bigger than the previous AICs. By the looks of it, the increased landscape probably accommodates the larger cooling fans.
The Blazing Quad M.2 Card slides into the PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot. Under the hood, you’ll find four PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots for SSDs with a maximum length of up to 110m. ASRock has installed the M.2 slots at a 45-degrees angle to shorten the signal traces, maximize performance, and improve signal integrity.
In addition, the M.2 slots feature thermal pads to provide passive cooling to the SSDs. If you didn’t know already, PCIe 5.0 SSDs tend to run hot. Two small aluminum cooling fans are responsible for active cooling. They are PWM fans, so the Blazing Quad M.2 Card comes with a four-pin fan cable that you’ll need to connect to a corresponding fan connector on your motherboard.
Like its predecessors, the Blazing Quad M.2 Card requires external power since it can’t get all the juice it needs from the expansion slot. As a result, the AIC utilizes the same 6-pin PCIe power connector as ASRock’s other AICs. Therefore, you’ll have at least two cables coming out of the Blazing Quad M.2 Card. ASRock also implanted four status LEDs on the AIC so users can monitor the read or write status of each SSDs.
ASRock includes the Blazing Quad M.2 Card with the company’s latest W790 WS motherboard for Intel Xeon W Sapphire Rapids processors. The AIC is available as a standalone accessory but not globally. Therefore, the Blazing Quad M.2 Card’s pricing and availability are unknown, so interested buyers should contact their local retailer to see if it’s available for their region.