Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Razer Launches Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma With 10 Ports and Up to 8TB Internal SSD Expansion
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There's no such thing as a single 20TB+ NVME drive. If you need that much external storage space you'd have to roll your own and the most economic way of doing that is going to be with multiple 2TB nmve drives - and that's going to cost you about $2800 for 20TB. You ok with that?
Thunderbolt 5 uses PCIe gen 4 (16 GT/s per lane = 15.7 Gbps = 1969 MB/s) so one lane of PCIe gen 4 should be sufficient.
However, a Thunderbolt controller usually has only up to 4 PCIe lanes, and all of those are used by the M.2 slot in this dock.
Therefore, the Ethernet connection of the dock is probably handled by a USB adapter.
They could have chosen a better USB adapter.
USB hubs (for more PCIe ports) are less expensive than PCIe switches (for adding more PCIe lanes).
PCIe lanes is preferable since Thunderbolt 5 has 60 Gbps of PCIe.
USB is limited to the USB controller of the host computer because Thunderbolt 5 defaults to USB tunnelling. An Apple Silicon Mac is limited to USB 3.1 gen 2 (10 Gbps). A PC is limited to USB 3.2 gen 2x2 (20 Gbps).
If you can disable USB tunnelling, then you can use the built-in USB 3.2 gen 2x2 controller of the Thunderbolt 5 controller of the dock. Only the Thunderbolt 5 downstream ports can support USB 3.2 gen 2x2 because they used a USB 3.1 gen 2 hub for the other USB ports and devices.
It's not the cable. It's the Thunderbolt 5 controller of the Apple Silicon Mac that is limited to two DisplayPort connections from the GPU.
6 displays could probably be achieved with a single DisplayPort connection using MST hubs. macOS doesn't support MST for multiple displays.
There exist 8 TB M.2 NVMe.
15 TB U.3 could be connected with an adapter and power supply but it wouldn't be portable.
A Thunderbolt 5 controller's 4 PCIe lanes can be split into x1x1x1x1, x2x1x1, x2x2, x4.
So they could have two or four M.2 slots but each would have half or a quarter of the bandwidth. Software RAID can be used to recombine the bandwidth.
Alternatively, a PCIe switch can be added so each has 4 lanes, but PCIe switches are expensive.
Here ya go (and that was just a quick search, I'm sure there are other, maybe better, maybe TB5, options):
Thunderbolt 3 Four-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure 40Gbps up to 2800MB/s Support Thunderbolt 2 Compatible with M1 M2
Thunderbolt 3 Four-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure 40Gbps up to 2800MB/s Support Thunderbolt 2 Compatible with M1 M2
www.amazon.co.uk
Not the fastest but it will still leave a mechanical HD choking on its fumes. If you're speed crazy you'd not want to combine that with a multi-function dock/hub such as the Razer.
Not personally, but that's a snip compared to Apple's $2400 for an 8TB internal SSD on a Mac.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
When will more adorable large (20 TB +) external SSD drives become available. I can buy a 20 TB HDD for the price of that empty enclosure.Here ya go (and that was just a quick search, I'm sure there are other, maybe better, maybe TB5, options):
Thunderbolt 3 Four-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure 40Gbps up to 2800MB/s Support Thunderbolt 2 Compatible with M1 M2
Thunderbolt 3 Four-Slot M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure 40Gbps up to 2800MB/s Support Thunderbolt 2 Compatible with M1 M2www.amazon.co.uk
Not the fastest but it will still leave a mechanical HD choking on its fumes. If you're speed crazy you'd not want to combine that with a multi-function dock/hub such as the Razer.
Not personally, but that's a snip compared to Apple's $2400 for an 8TB internal SSD on a Mac.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I dunno - get the one I linked to and glue a kitten to it or something?
How about a massive RAID array of these? :
usb flash drive cartoon cute kitten 4GB 8GB U disk 16GB animal black Cat 32GB 64GB 128GB memory stick creative gift pen drive - AliExpress 7
Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com
But is it adorable?
OK, OK, that's enough mocking of a typo - but you did repeat it, in bold, without correcting it.
In 2015 I paid £160 for a 500GB 2.5" Samsung Evo internal SSD
In 2025 It costs £140 for a 2TB 2.5" Samsung Evo SSD - I actually recently paid £99 for a Crucial 2TBm NVMe M.2 stick.
...so there has been plenty of progress on price-per-GB (not to mention performance) in SSDs (although you wouldn't know it from Apple prices).
The problem is that spinning rust hasn't stopped evolving, either: in 2015 a 4TB hard drive would set you back about £170. In 2025, you can start to get 20TB for that. Now, there may be some caveats re. speed and reliability with these huge HDs, but even more comparable, high performance HDs have at least doubled in capacity for the same price. So, at best, its gonna be a long, tedious stern pursuit before SSD catches up with HD in bucks-per-byte. Spinning rust is still the best proposition if you want size over speed.
However, the performance difference between HD and even a cheap SSD is night-and-day.
Yeah.. I won’t even mind SATA 2.5/3.5 variety… given SSD speeds, it’ll max out SATA and give avg file speeds faster than the platters…
Just need 24/32/48 TB capacities.. plonk two in a raid box and you are set!
When SSD drives started taking over people were predicting all kinds of timelines for SSD to take the external drive market, but it never materialised. Only small-ish SSD external drives are available thus far all these years later. 8 TB SSDs are expensive and often out of stock. Even decent value good 4TB SSDs are about €280. Whereas on a deal you can sometimes get a 20 TB HDD for say €333. So external HDDs are still four to five times cheaper. I feel affordable 20 to 50 TB SSDs are still many years away, more than ten.
Last edited:
There does but we're looking at insane money at this point. It's cheaper to use 4TB drives and again then 2TB drives to achieve the same capacity.
If you consider what HDDs cost in the distant past, and compare to now, the trend is getting far more for your money. SSDs, too, have largely been on that path (though not entirely a continuous decline). So it may well be when 20 TB SSDs are out, 100 TB HDDs will be.
SSDs have supplanted HDDs in notebook computers and some desktops.
The main market I see for very large drives is with NAS, which often don't need to be real fast, and if a given NAS does, at least some have the option for SSD cache. The UGreen DXP4800 Plus comes to mind. Several years ago, Apples Fusion Drive approach likewise aimed to fuse SSD speed with HDD capacity and affordability. With a NAS, you have RAID options for redundancy, and additional power (e.g.: acting as a private cloud, media server, etc...) that a simple 'dumb' external SSD or HDD may lack.
That said, an SSD-based NAS would be desirable since it would cut the noise level.
A key issue is that, as with NAS, when huge amounts of storage are needed, HDD does work well enough. From the 'history repeats itself' file, long ago when people (well, mainly companies) wanted huge backup storage, IIRC tape storage was the affordable option. But it wasn't random access; if you wanted some data off the tape, it was like going to a scene in a home movie on tape; you had to play the thing till you got to the point. So there were major functional advantages to moving to HDD when it got spacious and cheap enough.
I get that SSD is silent, much faster and very compact; aside from cost, it's got big advantages over HDD. But...HDD is serviceable in a way tape storage wasn't. There's less pressure to abandon HDD.
The big question is what is keeping SSD storage as expensive as it is, and is there anything about that situation expected to change in the near term future?
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
1.) From what I've read, SSDs are more reliable but when they fail may do so without warning, whereas an 'expiring' HDD may give you some perceptible dysfunction as a warning. That would making backing up even more important with SSD.
2.) Were you using mainstream 'desktop grade' HDDs, or NAS or server-grade products (e.g.: Seagate Ironwolf Pro)?
3.) If you use or would like to use storage in the 20 TB+ range, what sort of content are you putting on it and would a NAS serve you better than an external drive? Is there a disadvantage to the NAS approach for your use case?
-------------
Oh, and to avoid any accusations of venturing too far off topic, from the original article:
I'm not familiar with the connection requirements involved. Many years ago, when compact flash was common and SD (without any extra letters) a more recent development with digital cameras, I recall that one could use any capacity compact flash card in a camera because its controller was in the CF card, but with SD the camera had to be made to support a given capacity (e.g.: 2 gigabytes storage).
So, is the Razer Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma limited to 8 TB SSD storage because that's the largest SSD commonly available today, or is there a technical limitation whereby if, in 6 years there are 12 TB SSDs, it won't be able to use them, or will only be able to use 8 TB of space on one?
If and when the AI bubble pops…
Moreover the strangle hold WD/Seagate with their economics of scale, have on storage market makes it difficult to cannibalise their own products.
That said, someone will break this sooner than we think. I feel 16tb drives are round the corner and if they can match the hdd prices with better performance, there’s a significant sized market for such alternatives.
Referring to how it doesn't mention anything about multiple 6k monitors. you either get multi 4k or one 8k. with DSC, you can get the bandwidth needed for 10gb ethernet and displays. TB5 can also dynamically allocate bandwidth to 120 Gbps in one direction when needed.
Bumping this.
Got one of these in the Mercury (silver) finish for free on Amazon Vine recently. Instead of flipping it, I might replace my more purpose-built Satechi dock for something a little more future-proof… granted it doesn’t act as a space heater when in use. Will report back.
Update with results below (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test used, and either OEM or Cable Matters TB4+ certified USB-C cables):
In summary, with a Mac Mini I'd rather use the more aesthetically pleasing Satechi dock, and I only have one 4K LG monitor in use. If you have a MacBook (Pro), and more than one display, you may well find this very useful, but otherwise it's a bit overpriced for what it is. Speed increases are negligible if any, as far as I can tell.
Some may prefer the Razer for its more powerful TB5 ports, and 3 more than let's say the Satechi dock, which won't even connect the OWC Thunderbay enclosure via its USB-C port. That's another advantage the Razer has, but whether it's worth the extra cost is up to you.
Got one of these in the Mercury (silver) finish for free on Amazon Vine recently. Instead of flipping it, I might replace my more purpose-built Satechi dock for something a little more future-proof… granted it doesn’t act as a space heater when in use. Will report back.
Update with results below (Blackmagic Disk Speed Test used, and either OEM or Cable Matters TB4+ certified USB-C cables):
In summary, with a Mac Mini I'd rather use the more aesthetically pleasing Satechi dock, and I only have one 4K LG monitor in use. If you have a MacBook (Pro), and more than one display, you may well find this very useful, but otherwise it's a bit overpriced for what it is. Speed increases are negligible if any, as far as I can tell.
Some may prefer the Razer for its more powerful TB5 ports, and 3 more than let's say the Satechi dock, which won't even connect the OWC Thunderbay enclosure via its USB-C port. That's another advantage the Razer has, but whether it's worth the extra cost is up to you.
Last edited:
Any indication from your initial usage on how hot it gets (if you're using the storage?) and how loud the fan may be?
Didn’t have an NVMe lying around, unfortunately, but with a lot of crap attached it only got mildly warm to the touch. And I don’t believe there’s a fan in it, just airflow channels.