Sonnet Echo Express SE IIIe | 3-slot Thunderbolt 3 Expansion Chassis for PCIe cards

Connect Three Full-height, Half-length+ PCIe Cards to Computers with Thunderbolt 3 Ports

Although thin Mac®, Windows®, and Linux® computers with Thunderbolt™ 3 ports offer processing power to spare, for many users (such as pros in the creative fields) onboard processing power alone is not enough. Sonnet’s Echo™ Express SE IIIe is a compact, desktop Thunderbolt™ 3 to PCIe card expansion system that enables you to connect three professional PCIe cards at the same time to any computer with Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Thunderbolt 3 Connection

This compact desktop expansion system supports three professional PCIe cards (video capture; audio DSP; 6Gb or 12Gb SAS or SATA host bus adapter; 10Gb, 25Gb, or40Gb Ethernet; or RAID controller; etc.) and connects them to your computer through a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.

Nearly Every Thunderbolt-Compatible, Non-GPU PCIe Card Supported

Smaller than the 3-slot Echo Express III-D (Thunderbolt 3 Edition), the Echo Express SE IIIe is still large enough to support nearly every Thunderbolt 3 compatible card available. With its three x8 slots, the SE IIIe supports PCIe 3.0, PCIe 2.0, and PCIe 1.1 cards up to 7.75 inches long. Do you have a card in mind but aren’t sure it’s compatible? Sonnet have put together a list in their supporting PCIe Card Thunderbolt Compatibility Chart (PDF). There you’ll find cards identified as conforming to Thunderbolt technology requirements, and organized by fit and power compatibility with specific expansion system.

Design Smarts

Aluminum Enclosure. Auto Power On/Off.

The inside of the Echo Express SE IIIe is wrapped in a rugged, yet lightweight aluminum outer shell, resulting in a lightweight system small enough to carry in your backpack, yet durable enough to protect the installed PCIe cards securely. Since Echo Express products automatically power on and off with your computer, there is no power switch on the chassis, ensuring you don’t waste energy by forgetting to turn it off.

Three PCIe 3.0 Slots for Demanding Professional Needs

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Echo Express SE IIIe’s PCIe 3.0 x8 slots support three half-length+, full-height, single-width PCIe cards, or one single-width card plus one double-width card.

Double-width?

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Some specialty cards, such as RME’s HDSPe MADI FX, Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink 4K Extreme, and the Lynx AES16e 50, include a daughter card that mates with and provides additional external connections to the main card.

Power to Spare

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Echo Express SE IIIe includes an auxiliary PCIe power connector, enabling you to install a card requiring extra power, such as the AJA® Kona® 5 or Blackmagic DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G, and Bluefish444’s Epoch and KRONOS SDI cards.

Quiet Please

The Echo Express SE IIIe is designed to be ultra-quiet so that it can be comfortably used in noise-sensitive environments. Its enclosure is ventilated front and back to facilitate airflow over the cards bya large, quiet, temperature-controlled fan to efficiently cool the system. The fan automatically speeds up and slows down smoothly as needed—there’s no guesswork in deciding which fan speed to select.

Included at No Extra Charge

Thunderbolt 3 Cable. ThunderLok 3.

Sonnet includes a 0.7-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable that, unlike some other cables, transfers data at Thunderbolt 3’s full 2750 MB/s bandwidth, and supports up to 100W of Power Delivery (PD). Sonnet also provides a ThunderLok 3 Thunderbolt connector retainer clip⁽¹⁾ that prevents accidental cable disconnections—just slide it over one end of the cable, and then plug in the connector and secure it to the chassis by turning a thumbscrew. Because of its unique design, ThunderLok remains on the cable so it won’t get lost when not in use.

Fastest External Interface Available

Echo Express SE IIIe features a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 interface, which offers double the PCIe bandwidth and connectivity of Thunderbolt 2, and yields up to 2750 MB/s of bandwidth, enabling it to support 4K video capture and processing cards at high frame rates, and 16Gb FC cards and dual-port 10GbE cards at full performance.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

Thunderbolt 3 – The USB C That Does It All

Echo Express SE IIIe includes two Thunderbolt 3 ports; the first connects it to your computer, while the second supports daisy chaining of up to five additional Thunderbolt peripheral devices to a single port on your computer. The SE III also includes 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 support, meaning you can connect a USB device to the second port using the proper cable or adapter. For connected peripherals requiring extra power, 15 watts is provided to connected bus-powered devices. With the ability to handle multiple demanding, high performance PCIe cards, support for connecting two 4K displays @ 60Hz or one 5K display @ 60Hz⁽⁴⁾, and support for a vast array of Thunderbolt⁽⁵⁾ and USB⁽⁶⁾ devices, Thunderbolt 3 is a leap forward in every way.

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• Echo Express SE IIIe
• Universal power adapter
• Power cord
• 0.7-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable
• ThunderLok 3 Thunderbolt Connector Retainer Clip⁽¹⁾
• Documentation