High Performance 40Gbps USB 4 NVMe Enclosure supporting PCIe Gen 4

Intro

NVMe drives are getting seriously faster but those more common 10Gbps enclosure are holding back their performance, limiting you to around 1200MBps sequential read/write. 

A 40Gbps NVMe enclosure can unlock more potential with theoretical speeds reaching 3800Mbps, making it perfect for your PCIe Gen 3 and tapping into Gen 4 Bandwidth. 

Unboxing 

The enclosure comes in a well-packaged and presentable box containing:

• Philips head screwdriver

• 40Gbps NVMe Enclosure

• Thermal Pads

• Drive labelling stickers

• Thunderbolt/USB 4 Cable (approx. 50cm)

• Informational leaflets

Design and Build Quality

The JEYI NVMe enclosure has a premium feel as it uses a sleek aluminium body, secured by just two visible screws and feels both sturdy and stylish. The design is functional too – easy to grip, with a well-placed USB port, and a front panel perfect for labelling your drives. A helpful green status LED is also positioned on the front, which indicates drive activity, minimising the risk of data loss from premature disconnects.

The included Thunderbolt/USB 4 cable feels robust and comes with a handy velcro tie. While its ~50cm length is ideal for laptops and portable setups it might be short for some desktop setups where the PC is less accessible.

A closer look at the Specs

The enclosure can accommodate the popular 2280 NVMe drive length. Shorter drives such as 2230, 2242 and 2260 cannot be securely attached to the enclosure although you could maybe get around this by using an adapter.

The enclosure features the powerful ASM2464 chip, supporting up to PCIe Gen4 x4. This lets you unlock maximum Thunderbolt/USB 4 speeds and ensures compatibility with older USB protocols (at their respective speeds). This future-proof design is a smart choice for your storage needs.

Supported USB protocols:

• USB 4 (40Gbps)

• USB 3.2 Gen 2X2 (20Gbps)

• USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps, formerly

• USB 3.1 Gen 2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps)

The Firmware on the Drive can be updated which ensures future proofing and winder Compatibility, with the firmware updates available on the JEYI Website .

Installation experience

The JEYI enclosure offers a plug-and-play experience with no drivers needed.  Remember, newly installed drives require formatting (a simple process on any operating system) before you can start storing files.

Performance and Benchmark

I have tested the performance using a 512GB NVMe Drive across a variety of different USB ports. The test that I will be running is Crystal Disk Mark as well as the Black Magic Disk Speed Test for a real-world usage demonstration for writing and reading video files. 

The Drive I will be using is a Gen 4 Micron 3400 512GB NVMe Drive which has GEN 4 speeds of around 6,600 MB/s sequential read and 5,000 MB/s write.

I ran the Crystal Disk Benchmark on the default preset, set to a 1GB test Size.

40GBps USB 4.0 Port

• Black Magic Disk Speed Test: 

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ8T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ1T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ32T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ1T1):

The Enclosure performs well when plugged into a 40Gbps port ensuring fast and reliable read/write speeds and the included aluminium enclosure makes it perform well for large tasks. I did notice the write speeds under SEQ1MQ8T1 in Crystal Disk Mark were a bit lower than I had expected but this could come down to drive-specific factors or compatibility quirks. Further testing with different drives may shed more light on this and I will try to update this review with more drives if I get ahold of them. 

20GBps USB Port

• Black Magic Disk Speed Test: 

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ8T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ1T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ32T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ1T1):

Performance on a 20Gbps port remains impressive, with the drive closely approaching its maximum potential.

5GBps USB Port

• Black Magic Disk Speed Test: 

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ8T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (SEQ1MQ1T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ32T1):

• CrystalDiskMark (RND4KQ1T1):

Ideally, you'll utilize a 40Gbps USB 4 or Thunderbolt port for optimal performance. However, the enclosure's functionality on 5Gbps ports, with peaks around 460mbps, ensures your data remains accessible across different setups.

Conclusion 

Overall, I'm truly impressed with this enclosure. It delivers consistently fast and reliable read/write speeds on both 40Gbps and 20Gbps ports. The sturdy aluminium build handles large tasks with ease.

Real-world performance is where this enclosure shines. The Black Magic Speed Test shows it can handle video editing well and you will have no problem editing 4K ProRes files directly off the enclosure.

While the enclosure gets warm under heavy use (due to both the NVMe drive and the ASM2464 controller), this efficient heat dissipation demonstrates a robust design that prioritises cooling.