Angelbird is now shipping an SSD RAID add-in card that boasts read speeds of 800MB/s and writes up to 750MB/s. The new solid state drive player from Austria hopes to provide performance for the enterprise market and affordability and flexibility for consumers.
The Wings x4 PCIe add-in card offers multiple configuration options and works on PC and Mac systems. At its base, users can opt for 16GB or 32GB of on-board memory or elect to go with the Lite model that eliminates all built-in storage. The Lite card retails for $249 while the 16GB and 32GB units sell for $312 and $373.50, respectively.
From here you can mount up to four SSDs directly onto the card; two on the front and two at the rear. Angelbird will sell you a 60GB Crest SSD expansion cartridge or full SSD chassis for $173, a 115GB model for $257.50 or a 240GB unit for $688.50. All Crest SSDs feature a 3Gb/s interface and are built using a Sandforce SF-1222 controller.
Users can optionally choose to add their own drives using custom clips and couplers for 2.5" SSDs and HDDs although it isn't clear if mixing and matching different brands or capacities is possible.
The PCIe card offers incremental performance, meaning you need to populate the unit with the maximum four SSDs to reach the advertised numbers of 800MB/s read and 750MB/s write. A single drive, for example, will only produce 275MB/s read and 265MB/s write. Angelbird points out that you can add additional cards to your system for even more storage and speed so long as you have free PCIe x4 slots.
Suspiciously absent from Angelbird's website and media guide is any mention of what types of arrays can be built using the card.