Jmicron has created the new usb 3.1 gen 2 bridge to pcie nvme for external ssd

The connectivity of our PCs evolves at a dizzying pace and JMicron has created the first bridge from USB 3.1 Gen 2 to PCIe NVMe, something that will allow us to connect solid hard drives with M.2 and NVMe interface in portable boxes using only a USB 3.1.

A 1000 MB / s portable hard drive? It is possible

The great novelty of this new chip from the manufacturer JMicron is that it eliminates the limitation of previous bridge models that were only able to connect units with a SATA 6 Gb / s interface to a USB 3.1 Gen 2/1 port.

The new JMS583 chip is capable of providing a connection bridge, between a capsule for SSD units with an M.2 interface that works with NVMe, and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector. This connection is capable of speeds of up to 1000 MB / s, which, although it does not reach the level of a native M.2, surpasses everything known so far under this type of external connection.

JMS583 Operation and Testing

Source: Benchlife

This chip is capable of connecting a USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) interface to a PCIe 3.0 x2 supporting NVMe v3.3, TRIM, and UASP NVMe transfer modes. Obviously the bandwidth limit is set by USB 3.0 with its 1250 MB / s, although it is already an achievement if we take into account that in SATA 6Gb-based connections the transfer speed could only go up to 570 MB / s.

Of course, this new bridge is like a candy on the door of a school, and from the point of view of the market it will offer a good advantage for the first manufacturer to start operating it. Well, Jeyi, the Chinese brand, has been the first to use this new bridge to implement an M.2 unit in an encapsulation under this type of connection with the name of i9 Plus.

Source: Benchlife

In the tests carried out on this interface together with the Jeyi i9 Plus with a Plextor M8Se Series 512 GB unit inside, they have given more than satisfactory results, reaching 1000 MB / s in reading and more than 800 MB / s in writing. Although when writing a large amount of data, the interface suffers a little more, reaching 400 or 450 MB / s in writing speed. The boys of Benchlife have compiled the images of all these tests, so we leave them here.

Source: Benchlife

Source: Benchlife

We hope that more external drive manufacturers will come up with these or similar solutions to use all the available performance of USB 3.1 on solid external hard drives or even outperform it for example using 40 Gbps capable Thunderbolt 3. When do you think the manufacturers best known to us will have one of these SSD cases? Believe that we will soon see an external NVMe drive working at its best under Thunderbolt for example? Tell us your opinion about it and if you think this will be possible.

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