Intel 750 2.5-inch SSD With NVMe And ASUS Hyper Kit

To express Intel's new 750 series SSD as 'super fast' would be an understatement; it's the closest thing you'll get to a server-spec product in a consumer product, and the first (consumer) device to bring important NVMe into your gaming or workstation rig.  Available in PCI-Express card or 2.5" format, the new 750 series offers the complete flexibility depending on your upgrade plan. Naturally it doesn't use traditional SATA, or even SATA Express, instead opting for a native PCI-Express 3.0 4x connection, which yields a massive, maximum throughput of 32Gbit/s. 

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Given the ubiquity of PCI-Express slots on modern motherboards, this is obviously easy to upgrade - its' the 2.5" SSD version that gets interesting. Typically the domain of SATA for consumer builds, the motherboard-to-drive connection has had to become more esoteric to accommodate over five times bandwidth increase (32Gbit/s versus 6Gbit/s). This not only requires a completely new cable - with dozens of wires and shielding - but also new connectors as well; a 'mini-SAS HD' on the motherboard side and 'SFF-8639' on the 2.5" drive.

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During the development the TUF Sabertooth X99 motherboard, Intel and ASUS RD together developed a new kit that lets you adapt the motherboard's M.2 slot (yielding the necessary PCI-Express 3.0 4x) into a connector for the new 2.5" SSD. While Intel ships the cable with it's 2.5" SSD, the M.2 to mini-SAS HD adapter will be known as the ASUS Hyper Kit. This Hyper Kit has been validated with all ASUS, TUF and ROG X99 motherboards - and validation is essential due to the extremely high performance of the drive, the connection has required extensive signal tuning to retain maximum performance.

The Sabertooth X99 BIOS with Hyper Kit mode enabled under the storage configuration.

 Here's how the new Intel 750 2.5" stacks up in IOPS: