RaidenDigit LightONE 25GbE Thunderbolt Adapter

[Partofthesolution]

Hi all,

I have seen this device the first time in the video about the Mac mini m4 some days ago. Yesterday, Eric published this article.

I think its a very interesting device. Only big con in my eyes is the fan and maybe the high power consumption/heat development, which could possibly be lower without the USB controllers and the card reader. In my opinion the JHL7440 with USB-C-ports would be enough.


I have send the project a email and asked for some more details I would like to share with you guys:

The TB-chip is a Intel JLH7440 controller
The NIC is a Mellanox CX4421A Connect X-4, I am currently waiting for the exact device ID
I asked if this supports 1G fibre tranceivers too. They only tested 10 and 25G tranceivers, but they believe 1G should work too (if other Connect X-4 expansions cards cann handle it, then this is highly likely)
1/2,5/5/10GBE RJ45 tranceivers are supported, the ports can deliver enough power for these
Idle power should be between 10-15Watt

I also asked for a blockdiagram:




Here are some datasheets or addition information of the used controllers:

Intel JHL7440: Intel® JHL7440 Thunderbolt™ 3 Controller – Produktspezifikationen | Intel
+ https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/612/18-241_Thunder7000Controller_Brief_FIN_HI-1661831.pdf
Mellanox ConnctX-4: https://network.nvidia.com/files/doc-2020/pb-connectx-4-lx-en-card.pdf
VIA VL822: VIA Labs, Inc., VLI 威鋒電子股份有限公司
VIA VL816: NA
Genesys GL3231S: Genesys Logic, Inc.



@Eric: Will you guys publish a video review or can you at least provide some audio footage to get a better idea of how loud the fan is? Maybe with messurements?

Can you also please provide some fotos of a quick teardown?

 

[the-last-englishman]

Would this work with Windows ARM64 , this could be a great companion for my Surface Pro 11 for when I have to go get my hands dirty in a one of our datacenters.

 

[Docop]

There is nothing novel .. this is just a copy of a caldigit mostly and on the second board, you add an ocp adapter. But being small, cause heating issues. There is no bw problem, as your supposed nvme gen3, 4 or even 5 do saturate way before the supposed limitation of the thunderbolt. So no problem there. Only if you transfert with ram disk across network.