Connect three half-length, full-height PCIe cards to systems with a Thunderbolt 3 port using the Echo Express SE IIIe Thunderbolt 3 Expansion Chassis from Sonnet. The Echo Express SE IIIe is useful for expanding the connectivity of systems like the MacBook Pro, which does not have the PCIe slots needed for pros working in creative fields. Instead, the Echo Express SE IIIe connects to Thunderbolt 3 hosts to leverage this connectivity via PCIe expansion slots that are outside of the computer. This chassis has two PCIe 3.0 x8/x8 slots and one PCIe 3.0 x8/x4 slot. These three slots can support one half-length+ (up to 7.75″ long), double-width, full-height PCIe x8 card, plus one single-width card, or three half-length+, full-height PCIe x8 cards for video capture, audio DSP, 6Gb or 12Gb SAS or SATA host bus adapters, 10Gb, 25Gb, or 40Gb Ethernet cards, RAID controllers, and more.
The Echo Express SE IIIe features two 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 ports, one of which is used to connect to your host Windows, Mac, or Linux system and provides up to 100W of power. The second Thunderbolt 3 port, which provides up to 15W of power, can be used to daisy-chain up to 5 additional Thunderbolt devices, plus one 5K display at 60 Hz, two 4K displays at 60 Hz, or one USB 3.0 device. For power hungry cards, there is an additional internal 6-pin PCIe power connector.
Cool operations are driven by an internal 80 x 80 x 25mm cooling fan. Included with this chassis is a Thunderbolt 3 cable, a ThunderLok 3 retainer clip, a 120W universal power adapter, and a power cord. Protection is provided by a limited 2-year warranty and free lifetime technical support.
Please note that the Echo Express SE IIIe does not support GPUs. Also, two 4K displays requires a monitor with multi-stream transport support (DP out) or a Thunderbolt 3 to Dual DisplayPort Adapter.
Jake Beier (verified owner) –
This is the best option out there to had cards to your laptop.
Delphine Klocko (verified owner) –
I got this to house three BMD Capture cards. They connect to a MacBook Pro for video capture from three cameras which are streamed via OBS.
Grady Abshire (verified owner) –
does exactly what it says it will do!
Emmett Hackett (verified owner) –
We purchased this product for a client to livestream with PTZ SDI cameras. We installed a Blackmagic Decklink Duo2 capture card and the picture is beautiful.
Maeve Kling (verified owner) –
The included PCIe USB-C card was missing the retention screw, so when it was delivered I could hear something banging around in the case before I even opened the box. Looks like the PCIe card was just bouncing off the motherboard and metal case for the entire delivery trip. Seems ok, surprised something didn’t break. When properly screwed in… I found the USB-C ports are directly next to the frame, so basically the entire case grounds to the sleeve of the USB-C cable. If there’s a short in the case it will travel down the cable to your computer!! I’ll be cutting out part of the rear frame with a hacksaw to ensure their is no contact. I’ve only had this for 5 minutes, already not happy with the quality.
Gregoria Thiel (verified owner) –
I put three BMD capture cards in this and run them through Thunderbolt 3 to a MacBook Pro. It works well, but the power does not seem to be enough to keep the MBP running. I may need to change the TB3 cable. I also wish it had a power switch, but these are minor issues. Great case, good price. Reasonably quiet.
Kasandra Runolfsson (verified owner) –
If your wanting to have multiple output/inputs this is the way to go.
Kristian Jones (verified owner) –
This worked perfect for using a decklink duo 2 with our iMac.