Netstor Thunderbolt 3 expansion chassis for 3 PCIe cards

Netstor NA211TB3 Thunderbolt 3 to 3 PCIe expansion enclosure

The Netstor NA211TB3 adds three PCIe 3.0 slots to a Thunderbolt 3 Mac, so professional cards such as RED Rocket-X accelerators, Blackmagic DeckLink capture cards and Avid Pro Tools audio cards can work together in the same box, in the studio or on location. A PCIe Gen3 switch on the backplane keeps each slot at full performance, with PCIe bandwidth up to 2750 MB/s over the 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 link.

The chassis takes full-length (315 mm), full-height cards; two of the three slots accept x16 cards. A 300 W power supply rated under 22 dBA provides two PCIe 6+2 pin and one 4-pin auxiliary power cables, and a hot-swappable 80 mm front fan with manual speed adjustment keeps the cards cool. The unit is Mac certified and comes with a 2 m active Thunderbolt 3 cable.

Key features

• Three PCIe 3.0 x8 slots, two of them for x16 cards
• Full-length (315 mm), full-height (120 mm) PCIe cards
• Integrated PCIe Gen3 switch for full performance on each slot
• Thunderbolt 3 at 40 Gbps, PCIe bandwidth up to 2750 MB/s
• Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports: daisy-chain up to five more Thunderbolt devices, with two 4K displays or one 5K display at the end of the chain; a USB 3.1 Gen 2 device can be connected to the second port
• 300 W high-efficiency, low-noise power supply (under 22 dBA) with two PCIe 6+2 pin and one 4-pin auxiliary power cables
• Hot-swappable 80 mm front fan with manually adjustable speed
• Mac certified, works with all Thunderbolt Macs
• M.2 NVMe SSDs can be added with the Netstor NP631N adapter (sold separately, macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later)
• 2 m active Thunderbolt 3 cable included

Compatibility

• Mac computers with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 ports, Apple silicon (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra) or Intel
• macOS: Mac OS X 10.12.3 or later
• Thunderbolt 2 Macs need the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter
• PCIe cards must provide a Thunderbolt-aware macOS driver

Notes

• PCIe cards are not included.
• Netstor lists macOS support only for this model; Windows is not mentioned in the official specifications.
• Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 run at the same 40 Gbps: according to Netstor, this Thunderbolt 3 unit can be connected to either a Thunderbolt 3 or a Thunderbolt 4 port on the host computer.

Specifications

• Host interface: dual Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports for host connection and daisy-chain, 40 Gbps, compatible with Thunderbolt 4 host ports
• Data transfer rate: 40 Gbps
• PCIe slots: three PCIe 3.0 x8 (two slots accept x16 cards)
• PCIe card size: full length (315 mm), full height (120 mm)
• Thunderbolt expansion: up to 6 Thunderbolt devices
• Power supply: single 300 W, high efficiency and low noise, input 90-230 VAC 50-60 Hz, outputs +5 V and +12 V, with two PCIe 6+2 pin and one 4-pin auxiliary power cables
• Cooling: one hot-swappable 80 x 80 x 20 mm fan
• LED: power on
• Dimensions: 371 (D) x 110 (W) x 200 (H) mm
• Housing: aluminum with solid metal structure
• Environment: operating 0 to 40 °C, storage -10 to 50 °C, relative humidity 20-80% non-condensing

In the box

• Enclosure
• Thunderbolt 3 40 Gbps cable, 2 m
• Power cord