Conclusion
As a reviewer, I sometimes receive samples I personally perceive as a filler sample. A product that I never have intent on using after the review. Something I agree to review just to get up more content while I wait for “exciting” samples to hit my office. When I first received the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB adapter card with the Silverstone Fara B1 case we recently reviewed, I assumed that this was one of those filler samples. But very often, these samples tend to become of the best items I end up reviewing. The Silverstone ECM24-ARGB is just another example of a product I nearly wrote off as something I’d never use. This was due to the number of motherboards on the market these days with upwards of three M.2 slots. I then realized that I was viewing the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB from the point of a reviewer and enthusiast and not from the view of your average consumer. Once I took a step back and looked at the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB through the lens of the average consumer, especially with an older system, my view changed. Then once I got into testing the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB, my views drastically changed.
For starters, the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB looks great installed on my testbench and synced up the other ARGB lighting in my system. Even though I have used the two ARGB headers on the Z490 Aorus Master, I was able to daisy-chain the ARGB strips on my testbench with the ARGB lighting on the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB. Yes, I have RGB strips installed on my testbench. Because of the previous testing I’ve done with stock M.2 heatsinks, I had expected a temperature difference between 5°c and 10 °c between the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB with and without the heatsink. However, I didn’t take into consideration the size of the heatsink of the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB. This made a bigger difference in temperatures than I had ever expected to see. After running PCMARK 10 in the Inland Premium SSD installed on the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB with the heatsink, we hit a make temperature of 35°c. Then, when we removed the heatsink, the temperature went up to 59°c. In total, a 24°c difference. This blew my mind. Given the temperature, the difference didn’t necessarily lead to better performance. However, lower operating temperatures over the life of the drive are just all-around good for the drive and could even extend the life of the drive.
Due to my line of work, I generally always have the latest and greatest when it comes to hardware. I rarely keep a system for more than six months. So in the process of my testing, I overlooked one of the key features of the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB adapter card. That being the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB being a great option for someone running an older system who wants to add in fast storage to say an X99 or a Z170 motherboard. Given both chipsets, there are many excellent motherboards. However, most of them had only a single M.2 slot. I still have an X99 system in fact. The Gigabyte X99M Gaming 5 which has a single M.2 slot. Now with the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB, I can add up to an 8 TB NVMe SSD if I wanted. This makes the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB a great option for a home theatre PC or a home server. A mini ITX system for an HTPC with one of those Sabrent Rocket 8 TB installed on the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB would make for an amazing home theatre PC and maybe my next project.
Att he time of writing this review, you can get the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB M.2 to PCIe SSD adapter card for only $34.28 on Amazon. For the combination of the aesthetics and cooling you get from the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB, I really can’t say enough good about it. Given this isn’t meant for everyone. Especially if you’re running a newer board with three M.2 slots or an ITX board, you might not want to take up a PCIe slot with something like this. However, if you’re running a motherboard with a single M.2 slot and you need to expand your storage, the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB is pretty much a must-have. So, the combination of aesthetics, cooling, and convenience earns the Silverstone ECM24-ARGB a Thinkcomputers score of 9 out of 10.
Pros:
- Looks Great
- Amazing Cooling
- PCIe Gen 4 support.
- Cheap Price
- A great option for older systems
Cons:
- Takes up a PCIe Slot.
- Less useful on newer systems