Unboxing and Review: RIHAO R40 Max (Fan Version) USB4 M.2 Enclosure and HP FX900 Pro 2TB SSD
This enclosure and SSD were purchased to serve as an external system drive for my Mac Mini—Apple’s memory upgrade costs are just too high… (Upgrading to 2TB costs 5,550 RMB.)
RIHAO R40 Max Enclosure
Purchase link: https://s.click.taobao.com/tM84nws
Specifications
- Brand: RiHAO
- Model: R40 Max (Fan Version)
- Supported Drives: M.2 2280 NVMe
- Internal Interface: M.2 M-Key
- USB Specification: USB4 / Thunderbolt 3/4 Compatible / USB 3.0 / 2.0
- USB Transfer Rate: 40Gbps
- Enclosure Material: Aluminum Alloy
- Net Weight: 79g
- Packaging Dimensions: 138 x 100 x 20mm
- Weight with Packaging: 136g
- Warranty: 1 Year
Review
Front of the retail box:
Back of the retail box. The label shows the manufacturer is Guangzhou Ri Hao Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., with a production date of January 2025.
Inside the box: enclosure, C-to-C cable, manual, screwdriver, and thermal pad.
Remove the screws and open the enclosure. This is where the SSD mounts. The PCB is labeled U142-V2.2, likely the circuit version. One of the screws securing the PCB has a tamper-evident sticker—can be carefully lifted with tweezers for non-destructive disassembly.
After removing the PCB, a small fan and various chips are visible. The main chip has thermal paste applied.
The main controller is the ASM2464PD. Official product page: https://url.zeruns.com/ASM2464PD
Official description (translated):
The ASM2464PD is a next-generation USB4®/Thunderbolt-to-PCIe/NVMe accessory controller developed by ASMedia using its proprietary PHY design. USB4/Thunderbolt technology encapsulates PCIe and USB protocols into the USB4/Thunderbolt architecture and transmits them across USB4/Thunderbolt domains. The ASM2464PD supports various storage devices such as portable SSDs and SSD enclosures. Its USB connection offers a data rate of 2x20Gbps (USB4/Thunderbolt), is compatible with USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 interfaces, and the downstream link is upgraded to PCIe Gen4 x4. It integrates USB4/Thunderbolt Gen3 x2 and PCIe Gen4, includes built-in USB Type-C CC logic and BMC PHY, is driven by a 25MHz crystal oscillator, comes in a compact RoHS-compliant package, and supports multiple GPIO pins for customization.
Below the main chip is a P25D80SH flash memory chip from PUYA (Puyang Semiconductor), 8Mbit (1MByte) capacity—compatible replacement for W25Q80—likely used to store firmware.
In the top-right corner are two DC-DC power chips labeled HU3T and GU3T—unable to find datasheets. In the bottom-left, a chip labeled 3124 4SJ1, also undocumented.
Using the Weijian C5 Tester, I read the E-Marker data from the included USB-C cable. The cable supports USB4 Gen3 / TBT4 (Thunderbolt 4), vendor ID 0x315C, and supports PD3.1 EPR (50V 5A).
Review and thermal imaging demo of the UNI-T UTi261M thermal camera: https://blog.zeruns.com/archives/798.html
With the SSD installed and connected to a computer, the thermal image below shows the enclosure’s temperature under no load (idle, no data transfer), without heatsinks. The main chip reached 76°C and was still rising. (Ambient temperature ~20°C)
After reassembly, the back of the enclosure during sustained read/write operations reached a maximum of 42.2°C (ambient ~20°C).
HP FX900 Pro 2TB SSD
Purchase link: https://u.jd.com/qDs3mLK
I chose this drive because of its 2GB DRAM cache.
Specifications
- Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4
- Capacity: 2TB
- Cache: 2GB
- Sequential Read: 7400 MB/s
- Sequential Write: 6700 MB/s
- Random Read: 1344K IOPS
- Random Write: 1122K IOPS
- Dimensions: 80 x 22 x 3.2 mm
- Weight: <10g
- MTBF: >1,000,000 hours
- Storage Temperature: -40°C to 85°C
- Operating Temperature: 0°C to 70°C
- Vibration Resistance: 3.1 GRMS (2–500Hz)
- Shock Resistance: 100G / 6ms
- Certifications: CE, FCC, RoHS, cTUVus, KCC, BSMI, VCCI, RCM
- Warranty: 5 years / 1200TBW
Review
Front of retail box:
Back of retail box. Label shows manufacturer is Shenzhen Biwin Storage Technology Co., Ltd.
Inside the box: SSD, manual, and one screw.
Back of the SSD:
Close-up of the interface. The graphene thermal pad wraps from beneath the central foam cushion to the top, increasing heat dissipation area—but also increasing the drive’s thickness.
Side view: four NAND flash chips, one controller, and two DRAM chips.
To preserve warranty, I didn’t remove the label. Based on other reviews, the controller is the Rainier IG5236 from InnoGrit. Built on a 12nm FinFET process, it supports PCIe Gen4 x4 and NVMe 1.4, with DDR3/DDR4 DRAM support. Max sequential speeds: 7400 MB/s read, 6700 MB/s write.
The DRAM on both sides is from Nanya Technology: NT5AD512M16A4-HR, 1GB (8Gbit) per chip, DDR4-2666 speed. Dual-sided configuration gives 2GB of independent DRAM cache.
NAND flash chips are Micron BW29F4T08EULE, 512GB per chip. Four chips total = 2TB. Likely uses 3D NAND stacking to achieve such high per-chip capacity.
Measured total thickness with caliper: 5.6mm
Unfortunately, the SSD is too thick—it won’t fit inside the RIHAO R40 Max enclosure with the cover on…
Testing After Installation
CrystalDiskInfo output:
Using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test on Mac:
- Sequential Write: 2605.9 MB/s
- Sequential Read: 2938.3 MB/s
(Limited by enclosure and interface—cannot reach full SSD speed)
Using Amorphous DiskMark 4.0.1 on Mac:
- Sequential Write: 3313.35 MB/s
- Sequential Read: 3235.95 MB/s
- 4K Random Read (1-thread): 80.7 MB/s
- 4K Random Write (1-thread): 44.69 MB/s
(Still limited by enclosure and interface)
Thermal image of the SSD during sustained read/write: max temp ~56.1°C (ambient ~20°C). Thermal performance is quite good.
Recommended Reading
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English Version: https://blog.zeruns.top/archives/29.html