Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 review: Four slots of SSD magic — in the right PC

Here is a 200-word summary of the key points from the article: The Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is an affordable ($80) PCIe 5.0 adapter card that provides up to four full-speed M.2 NVMe SSD slots. However, its functionality is limited by the PCIe bifurcation capabilities of the user's motherboard. Many systems can only utilize two or three of the four slots. The card delivers good individual SSD performance, often slightly better than the motherboard's built-in M.2 slots. But real-world RAID 0 performance using Windows, OWC SoftRAID, or Intel RST fell short of expectations, maxing out around 25GB/s. The article notes issues with Intel RST in particular, which can complicate uninstallation. Overall, the Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is a good value, especially if the user's system supports 4-way bifurcation to take full advantage of all four slots. However, buyers must carefully check their motherboard's capabilities beforehand. The card relies entirely on the system's PCIe lane management, with no built-in RAID functionality. At the $80 price, it can still be worthwhile even if only one or two slots are usable.