ASRock has unveiled its Ultra Quad M.2 x16 PCIe add-in-card, which is a daughter-board that can be equipped with four M.2 SSDs. We have already seen a similar card from ASUS however the the differences are subtle but significant.
The card is covered with a brushed-aluminum heatsink which features a 50mm centrifugal fan. The PCB sports four M.2 sockets and a power connector. It's not the first time that we see a PCIe add-in-card compatible with up to four M.2 SSDs. Compared to the ASUS Hyper card, the ASRock Ultra Quad comes with a larger fan and it takes power from a 6-pin power connector. Furthermore the M.2 sockets are placed in a different way.
Last but not least another advantage of the Ultra Quad is that it supports M.2 SSDs with up to 110mm length, whereas the ASUS card only fits M.2-2280.
According to ASRock, the arrangement of the M.2 sockets should be better since the distance from the sockets to the PCIe slot is smaller. The back panel of the card shows activity lights for all four sockets. Furthermore, the company includes a software that you can use if you want change the rotation speed of the fan.
Like the ASUS card, the Ultra Quad might not work fully in most desktop motherboards. At this time there isn't more informations, however if the card works in VROC (Virtual RAID) mode you might need a VROC activation key from Intel. According to Techpowerup, ASRock Ultra Quad will costs $70 USD.