This add-in card lets you yank M.2 SSDs from your gaming PC while it's running

(Image credit: Icy Dock)

Depending on when you built your PC, it might not have an M.2 slot, leaving you unable to add a sleek and fast NVMe SSD to your setup. You could always upgrade your motherboard, but that's not exactly a quick and easy fix. Icy Docks solves the dilemma with its new ToughArmor MB840M2P-B, an add-in card for M.2 drives.

Icy Dock is not the first to offer such a product, but this one stands out because it supports hot-swapping drives (via Tom's Hardware). That means you can add and remove M.2 SSDs while your PC is still powered on.

It's not a feature you can take advantage of if using the SSD as your main drive, but as secondary storage, it's fair game. Jamming an SSD into the AIC (or yanking one out) is presumably easy as well—the removable drive tray doesn't require any tools, you just plop a drive into it, then slide the tray into the AIC. That's much easier than a motherboard swap.

The enclosure is made of aluminum and acts as a giant heatsink. There's also a thermal pad included, to help whisk heat off your SSD and transfer it to the aluminum housing.

Icy Dock designed its ToughArmor card for PCIe 3.0 x4 slots, though it's also compatible with longer x8 and x16 slots. It supports a wide range of M.2 SSDs as well, including WD's SN750 and Samsung's 970 Pro, two of the best SSDs for gaming. I count drives from 30 different manufacturers in Icy Dock's compatibility list.

The big question mark here is pricing. Icy Dock hasn't revealed the MSRP, and it doesn't look like it's in stock anywhere just yet. For reference, the 2.5-inch SATA version sells for $64.99 on Amazon, which is a bit steep. Add-in cards for M.2 drives that lack hot swap support typically run around $15 on the lower end.

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in SSDs
Crucial X9 external SSD on blue background
You can pick up the 2 TB version of my favorite budget external SSD for less than $0.06 per GB, transfers 300+ GB of data in 6 minutes
A Samsung 9100 Pro SSD in both 2 TB and 4 TB sizes.
Samsung 9100 Pro 2 TB SSD review
An image of a WD_Black SN850X SSD against a teal background with a white border
The best 1 TB gaming SSD you can buy is now just $79, the cheapest it's been for a good while
WD Black SN850X SSD on a gaming PC case.
Looks like we won't be seeing Western Digital SSDs in our gaming PCs as the company hands the reins back over to SanDisk
A SanDisk Desk Drive external SSD on a blue background
I adore this chunky, reliable external SSD, so for a third off the 4 TB version I will absolutely recommend it in a heartbeat
The WD Black SN850X 8 TB out of the packaging.
If you thought PCIe Gen 5 SSDs were a little pointless, don't worry, here comes 32 GB's worth of Gen 6 technology
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway