OWC Mercury Helios

Thunderbolt™ 2 Single Slot Expansion Chassis For PCIe Cards

Thunderbolt 2 / Mac / PC

Features an x16 PCIe 2.0 double width card slot*.
Daisy-chain support for up to five additional Thunderbolt peripherals
Near-silent operation
Plug and Play - no drivers needed.**

Tap Into the Power of PCIe and Thunderbolt 2

The OWC Mercury Helios PCIe expansion chassis gives users of Thunderbolt equipped Macs the ability to tap into a huge variety of pro-level performance PCIe cards, previously the sole domain of desktop workstations. Helios utilizes Thunderbolt 2 and PCIe 2.0 to deliver nearly unlimited expansion potential to your Mac. Get empowered with the flexibility to upgrade the capabilities of almost any workflow or workstation.

Expansion Comes Standard

Helios features one half-length (up to 7.75"), full-height, double-width x16 PCIe 2.0 slot to provide a vast array of expansion options. And two Thunderbolt 2 ports means that Helios will support up to an additional five daisy-chained Thunderbolt peripherals.

Helios is fast and flexible with phenomenal throughput up to 20Gb/s. The perfectly simple solution to add high-performance PCIe cards made for video production, transcoding, audio processing, data storage and much more. Finally the functionality and productivity gains of these PCIe cards are easily accessible through your ThunderBolt connection.

Helios supports a huge variety of PCIe cards, including:

Fibre Channel.
10GbE Network Interface Controller.
Video capture.
Digital audio.
Solid State Drive.
SAS controllers such as the OWC Jupiter.
FireWire, USB 3.0, or eSATA host adapter cards.

Other Outstanding Features:

Automatically powers on/off with your computer.
Hot-pluggable - no need to power off to connect and disconnect devices.***
Bus-power support for one Thunderbolt device.****
Rugged yet lightweight aluminum housing goes anywhere your work takes you.

* Thunderbolt limits PCIe x8 and x16 cards to x4 data lanes.
** Thunderbolt-aware drivers may be needed for PCIe card.
*** If any devices are connected to the PCIe card, make sure to properly remove them before disconnecting Helios.
**** Thunderbolt bus-powered device must be the last device on the chain.

48 Hour Warranty Service

OWC's Step-by-Step Install Video

How to install PCIe Cards in the OWC Helios Thunderbolt Enclosure.

INCLUDES
GALLERY
SPECS
COMPATIBILITY
Reviews

Includes

OWC Mercury Helios PCIe Thunderbolt Expansion Chassis
High-Quality, Certified, Double-Shielded 1 Meter Thunderbolt cable
External auto-switching 100/240v 50/60Hz power adapter 12V/10A
Mercury Helios Assembly Manual & User Guide (View PDF 4.4MB)
OWC 3 Year Solution Warranty with 48-Hour Turnaround Time

Gallery

Product Specifications:

System Requirements

Software
- OS
  - OS X 10.9 or later
  - Windows 7 SP1 or later
  - Note: Boot Camp is not supported
- Driver
  - Driver not required
Hardware
- Minimum Requirements
  - Mac or PC featuring Thunderbolt interface
- Recommended (Best performance)
  - Mac or PC featuring Thunderbolt 2 interface
Bootability
- OS X (requires installed PCIe card be bootable)

Interface

(2) Thunderbolt 20Gb/s

Device Interface

PCIe (PCI Express)

PCIe Card Support

(1) PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) half-length (up to 7.75"), full-height, single- or double-width
Note: PCIe card must operate with no driver or have a Thunderbolt-aware driver. Please see the OWC PCIe Thunderbolt card compatibility chart for more information.

Performance

Thunderbolt 2 - 20Gb/sec
Note: Speeds will vary based on setup, configuration, and other environmental factors

Power

PCIe card minimum guaranteed power
- 25W (slot)
Power Supply
- External UL-listed, universal auto-switching
- AC input: 100 ~ 240V, 2.0A, 50-60Hz
- DC output: 12V, 10A
- Adapter plugs for international use sold separately

Product Manual

Mercury Helios Assembly Manual & User Guide (4.4MB PDF)

Dimensions

Height: 2.9 in (7.4 cm)
Width: 5.7 in (11.5 cm)
Length: 9.2 in (23.4 cm)

Weight

3.9 lb. (1.8 kg)

Operating Environment:

Environmental (Operating)

Temperature (°F) 32° to 95°
Temperature (°C) 0° to 35°

Environmental (Non-Operating)

Temperature (°F) -40° to 149°
Temperature (°C) -40° to 65°

Warranty

3 Year OWC Helios Limited Warranty

The best warranty is one you never have to use, but should the need occur, we're proud to provide a superior level of support and service coverage to our customers. OWC and NewerTech storage solutions come fully backed by an Industry-leading 48-hour turnaround time, for complete peace of mind ownership confidence.

View more information about the 3 Year OWC Helios Limited Warranty

Windows requires a Thunderbolt 2 interface in the computer and in the expansion chassis to support more than two PCIe controllers. Note that some PCIe cards have a bridge to multiple controllers, so it is possible for a single dual-controller PCIe card to reach the limit if not connected via Thunderbolt 2. Not all Mac-compatible PCIe cards are also compatible with Windows. See the PCIe Card Thunderbolt Compatibility Chart for details.

Compatability:

Compatible with the following Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 equipped computers:
Learn how to find your Mac's model ID

Mac Pro

(December, 2013)

Model ID: MacPro6,1

2.7GHz 3.0GHz, 3.5GHz, 3.7GHz