The Geekworm X1003 is a well-designed PCIe to NVMe expansion board for the Raspberry Pi 5. It supports 2230 and 2242 SSDs with M.2 M-Key, does not interfere with the airflow when using the active cooler, and fits snugly within the official Pi 5 ABS case although you need to take out the fan layer from the top of the case.
We previously wrote about the low-cost Waveshare PCIe to M.2 adapter, but user Rex Tang highlighted a design flaw with its 2230 screw mount affecting 2242 SSDs that have chips on both sides of the module. Then, user PANiCnz recommended the X1003 with a compact design that doesn’t have the same issue. We also covered other PCIe to NVMe expansion boards such as Pimoroni NVMe Base and PineBerry Pi’s HatDrive, so feel free to check those out if interested.
Geekworm X1003 PCIe to NVMe adapter specifications:
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi 5 active cooler and Raspberry Pi 5 official case
- FFC cable is only 22mm in length.
- Supports installation of official active coolers
- Includes an M.2 disk activity LED. The LED stays on to indicate power is OK or on standby, and flashes during reading/writing activities.
- Supports 2230/2242 NVMe M.2 SSDs only.
- Supports additional GPIO power supply in addition to FPC power supply.
The company offers an installation guide on its wiki page. They ensure that their design follows the Raspberry Pi’s PCIe connector and cable guidelines ensuring long-term support through updates to the Raspberry Pi OS.
Geekworm advises not to use certain NVMe SSDs with a Phison controller because they don’t work well with their product. This includes the WD Blue SN550/SN580 series, WD Green SN350 series, WD Black SN850 series, and any other SSDs with the same controller. These models have known issues with the X10xx series NVMe shield. The company is hoping the Raspberry Pi Foundation will fix this problem soon.
The company points out that this product is only compatible with M.2 NVMe SSDs and doesn’t work with other types of M.2 SSDs. Older NVMe drives may perform poorly compared to newer ones. Also, new NVMe SSDs need to be partitioned and formatted before use with the Raspberry Pi.
The package for the X1003 V1.3 NVMe SSD Shield will contain the shield itself, a 22mm long PCIe FFC cable, an M2x13mm screw to attach the X1003 shield to the official Active cooler, and two M2x4mm screws for securing the NVMe M2 SSD in place.
The device is available for purchase at the company’s official store for $15.99 and on Amazon for $15.
Debashis Das is a technical content writer and embedded engineer with over five years of experience in the industry. With expertise in Embedded C, PCB Design, and SEO optimization, he effectively blends difficult technical topics with clear communication
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