Today we’re looking at ACASIS’ 10-in-1 USB Hub which supports SD cards of multiple sizes, audio, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, and NVMe. In theory, this should be quite the useful device. I’ve mentioned in previous reviews that there are a lot of NVMe-to-USB devices which are of poor quality, and do not pass my testing – some of them have even died during my testing. Unfortunately, the ACASIS device is another unit which FAILED my testing.
Packaging
The device arrives in a small box, which the cardboard from the box and molded foam on the sides for protection. Included in the box are 1x USB-C cord for power, a rubber protective cover for the 10-in-1 hub, a thermal pad for an NVMe drive, the user manual, and a rubber piece used to secure the NVMe drive. You’ll need another USB cord for data.
This is what the unit looks like with the cover installed on it:
The included cover seemed to attract dust, causing it to appear more grey than black at times.
Capabilities
This unit has quite a few capabilities packed into it.
Starting from the left to the right:
On the left hand side of the unit you have Ethernet and HDMI-out ports, as well as the opening for the cover of the NVMe/m.2 port. Taking that cover off reveals the m.2 connector, as well as mounting holes for all common SSD sizes.
The device supports full sized and Micro SD cards, as well as analog audio, and 3x USB Ports – two of which are USB 3.1, one which is limited to 3.0 speeds.
On the right side of the unit, there are two USB-C inputs – the top is for data, the bottom is for power.
Testing
I tested each part of the device to the best of my ability, both independently (i.e. only testing the ethernet connection) and while using another part of the device (i.e. using the Ethernet & copying files to/from a connected SSD).
Excluding NVMe operations, this device works well. I tested the HDMI output with a few monitors, and it even worked with 144hz refresh rates – where many adapters like this are limited to 60hz. The Ethernet worked well, USB ports didn’t have any issues, etc. At first, it seemed like this was a great device. I would go more into detail about the results of testing those features, however when I tested the NVMe capababilities, like other poor quality NVMe-to-USB adapters it overheated and failed.
My stress tests for NVMe-to-USB devices are pretty simple: Run CrystalDiskMark back to back multiple times, and do a few 400gb file transfers. The first few times I tested CrystalDiskMark it ran fine, and initially I thought this unit was going to pass my testing.
Inital results were slightly faster than expected, sustaining 1039.5mb/sec sequential reads.
However, after a few more tests the unit became hot to the touch and stopped working with Windows. When this would happen I would disconnect the device, let it cool down for a minute, and then attempt to re-test. After this happened a few times, the unit degraded in performance to only 40mb/sec when utilizing a NVMe drive and has not worked any better since.
Conclusion
This unit, like other poor quality NVMe-to-USB adapters, failed my testing because it suffered from overheating and it eventually broke itself to the point it would only sustain 40mb/sec.
When I reported the problems to ACASIS, I was given bullshit PR-speak about “incompatibilities” and whatnot despite having tested it with multiple systems including a laptop, a NUC11 Extreme, and a custom-built desktop.
I expect these sort of issues from cheap $10-20 NVMe-to-USB adapters from no name companies – but this is completely unacceptable on relatively expensive devices which cost $120+. I highly advise that you do NOT purchase this device.
