Mercury Helios 3S
Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Card Expansion Solution
The easy to use yet powerful expansion solution that adds an external PCIe slot to your Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptop or space-constrained Mac or Windows PC desktop computer.
The easy to use yet powerful expansion solution that adds an external PCIe slot to your Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptop or space-constrained Mac or Windows PC desktop computer.
Using a video, audio, storage, network, or even gaming PCIe card with a Mac Pro or PC desktop is a simple matter of inserting your card into an open slot. But what do you do if you have a laptop or even a space-confined desktop like an iMac or Mac mini that doesn’t contain a PCIe slot?
The Mercury Helios 3S is an easy to use yet powerful expansion solution that adds an external PCIe slot to your Thunderbolt 3 equipped computer. Now you can maximize your existing PCIe card investment — or expand it! — while enjoying the flexibility of adding professional-class video production, transcoding, audio processing, data storage, and high-speed network connectivity to your machine.
Mercury Helios 3S supports a wide variety of half-length, full-height, single or double-width, pro-level PCIe cards from leading brands like AJA, Apogee, ATTO, Avid Pro Tools, Blackmagic Design, CalDigit, HighPoint, Intel, Solid State Logic, Universal Audio, and OWC.
With dual 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 ports, the Mercury Helios 3S offers the bandwidth needed to support data-intensive 4K capture cards to speed up diverse video workflows such as vlogging. Boost your DAW with external DSP acceleration and run larger mixes with multiple plug-ins. Live stream the action in your gaming sessions or share files over a 10GbE or Fibre Channel network without any speed throttling.
Note: If your PCIe card requires a driver, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installation.
Thunderbolt 3 offers more than just speed. Mercury Helios 3S leverages the full power of Thunderbolt 3 to deliver added potential to your Mac or Windows PC. Daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt peripherals for incredible capabilities to work or play. Charge your notebook with 85W while you work. Even add a 4K display via the DisplayPort interface to expand your viewing space.
Like all OWC products, Mercury Helios 3S is built to the highest standards of reliability and performance. Because our goal is always 100% reliability, it's rigorously quality tested, and backed by our 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty and 24/7 Customer Support.
System Requirements
Interface
Device Interface
PCIe Card Support
Performance
Display Host Capabilities
Power
Dimensions
Weight
Product Specification Sheet
Environmental (Operating)
Environmental (Non-Operating)
1. Apple Mac models with Thunderbolt 2/Thunderbolt ports can be connected using an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter (sold separately). This configuration provides data transfer at Thunderbolt 2 speeds (up to 20Gb/s) but does not support notebook charging.