Waveshare PCIe HAT+ Adds NVMe, Dual 2.5GbE, USB 3.2 to Raspberry Pi 5
Waveshare has recently released the PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+, an all-in-one expansion board with PCIe to USB 3.2 Gen1, 2.5G Ethernet, and M.2 NVMe HAT+ support. It uses the Pi 5’s PCIe interface to deliver high-speed I/O and storage in a compact HAT+ form factor.
Waveshare PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT
The board adds an M.2 NVMe slot (2230 to 2280, Gen2 mode, bootable), two USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, and dual 2.5GbE Ethernet ports powered by RTL8156B chips. It features onboard power monitoring, EEPROM, dual status LEDs, and a driver-free, plug-and-play design. Compared to microSD storage, NVMe significantly boosts R/W performance and enables SSD boot. It connects via a 16-pin PCIe FFC and is compatible with the official Raspberry Pi Active Cooler. Ideal for applications requiring fast storage, dual high-speed networking, and USB expansion—such as network appliances, edge computing, or media servers.
Waveshare PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+Installed on Rasperry Pi
Waveshare PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+ Specifications
- Compatibility: Raspberry Pi 5 only
- PCIe Interface: Connects to Raspberry Pi 5 via 16-pin PCIe FPC cable
- NVMe Slot:
- M.2 M-key socket (PCIe Gen2 x1)
- Supports NVMe protocol SSDs only
- Compatible sizes: 2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280
- Supports booting Raspberry Pi 5 from NVMe SSD
- USB Ports:
- 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports
- High-speed data transfer via PCIe
- Ethernet Ports:
- 2x 2.5GbE ports
- Realtek RTL8156B controller
- Misc:
- Driver-free support on Raspberry Pi OS
- Onboard EEPROM
- Power monitoring chip for SSD
- Dual status LEDs
- Sinking Ethernet ports for compact routing
- Compatible with Raspberry Pi Official Active Cooler
- Includes thermal tape for SSD cooling
- Dimensions: 85.00 x 56.5 (HAT+ compliant form factor)
Waveshare PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+ Supported Drives
The company mentions that the module supports driver-free operation on Raspberry Pi OS and is compatible with other Linux distributions. It supports USB 3.2 Gen1 and Realtek RTL8156B-based 2.5GbE Ethernet out of the box using the kernel’s built-in drivers. NVMe SSD support is native in Raspberry Pi OS when using the PCIe interface, including booting from NVMe drives configured with the Raspberry Pi 5 bootloader. No additional firmware or software installation is required, ensuring seamless plug-and-play operation.
Waveshare PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+ Dimensions
Previously, we have written about other HATs, including the Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT, the FourthirdEye V1.0 – Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) Camera Module, and the Seeed Studio PCIe 3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT. You can check those and other HATs if you are interested in the topic.
At the time of writing, the PCIe TO M.2 USB ETH HAT+ is available on AliExpress, where it costs around $43.01. It’s also available on the Waveshare official store for $44.99.
Images used courtesy of Waveshare
