Earlier this week, a notable entry-level Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe HAT was released, supporting the PCIe 3.0 standard instead of PCIe 2.0 while also providing dual M.2 slots. The Seeed Studio PCIe 3.0 to Dual M.2 HAT [h/t CNX] costs just $45 per the official store page. For that price, you get one PCIe 3.0 lane per M.2 slot, with 8 GT/s throughput across both slots.
Besides the obvious use case of M.2 SSDs, Seeed Studio's Pi 5 PCIe 3.0 to Dual M.2 adapter is also intended for use with other devices, including AI accelerators, which also function within the form factor. Seeed Studio also notes that some SSDs may have compatibility issues, and lists some of its own drives as recommended companions. However, as CNX Software notes, your SSD should be fine as long as the ASMedia ASM2806 switch is supported.
