Apricorn VS OWC for bootable home OS on PCIe

[HeadshotSK]

http://www.apricorn.com/products/desktop-ssd-hdd-upgrade-kits/vel-solox2.html

VS

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe/OWC/Mercury_Accelsior/Buy_Now

Hey there, trying to figure if there's a serious difference or disadvantage to taking the Apricorn fitted with SSD 2.5 as opposed to the OWC.


I figure I could save about $150 doing the Apricorn route on my MP 4,1

I'd like to keep Bay-1 open for another 4tb

OWC says 'only bootable PCIe card based drive', I assume to house the regular OSX on it.
Does that mean that any 2,5 SSD fitted onto the Apricorn would NOT be bootable as the main OS disc??

THX!!

 

[HooRide]

I'm using the Apricorn x2 on my Mac Pro 3,1 for the boot volume (512GB Cricual M4).

Speeds are 265MB/sec write and a hair over 500MB/sec read.

The advantage of the OWC is that it doesn't have SATA III as a bottleneck and should perform faster.

 

[flowrider]

I'm also using the Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 with an 840 500GB Samsung SSD. It is my boot drive on my 5,1. The BlackMagic test speeds are attached.

Lou

 

[analog guy]

I'm using the Apricorn x2 on my Mac Pro 3,1 for the boot volume (512GB Cricual M4).

Speeds are 265MB/sec write and a hair over 500MB/sec read.

The advantage of the OWC is that it doesn't have SATA III as a bottleneck and should perform faster.

i'm currently sitting on the following as i decide what to do with my MP3,1:
* OWC Accelsior 960GB
* Apricorn Velocity Solo x2
* Sonnet Tempo SSD
* Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD
* Highpoint Rocket 640L
* Highpoint RocketRAID2720SGL

I was stoked on the Accelsior upon ordering but have since cooled a little bit. Optimal speeds are 820MB/s, but the specs say it will only achieve ~670 on a Mac Pro.

This got me to thinking that a Sonnet Tempo with a 2-drive RAID0 would be only a touch more expensive (e.g., $1200 for the Accelsior vs $1090 for 2x1TB Samsung 840 Evos + $260 for the Sonnet Tempo Pro or $120 for the Tempo), and it should give similar performance with a few bonus points:
* drives are upgradable
* one can run a RAID0 or choose to simply double storage.

Sonnet claims 500 & 420 reads/writes for a single drive with both Tempo and Tempo pro, and 960/810 (Tempo Pro) or 660/540 (Tempo) for a RAID0 setup.

The Velocity claims 550 for 1 drive and 800 for 2.

If you add either card to the MP3,1 (generally one spare x16 2.0 slot), you're then stuck with x4 1.1 slots for future expansion.

On the other hand, the Highpoint 2720 allows one to add 4 drives. I think this will bring them all up to SATA3 speeds, if that is important.

I could crack open all the boxes and test things. I'm curious as to how much of a real-world hit the cards would take in the x4 vs x16 slot.

Just some things to think about.

 

[Mattww]

The Apricorn Velocity X2 seem to have good feedback but can anyone with a Mac Pro 4.1 confirm it doesn't have any impact of being able to sleep and wake the machine?

 

[HeadshotSK]

UPDATE:

So I received my Accelsior 240 and a couple 8gig ram cards, not using the spare '2's in the remaining slots so as not to to slow anything down.

On the same day I added the RAM, PCIe 240 SSD and installed Mavericks on that drive.
What can I say!I have a rocket ship!

No issues whatsoever. Except the Inactive RAM shows up 11gig sometimes, wired and everything else filling the rest, even after closing every app it showed 50mb free and 12 VM.
So I just rebooted and back to normal. Which, including the time to enter my 7 digit login clocks in at 35 seconds from tone 'till desktop.


I'm keeping ONLY the following on the SSD:

OSX/prefs/normal library stuff
900 of my fonts all activated
Apps
LR Catalog
LR Cache
iTunes Library file

That is IT.
All other hogs are on the remaining internal drives in the bays on 3.5" spinners.
Weddings, Portrait sessions and all RAW files, iTunes library, iPhoto library, everything else
is spread out on the HDD's.

It really is about as perfect a Mac experience and setup as I've ever had in my life!
By common sense mathematics, the Accelsior on paper should beat the Apricorn setup without question. The OWC's PCIe has its own processor and management system built right into the card itself, and not being SATA anything, as even a TB or eSATA would still have a bottleneck, manages to utilize the fastest speed possible when called upon.

Oh and after all that i still have over 100gig to spare! Want to keep it that way too