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Highpoint 7101A - PCIe 3.0 SSD performance for the cMP

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
commonjunks said:
Thank you, being not in US really sucks when come to RMA. I paid 60USD for shipment + Tax, now have to pay again to get it RMA.

One question though, when i shut down my system (totally disconnect power) for 5-10 min then system can recognize the card. For now it is working just fine but i am sure once i restart my system it is going say nothing found. Do you think it could be heat related issue?

I mean this screen, if i restart my system now and system don't show this screen then system will not show raid in bios but if i let it cool down for a while (could be 5 min to 20 min) it may randomly appear in bios and system will boot normally.
Oz0EGhN.jpg



And true enough, did a restart and now Raid Controller is nowhere to be found (boot priority is empty, please forgive about bad picture as i am sitting near window). I have shutdown my system totally to see if it appear in a few minutes
vxH95r8.jpg



Update
After shutting down for 5 min, now system was able to detect raid controller (i am very puzzled and concerned about this problem as i want to use this as my primary system for work).
Click to expand...

Mac Pros support the PLX switch directly and already have NVMe support native in the Mac Pro firmware, so we don't use any HighPoint initialisation code and we don't use the HighPoint RAID software because it's not supported with macOS.

Basically, we all use the HighPoint SSD7101-A and SSD7102 in a unsupported, by High Point, way. They give zero support to us, btw.

No one here had similar startup problems with SSD7101-A/SSD7102, you probably will get better help with a PC forum/High Point forum since this seems a initialisation problem or a hardware problem.
 
commonjunks said:
Not sure if my card is getting too hot, but it works just fine as long as system is running but as soon i restart the computer my bios struggle to find card.

when i boot with UEFI bios using USB key, it can detect card at PCIE but card not responding. Any idea if card is getting too hot or is it bad piece?
Click to expand...

BIOS?? This is forum for cMP, I think.
 
tsialex said:
Mac Pros support the PLX switch directly and already have NVMe support native in the Mac Pro firmware, so we don't use any HighPoint initialisation code and we don't use the HighPoint RAID software because it's not supported with macOS.

Basically, we all use the HighPoint SSD7101-A and SSD7102 in a unsupported, by High Point, way. They give zero support to us, btw.

No one here had similar startup problems with SSD7101-A/SSD7102, you probably will get better help with a PC forum/High Point forum since this seems a initialisation problem or a hardware problem.
Click to expand...
Thank you for quick reply, and i am sorry if i posted at wrong forum. It is bit frustrating that highpoint themselves are so bad in support. I will check if i can find another forum who can assist in this matter.
 
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commonjunks said:
Thank you for quick reply, and i am sorry if i posted at wrong forum. It is bit frustrating that highpoint themselves are so bad in support. I will check if i can find another forum who can assist in this matter.
Click to expand...
On MacRumors just one other user had trouble with SSD7101-A, read this thread HighPoint 7101A - DEAD!, maybe you'll find something.
 
commonjunks said:
Thank you, being not in US really sucks when come to RMA. I paid 60USD for shipment + Tax, now have to pay again to get it RMA.

One question though, when i shut down my system (totally disconnect power) for 5-10 min then system can recognize the card. For now it is working just fine but i am sure once i restart my system it is going say nothing found. Do you think it could be heat related issue?

I mean this screen, if i restart my system now and system don't show this screen then system will not show raid in bios but if i let it cool down for a while (could be 5 min to 20 min) it may randomly appear in bios and system will boot normally.

And true enough, did a restart and now Raid Controller is nowhere to be found (boot priority is empty, please forgive about bad picture as i am sitting near window). I have shutdown my system totally to see if it appear in a few minutes

Update
After shutting down for 5 min, now system was able to detect raid controller (i am very puzzled and concerned about this problem as i want to use this as my primary system for work).
Click to expand...
So the Highpoint card has an option rom with BIOS or UEFI driver? That is interesting. I guess the option rom is for RAID features? There's probably an option in the PC BIOS settings that can disable PCI option roms, but then the card will act like a dumb PCIe switch. Don't PC's have a different built in RAID feature or does that built-in feature not work with third party nvme slots? As a Mac user, I would like to know what happens if I put the card in a PC (or a Hackintosh).
 
joevt said:
So the Highpoint card has an option rom with BIOS or UEFI driver? That is interesting. I guess the option rom is for RAID features? There's probably an option in the PC BIOS settings that can disable PCI option roms, but then the card will act like a dumb PCIe switch. Don't PC's have a different built in RAID feature or does that built-in feature not work with third party nvme slots? As a Mac user, I would like to know what happens if I put the card in a PC (or a Hackintosh).
Click to expand...
Yes you can boot with their given utility, flash the card + create raid. After that enable UEFI booting in your motherboard and it will display highpoint card as single storage which you can use to install mac/windows and boot from this drive.
 
Heads up - my backorder with Digi-Key for the 28 dB(A) fan, part no. BFB0512MA-C, just went through so the fan is back in stock.

Difference in air flow between the 32.5 dB(A), part no BFB0512HA-C, which I bought in December and the 28 dB model is 0.6 CFM and the difference between the stock fan and the 28 dB model is 1.1 CFM.

So to summarize:

Stock fan specs, part no. BFB0512HHA-C - 4 CFM, 37.5 dB(A), 5900RPM
Option 1 - 32.5 dB(A), part no. BFB0512HA-C - 3.5 CFM, 5100RPM
Option 2 - 28 dB(A), part no. BFB0512MA-C - 2.9 CFM, 4300RPM
 
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W1SS said:
Heads up - my backorder with Digi-Key for the 28 dB(A) fan, part no. BFB0512MA-C, just went through so the fan is back in stock.

Difference in air flow between the 32.5 dB(A), part no BFB0512HA-C, which I bought in December and the 28 dB model is 0.6 CFM and the difference between the stock fan and the 28 dB model is 1.1 CFM.

So to summarize:

Stock fan specs, part no. BFB0512HHA-C - 4 CFM, 37.5 dB(A), 5900RPM
Option 1 - 32.5 dB(A), part no. BFB0512HA-C - 3.5 CFM, 5100RPM
Option 2 - 28 dB(A), part no. BFB0512MA-C - 2.9 CFM, 4300RPM
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your progress. I look forward to the updated images once the new fan arrives.
 
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The new fan, BFB0512MA-C, arrived this morning and I just finished installing it. I also replaced the copper heatsink with a new smaller copper heatsink which I used in my initial mod as the larger heatsink was collecting dust around the edges. I hate dust.

Previous results with 32.5 dB(A), part no. BFB0512HA-C - 3.5 CFM, 5100RPM

- PCIe ambient @ 29C and NVMe drive @ 36~38C peaking at 41C under heavy write with the PCIe fan spinning at 800rpm (default SMC control) and room ambient temp at 28C (APC Environment Temp Sensor)

Current results with 28 dB(A), part no. BFB0512MA-C - 2.9 CFM, 4300RPM

- PCIe ambient @ 31C and NVMe drive @ 37~39C peaking at 41~42C under heavy write with the PCIe fan spinning at 980rpm (default SMC control) and room ambient temp at 30C (APC Environment Temp Sensor)

The PLX switch's copper heatsink temperature is 39~41.5C (measured by infrared thermometer)

Photos:

2019-04-09_15-09-26.png

IMAG0420.png IMAG0423.png

The 28dB(A) fan is much quieter than the previous 32.5dB(A) that I actually can't hear it over the mac pro fans' noise.

I am happy with these results and with my once again near silent mac pro. I highly recommend this mod as a good solution to the Highpoint 7101-A's loud stock fan.
 
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W1SS said:
The 28dB(A) fan is much quieter than the previous 32.5dB(A) that I actually can't hear it over the mac pro fans' noise.

I am happy with these results and with my once again near silent mac pro. I highly recommend this mod as a good solution to the Highpoint 7101-A's loud stock fan.
Click to expand...

4.5 dB is a lot in perceived sound intensity (1.5 times less perceived sound).
 
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Thunderbolt 3 - iMac Setup

I have been reading this tread and learned a lot about all the possibilities to set up a NMVe drive on my mac.
Thank you guys!

Right now I have a 1TB Samsung Evo 970 in a DeLock single PCI Express M.2 NGFF adapter.
Also bought a €15,- heatsink for the Samsung Evo 970.
I put this card in a Sonnet Echo Express SEIII ( Thunderbolt 3 )
And I use this setup for node caching within Blackmagic Fusion Studio. Which works great btw.

Since this is working great I had the idea to create a big 8TB NVMe media drive with the Highpoint SSD7101A
and four Intel 660p 2TB NVMe's.

Does anybody know if these Intel 660p 2TB NVMe's are supported in the Highpoint Card?
And if the Highpoint SSD7101A works in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure?
 

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JM de Wit said:
Since this is working great I had the idea to create a big 8TB NVMe media drive with the Highpoint SSD7101A
and four Intel 660p 2TB NVMe's.
Click to expand...

Not first hand personal experience, but I do read a lot about the significant dropping in speed for the Intel 660P drive, for large file sequential access. On cost per G basis, it is very tempting, but I am not sure if this is a good investment to do for it use of QLC. It is tempting to have an SSD @ 2T per stick for under 200USD.

However, as you go with SSD, you probably want some decent performance. I personally have great experience with the HP EX 920 drive on a cMP 5,1.
 
zoltm said:
Not first hand personal experience, but I do read a lot about the significant dropping in speed for the Intel 660P drive, for large file sequential access. On cost per G basis, it is very tempting, but I am not sure if this is a good investment to do for it use of QLC. It is tempting to have an SSD @ 2T per stick for under 200USD.

However, as you go with SSD, you probably want some decent performance. I personally have great experience with the HP EX 920 drive on a cMP 5,1.
Click to expand...

It's more than great for media. In fact, with 8TB and over provisioning and the bigger SLC write cache (24 - 280GB) from the 2TB drive. Random read and write performance is really great.

The only downside is the 0.1 DWPD, which is totally mitigated by 8TB total drive size and only being used as a media drive.
 
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zoltm said:
Not first hand personal experience, but I do read a lot about the significant dropping in speed for the Intel 660P drive, for large file sequential access. On cost per G basis, it is very tempting, but I am not sure if this is a good investment to do for it use of QLC. It is tempting to have an SSD @ 2T per stick for under 200USD.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have seen the benchmarks against the competition, a single card can be really slow.
Link (sorry it is Dutch)

Worst case scenario the Intel 660p has a 300MB/s read 500MB/s write speed.
To put this in a 4 card RAID perspective does this mean 4x the speed so 1200MB/s read an 2000MB/s write??

Because that would be enough in my speed department.
I have seen a lot of Thunderbolt 3 benchmarks and the max on one controller seems to be around 2500MB/s
Link Barefeats
 
JM de Wit said:
Worst case scenario the Intel 660p has a 300MB/s read 500MB/s write speed.
To put this in a 4 card RAID perspective does this mean 4x the speed so 1200MB/s read an 2000MB/s write??

Because that would be enough in my speed department.
Click to expand...
If you're after SSD capacity and 'sufficient' speed and the external chassis is the limiting factor, it sounds like the 7101A and those 660P blades would be perfect. The 7101A doesn't seem too interested in what it's acting as a bridge for; my setup with the 2x Magewell EcoCapture 4K and 2x Samsung PRO SSDs shows that, so they should work fine.

If you put four drives into RAID 0 then yes, you should be in that sort of performance range; probably losing a little bit for overhead, but I can't see it being too much and all well within what the 7101A can handle.
 
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W1SS said:
The new fan, BFB0512MA-C, arrived this morning and I just finished installing it. I also replaced the copper heatsink with a new smaller copper heatsink which I used in my initial mod as the larger heatsink was collecting dust around the edges. I hate dust.

Previous results with 32.5 dB(A), part no. BFB0512HA-C - 3.5 CFM, 5100RPM

- PCIe ambient @ 29C and NVMe drive @ 36~38C peaking at 41C under heavy write with the PCIe fan spinning at 800rpm (default SMC control) and room ambient temp at 28C (APC Environment Temp Sensor)

Current results with 28 dB(A), part no. BFB0512MA-C - 2.9 CFM, 4300RPM

- PCIe ambient @ 31C and NVMe drive @ 37~39C peaking at 41~42C under heavy write with the PCIe fan spinning at 980rpm (default SMC control) and room ambient temp at 30C (APC Environment Temp Sensor)

The PLX switch's copper heatsink temperature is 39~41.5C (measured by infrared thermometer)

Photos:

View attachment 831250

View attachment 831253 View attachment 831252

The 28dB(A) fan is much quieter than the previous 32.5dB(A) that I actually can't hear it over the mac pro fans' noise.

I am happy with these results and with my once again near silent mac pro. I highly recommend this mod as a good solution to the Highpoint 7101-A's loud stock fan.
Click to expand...
That is an awesome mod. I may do the same when I decide on a 7101-A or 7102. May I ask what you used to secure the heatsink to the NVMe and PLX switch? Perhaps thermal paste for the switch and double sided adhesive thermal pad for the NVMe?
 
Mac_User 0101 said:
That is an awesome mod. I may do the same when I decide on a 7101-A or 7102. May I ask what you used to secure the heatsink to the NVMe and PLX switch? Perhaps thermal paste for the switch and double sided adhesive thermal pad for the NVMe?
Click to expand...

Thanks. Both copper heatsinks come with double-sided thermal tape already attached to the heatsinks. You gently peel the plastic sheet off the other side then install the heatsinks.
 
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