Highpoint 7101A - PCIe 3.0 SSD performance for the cMP

[ldstern10]

I have installed the 7101 in my Mac Pro 7.1. Bought from Amazon and the unit does not have the new firmware. I have installed 4 Samsung 1 Tb Pros. My unit is totally quiet (I have no hearing loss) despite no modifications. Temperature of all drives consistently 33 - 40C. Beyond me why I have no fan noise issue.
I originally bought the 7103 which I returned because the fan noise was intolerable.
One more bit of info for those setting up raid 0 on the 7100. I originally set up software raid 0 using disk utility which resulted in 7000mb/sec writes and 8200 reads. I then setup the raid array using the Highpoint driver that resulted in 10000 writes and 12000 reads.

 

[handheldgames]

i change my fan to this (2 pin) and the horrible high sound is gone

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yes, my v2,00 has a 2-pin fan and i think this is the different to the new v.2.00+

so only the cards with 3-pin fan can regulate the fan

the temperature is up from 106F to 111F in idle mode and goes max 122F in full access
(four 2TB 970evo plus)

Thanks for the tip! I've ordered it for both my my 7101's!

 

[TimmyCrook]

I personally have had good luck with the $98 Inland Premium 1TB SSD (MicroCenter house brand). It's essentially an unbranded OEM blade - no stickers over the chips, blue PCB. I ordered in mid-June 2019 and it came with the newer v12.2 Phison firmware. So far it's working great as a boot drive on a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with 144.0.0.0.0 firmware, running High Sierra 10.13.6.

Bought Highpoint 7101A - PCIe 3.0 SSD and 4 1TB Inland SSD from MicroCenter for $119 a piece. Seeing Read/Write as high as 7800 MBps. It seems the average speed so I’m seeing or somewhere between 4500 to 6000. The people in Microcenter were kind of confused why it said The Inland SSD only supported Windows on the site. I did no driver installs & no updates it works incredibly well. There were some drivers and a web application that came with the High Point, but since everything is working fine I figured I would leave things alone for now.



Unless someone here who is more expert advises me to do so, and that would be easy because I am so novice with all the entire tower capabilities. I have been running and iMac Pro for the last two years, and wanted a more long-term solution.

 

[TimmyCrook]

Would you consider the fan of the HighPoint 7101a to be loud and/or disturbing?

yes. they said Monday they have a new Mac Solution, but I don't know if that is going to fix this loud fan issue. May have to try something else.

 

[rylim]

Received further response from HighPoint:

" Hello Scott,

In order to enable Fan Speed Control feature on SSD7101A-1, we need to reprogram the controller in our facility. Let us know if you can ship the unit to us, we will issue a ship back number and ship to address.

Thanks.

HighPoint Technologies,Inc. "

It would be great if we can update the firmware by ourselves. I'm thinking to buy from Amazon and how would I know if the Amazon is carrying the latest firmware?

Besides that, would they cover for the shipping cost?

I have installed the 7101 in my Mac Pro 7.1. Bought from Amazon and the unit does not have the new firmware. I have installed 4 Samsung 1 Tb Pros. My unit is totally quiet (I have no hearing loss) despite no modifications. Temperature of all drives consistently 33 - 40C. Beyond me why I have no fan noise issue.
I originally bought the 7103 which I returned because the fan noise was intolerable.
One more bit of info for those setting up raid 0 on the 7100. I originally set up software raid 0 using disk utility which resulted in 7000mb/sec writes and 8200 reads. I then setup the raid array using the Highpoint driver that resulted in 10000 writes and 12000 reads.

Which firmware are you having on the card?

 

[ldstern10]

It would be great if we can update the firmware by ourselves. I'm thinking to buy from Amazon and how would I know if the Amazon is carrying the latest firmware?

Besides that, would they cover for the shipping cost?




Which firmware are you having on the card?

I have the 2.0 firmware without the fan speed control option.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Just want to thank @tsialex for all his sage advice. I got my HighPoint 7120 working with the Micron 9300 Pro U.2 SSD. Booting the 7,1 Mac Pro off it. No fan to boot. Details in this thread:

Suggestions for best bootable PCI NVMe card for 2019 nCMP 7,1 Mac Pro

So just as a followup, I got my HighPoint 7120 booting up off a Micron 9300 Pro 15.36TB U.2 SSD drive successfully. Relevant posts in here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-support-for-micron-9300-pro-15-36-tb-nvme-ssd.2179713/post-28134074 and here...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[TimmyCrook]

Ho Ho Ho!

The replacement fan was delivered this morning - BFB0512HA-C @ 32.5 dBA ordered directly from Digi-Key ... BFB0512MA-C @ 28 dBA is on backorder but is expected this week and I am getting that too.

After wiring the 2-pin power plug and replacing the small heatsink I had installed earlier with a 22mmx22mmx4mm pure copper heatsink for better heat dissipation, PCIe ambient and NVMe drive temps have dropped by 8 degrees celcius under heavy write load and at a higher room ambient temp!! Fan sound is acceptable and on par with the system fans in comparison to the card's noisy factory fan =)

Previous results without fan but with small heatsink

PCIe ambient @ 33~34C and NVMe drive @ 38C peaking at 46C under heavy writes with the PCIe fan spinning at 1000rpm and room ambient temp at 25C

Current results with new fan and heatsink

PCIe ambient @ 29C and NVMe drive @ 36~38C peaking at 41C under heavy write with the PCIe fan spinning at 800rpm and room ambient temp at 28C

and finally some photos

View attachment 812582


View attachment 812584 View attachment 812586

Happy Holidays!


Edit: corrected Digi-key link

Update: Shifted the NVMe drive from slot 1 to slot 2 so it's in the path of the airflow which resulted in a drop in drive temperatures to 33~34C under normal use and 38C under heavy writes. I recommend slots 2 and 3 for optimal drive cooling. Updated post to reflect new temperature ranges.

Why this fan? I'm using 4 blades, what heat sinks did you use?

 

[w1z]

Why this fan? I'm using 4 blades, what heat sinks did you use?

Check the link to my last post on this mod in my signature.

Copper heatsinks on both switch and blades + 28dB(A) fan = much quieter than stock fan + cooler blade temps.

 

[TimmyCrook]

...and now I modified it even further: removed the fan and replaced the big cube-like cooler with a flat 100x60x10 cooler:
View attachment 802441

How is this configuration working now for you?

 

[majus]

3-pin fan with a 3-pin fan connector connected to a 3-pin fan header

Anyone know where to buy the male part of the connector? I would rather not remove the old one from the removed fan. Even if I have to buy a quantity of them I'm OK with that.

 

[Lenny_]

How is this configuration working now for you?

More or less a year ago I added a 4th SSD: the complete configuration since is 1x 970Pro (512 GB) for System/Boot and 3x 970Evo(1TB) as raid 0.
... and to be honest I haven't given it much thought since. I didn't need to fiddle around with anything.

I guess that's a good sign: It seems to just work.

 

[TimmyCrook]

More or less a year ago I added a 4th SSD: the complete configuration since is 1x 970Pro (512 GB) for System/Boot and 3x 970Evo(1TB) as raid 0.
... and to be honest I haven't given it much thought since. I didn't need to fiddle around with anything.

I guess that's a good sign: It seems to just work.

Yes, forgive me for my ignorance. I really have been reading all the threads, and my A.D.D. is on fire.
I appreciate everyones patience with this "noob", I have not had a tower for 20 years.
Thanks so much.

Lenny, Once the Heat Sinks are installed the outer plate from High Point are left off.
What are the heat measurements like now?

Going to get a different fan first.
Little less work with the new fan, if it's not quiet, if not.
Going to go your route, that seems easy enough.

Are there supposed to be fan controls in the GUI from High Point?
If so mine are definitely not showing up.

Also. Has anyone just taken the fan out, and left the enclosure on?

 

[majus]

Are there supposed to be fan controls in the GUI from High Point?
If so mine are definitely not showing up.

The board needs a firmware update by HighPoint, then download the latest version of the WebGUI which supports the feature, which is 2.12.3.

::edit:: to correct the software version number.

 

[TimmyCrook]

The board needs a firmware update by HighPoint, then download the latest version of the WebGUI which supports the feature, which is 2.13.3.

The version I’m finding on the website is this one, which does not look like it’s that number. Where do you find the most current GUI? That was under the software downloads on the 7101

[automerge]1578778664[/automerge]

 

[majus]

The version I’m finding on the website is this one, which does not look like it’s that number. Where do you find the most current GUI? That was under the software downloads on the 7101

Sorry, that was a typo in my answer. 2.12.3 is the correct one. I've fixed the typo now.

 

[TimmyCrook]

Sorry, that was a typo in my answer. 2.12.3 is the correct one. I've fixed the typo now.

Not seeing fan control in any field.

 

[majus]

Not seeing fan control in any field.

Correct, and you won't without the firmware update as I understand it. Mine has the same problem but I think it would just be less hassle to change out the fan with one discussed in one of the threads here -- or just get used to the noise which is, as some have described, little more than white noise anyway.

 

[doctoren]

Apparently, a lot of stuff happened in this thread since I read about the fan mod and I just went ahead and ordered https://www.digikey.com/products/en?mpart=BFB0512MA-C&v=603. However, now I found out that I have PCB 2.0 with 3-pin connector and 3-pin fan. Latest drivers and web-gui from Highpoint does not enable the fan settings, so I don't have the updated firmware. Since the firmware upgrade cannot be done manually, I'll just go ahead with the fan mod.
My question is then, is there a right way to connect a 2 wire fan to a 3-pin connector?

 

[joevt]

My question is then, is there a right way to connect a 2 wire fan to a 3-pin connector?

2 wire fan requires just ground and voltage pins.

https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connectors/motherboards/motherboard-cpu-4-pin-fan/

https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connectors/motherboards/motherboard-cpu-3-pin-fan-connector/

Not sure if the motherboard fan headers are the same as the fan headers on the highpoint?

 

[Hydle]

What about the Sonnet 4x4 card, did anybody try it yet? I really want to get an Highpoint 7101A-1 and take the fan out but I'm having a hard time finding it for a nice price.

 

[TimmyCrook]

So the only way to upgrade the fan is to send it in? Weak sauce. I'm just adding that massive heat sink over the CPU and trashing the fan. The Mac Pro has plenty of fans in it already, I have to believe that will keep it cool enough.

 

[bsbeamer]

SSD7102 has been "officially" replaced by the SSD7103. Why couldn't they have done the same with SS7101A-1?

If you're going to purchase, at least attempt to reach sales@highpoint-tech.com for recommendations on where to purchase for the correct firmware version. Even their own store does not clearly ID this. The three other online retailers do not either (Amazon, B&H, Newegg).

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HighPoint's performance focused PCIe 4.0 & 3.0 NVMe RAID AICs, for M.2, U.2/U.3 & E1.S SSD, come with advanced cooling systems to prevent performance throttling.

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[jasonmvp]

I'm just adding that massive heat sink over the CPU and trashing the fan. The Mac Pro has plenty of fans in it already, I have to believe that will keep it cool enough.

Keep a close eye on the temperature of your drives. They're likely to start getting fairly warm if you remove the cover.

 

[TimmyCrook]

Keep a close eye on the temperature of your drives. They're likely to start getting fairly warm if you remove the cover.

Why?

With heat sinks on the 4 NVMe's and on the CPU, what is the difference? I can't put new heat sinks on and put on the enclosure.

Speculation: The enclosure itself does not seem like it's aluminum or copper.