Highpoint 7101A - PCIe 3.0 SSD performance for the cMP

[handheldgames]

Hi everyone -

I have a 7101A in a new 2019 Rackmount Mac Pro. Unfortunately one of the NVMes I bought has died (rather have that happen now then when there wasn't a load of stuff on it)

I can see in the HP Web GUI its slot 3 that's dead but is the slot order 1-4 from the top of the card (furthest away from the PCIe connector) or is it 1-4 from the bottom closest to the PCIe connector?

Unrelated I'm generally happy with speeds (approx 7600/7000) but I'm wondering if the speeds I'm seeing to many of those saying they're getting 10k + is NVMe dependent? I have the card in slot 5 (x16), using HP drivers and web gui), RAID 0 512 chunk size, APFS non-encrypted as presented to Mac OS but I'm still topping out around 7600 MB/S as see in BMD speed test.

I'm using 4x2TB Sabrent Rocket NVMes (The PCIe3 ones not the newer PCIe4s)


Thanks

Robbie

AFPS is slower than HFS. Although, you are running about 5000 MB/Sec below what the Highpoint can deliver with 4 SSD's in a raid.

From what I remember from Posts/Screenshots of the 7101a running on a Hackintosh a year or two ago.. On page 5 of this thread, starting at this post.

To recap -

• A fully loaded 7101A in a PCIe 3.0 slot delivers ~ 12000 MB/Sec.
• Two 7101A's comes in around 24,000 MB/Sec

 

[effgee]

... nm.

 

[Kedbear]

SSD7101A-1 is a 4-blade PCIe switched card with hardware management. You can classify it as a hardware RAID controller or not depending the way you look at it.

Anyway, it's the cheapest 4-blade PLX switched card that works perfectly with MP5,1 or MP7,1. You have Chinese equivalents for maybe $20 less, but with the serious inconvenient of needing MOLEX power, having cheap PCIe switches and no hardware management.

Don't forget that non-switched cards don't work at all with MP5,1 or MP7,1, since bifurcation is not supported with Macs.

It doesn't work perfectly in 7,1, It kernel panics then crashes some 7,1's (mine included) when going to sleep. This is a fact and highpoint are working on it.

 

[joevt]

It doesn't work perfectly in 7,1, It kernel panics then crashes some 7,1's (mine included) when going to sleep. This is a fact and highpoint are working on it.

Is that with or without the Highpoint kext driver installed?

 

[Kedbear]

Is that with or without the Highpoint kext driver installed?

I’n currently using high point driver and web gui.

 

[Theophilos]

If anyone know of a fix for the Highpoint 7101A’s issues with sleep on the Mac Pro 7,1, please let me know. Although I processed the return from Amazon, I have yet to actually send the item back. It would be great if it could just work normally as my alternative — a Sonnet 4x4 — is backordered everywhere.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^I have a 7103 in my 7,1 along with a Syba I/O Crest. I don't use sleep, no issues for me. I do use screen saver however.

Lou

 

[Theophilos]

^^^^I have a 7103 in my 7,1 along with a Syba I/O Crest. I don't use sleep, no issues for me. I do use screen saver however.

Lou

That's really great. I wish it was that easy for me, but sadly, I need Sleep enabled to save on energy here in California!

 

[Theophilos]

Hello,

Before I sent the High Point 7101A back to Amazon, I figured I'd give it one more chance and properly try to troubleshoot the issues I and a few others had with sleep when the High Point is connected. Long story short, the waking up from sleep issues are well documented in macOS Catalina. For whatever reason, installing the 7101A card triggers these issues for some of us. I still don't know why, but I'm fairly certain that is the case. The solution that worked for me was disabling all of the checkboxes under System Preferences > Energy Saver and especially Power Nap. There are many threads about waking from sleep issues when Power Nap is enabled, even with 10.15.3.

In light of this, I am going to try keeping the 7101A, which I loaded with 2 x 2 TB Evo Plus and 2 x 1 TB Evo Plus drives. Since I'm mixing capacities, I'm not getting blazing fast speeds as shown below. These speeds are for the 2 x 2 TB drives arranged in RAID 0. The other two SSDs are used as single 1 TB drives.

I'm also including a comparison of temperatures between the 4 SSDs that are in my Sonnet 4x4 card and the 4 SSDs that are in my High Point 7101A. The interesting thing here is that I removed the High Point fan completely and installed it only with the included heat sink array. The Sonnet 4x4 does a better job with the heatsink and the fan, but the High Point without the fan is not bad; it is generally well below that 185 F critical threshold. I even tried without the High Point heatsink, but unfortunately, the temperatures were dangerously close to 185 F.

 

[Kedbear]

Hello,

Before I sent the High Point 7101A back to Amazon, I figured I'd give it one more chance and properly try to troubleshoot the issues I and a few others had with sleep when the High Point is connected. Long story short, the waking up from sleep issues are well documented in macOS Catalina. For whatever reason, installing the 7101A card triggers these issues for some of us. I still don't know why, but I'm fairly certain that is the case. The solution that worked for me was disabling all of the checkboxes under System Preferences > Energy Saver and especially Power Nap. There are many threads about waking from sleep issues when Power Nap is enabled, even with 10.15.3.

In light of this, I am going to try keeping the 7101A, which I loaded with 2 x 2 TB Evo Plus and 2 x 1 TB Evo Plus drives. Since I'm mixing capacities, I'm not getting blazing fast speeds as shown below. These speeds are for the 2 x 2 TB drives arranged in RAID 0. The other two SSDs are used as single 1 TB drives.

I'm also including a comparison of temperatures between the 4 SSDs that are in my Sonnet 4x4 card and the 4 SSDs that are in my High Point 7101A. The interesting thing here is that I removed the High Point fan completely and installed it only with the included heat sink array. The Sonnet 4x4 does a better job with the heatsink and the fan, but the High Point without the fan is not bad; it is generally well below that 185 F critical threshold. I even tried without the High Point heatsink, but unfortunately, the temperatures were dangerously close to 185 F.


View attachment 895545 View attachment 895546

So are you able to manually sleep the computer now? Because I still had issues with manual sleep. Thanks

 

[Theophilos]

So are you able to manually sleep the computer now? Because I still had issues with manual sleep. Thanks

So far, sleep works (even manual), but the computer still shuts off when it is in deep sleep after some time. I’m determined to troubleshoot and find a solution.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Hey - Changing the subject - Thanks to your post above, I noticed your iStat temp window also showed the CPU frequency. Mine didn't. So I researched it within the app and found I need to install the Intel Power Gadget app. Without your post I never would have known

Lou

 

[jafonso]

If you gonna use RAID, HPT driver and RAID works better than AppleRAID. If not, no need to use it at all.

tsialex - coming back to this issue of using, or not, the HighPoint NVME Manager software. I need to use the Manager to be able to modify the fan speed, and I'm using 4 SSDs here. Wanted to have 1 SSD for OS and 3 in RAID0. However, when I use the Highpoint manager, I see all 4 SSDs but I only see them in Mac Disk Utility after configuring (some of) them... but I cannot configure a single SSD, so how can I mount/use the single SSD...?

Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

tsialex - coming back to this issue of using, or not, the HighPoint NVME Manager software. I need to use the Manager to be able to modify the fan speed, and I'm using 4 SSDs here. Wanted to have 1 SSD for OS and 3 in RAID0. However, when I use the Highpoint manager, I see all 4 SSDs but I only see them in Mac Disk Utility after configuring (some of) them... but I cannot configure a single SSD, so how can I mount/use the single SSD...?

Thanks!

I'm not using the HighPoint driver at the moment, my SSD7101A-1 is the old PCB version 1.01 and my array is configured as a four blade stripped AppleRAID.

Last time I used the HighPoint drivers was before the revamped one and back then I could create a three-blade array and let one out. Maybe someone using the HighPoint current drivers can point you in the right direction.

 

[jafonso]

I'm not using the HighPoint driver at the moment, my SSD7101A-1 is the old PCB version 1.01 and my array is configured as a four blade stripped AppleRAID.

Last time I used the HighPoint drivers was before the revamped one and back then I could create a three-blade array and let one out. Maybe someone using the HighPoint current drivers can point you in the right direction.

In the meantime I managed to understand that the disk had just been unmounted somehow (diskutil didn't identify them). Re-booting did the trick. But now I realise all disks (single or RAID) managed by the Highpoint drivers are seen as external by the OS (and I need them as internal if I want my sugarsync cloud account backing them up)... removed Highpoint drivers and all 4 SSDs are indeed internal (I'm using Innie btw...). Need to understand better what is happening...

In the meantime I better request the low-noise fan...

Jose

 

[flowrider]

But now I realise all disks (single or RAID) managed by the Highpoint drivers are seen as external by the OS (and I need them as internal if I want my sugarsync cloud account backing them up)

Jose

This is normal:

Additional SSDs in Sonnet sled are all classed as external - is this normal?

This is really nothing new. The same classification was observed on the cMP 5,1 on SSDs mounted in the PCI slots. However, the drives (weather HDD or SSD) installed in the SATA drive sleds on the 5,1 were classified as internal. In fact, there is a hack for the 5,1 that will reclassify the...

forums.macrumors.com

Lou

 

[eksu]

As someone who eventually wants to max out my cMP, but doesn't necessarily need the Highpoint right now...

Is it worthwhile waiting for a PCIe 4.0 switch chip to be developed and integrated into a NVMe device? Is it likely that such a switch would be supported by boot on MacOS, are these things seamless or is it unlikely that it would work?

 

[tsialex]

As someone who eventually wants to max out my cMP, but doesn't necessarily need the Highpoint right now...

Is it worthwhile waiting for a PCIe 4.0 switch chip to be developed and integrated into a NVMe device? Is it likely that such a switch would be supported by boot on MacOS, are these things seamless or is it unlikely that it would work?

PCIe 4.0 switches already exist, Broadcom have a full line, the problem is the exorbitant price. A PEX88032 (PCIe 4.0 with 34 lanes) solution costs around $8k. PCIe 4.0 switches will take several years to go down in price.

PCIe switches need macOS kernel support, the PCIe 3.0 switches are seamless because the kernel have full support for the most common models.

 

[eksu]

Hopefully they get cheaper eventually. Looks like 7101A it is for me for now.

 

[joevt]

PCIe switches need macOS kernel support, the PCIe 3.0 switches are seamless because the kernel have full support for the most common models.

PCIe switches that follow the PCIe spec should not need kernel support. Whatever kernel support that exists for specific switches is probably because of non-conformant quirks.

 

[eksu]

I was wondering how they would boot of kernel support was required.... cool. Good to know!

 

[tsialex]

I was wondering how they would boot of kernel support was required.... cool. Good to know!

While a perfect PCIe bridge/switch will work fine without any kernel support, in the real world all PCIe switches/bridges have quirks. If you read the source of IOPCIFamily-370.0.2 you will see that Apple have to workaround several problems, see the part of the code that makes sleep work for example.

 

[TimmyCrook]

[automerge]1584992776[/automerge]
My MacPro has a 7101a, and works great. Problem.
I have a VRS8 from Slate, and no audio comes into the inputs.
Yet, when I enable full security it works in Logic Pro X.... but now I can't use the Highpoint

 

[worldburger]

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.

This is brilliant. What are/where did you get the connectors for the bare wires on the fans?
Fan connectors are JST-PH 2.0mm (Digikey link for JST-PH connector kit).

Any reason not to consider the marginally slower but quieter BFB0512LA-CF (22.5dB-A 2.18 CFM 3500RPM)?

BTW: for those looking to buy fans from Digikey, the F stands for speed (3-wire). Also, check to make sure you order the proper 2- or 3-wire variant depending on your PCB.

 

[doctoren]

This is brilliant. What are/where did you get the connectors for the bare wires on the fans?
Fan connectors are JST-PH 2.0mm (Digikey link for JST-PH connector kit).

Any reason not to consider the marginally slower but quieter BFB0512LA-CF (22.5dB-A 2.18 CFM 3500RPM)?

BTW: for those looking to buy fans from Digikey, the F stands for speed (3-wire). Also, check to make sure you order the proper 2- or 3-wire variant depending on your PCB.

I got the BFB0512MA-C and to my ears the noise levels are perfectly fine. The worst fan in my cMP is by far the PCI fan when it decides to kick in.

I have to admit I did a real poor job at attaching the connector. I've was quite surprised that it actually worked.
I have a single 1TB 970 and have only replaced the fan. I still use the shroud and according to the Highpoint software temperature never seems to go higher than the low 30s C. So I would imagine that the quieter fan would work out as well.