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Highpoint 7101A - PCIe 3.0 SSD performance for the cMP
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Your welcome and great to hear the SSD7101-a is working out for you. It's interesting that NVMe on the 3,1 is lightly CPU bound.
Sorry to hear the wait is so long. The performance upgrade should be worth the wait.
Considering the performance boost, I've ordered a 2nd SSD7101-a for the 5,1 I have at the office. While I've been running a 512GB SSUBX, I'm going to sell it on Ebay and upgrade to NVMe.
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I'm not surprised that it is but feel it's a combination of memory, cpu and system bus. You have to keep in mind the 3,1 utilizes a 1.6GHz frontside bus while the 4,1/5,1 utilizes QuickPath Interconnect with speeds of 5.86GT/s and 6.4GT/s. Couple that with beefier CPUs and faster memory makes the 2009+ Mac Pros run around the 3,1 in circles (2 to 3x faster) which is why you were able to achieve those high 4K queue depth results.
Would be interesting to see @nekton1 results when he finalizes his NVMe upgrade.
Got a big surprise this morning. My 7101A card is in town and I can pick it up today. I'll try to set it up with a 970 EVO this evening and post my impressions.
I'm attaching the results from PCItools with a Sonnet Tempo currently in Slot 1 and a GTX 680 in slot 2 on a MP3,1. I have it this way so the GTX 680 cooling fan air flow is not obstructed by the Sonnet and I plan to pull the Sonnet and replace it with the Highpoint, so would some expert and kind soul here tell me what code I should use to force slot 1 to Gen 2 speed if needed.
I'm attaching the results from PCItools with a Sonnet Tempo currently in Slot 1 and a GTX 680 in slot 2 on a MP3,1. I have it this way so the GTX 680 cooling fan air flow is not obstructed by the Sonnet and I plan to pull the Sonnet and replace it with the Highpoint, so would some expert and kind soul here tell me what code I should use to force slot 1 to Gen 2 speed if needed.
This is slot#2.
02:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device 9182 (rev 13) NOTE-SONNET SSD PICE CARD IN SLOT 1I
The SSd7101a will show up somewhere like this:
06:00.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:08.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:09.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:10.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:11.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:08.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:09.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:10.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
07:11.0 PCI bridge: PLX Technology, Inc. PEX 8747 48-Lane, 5-Port PCI Express Gen 3 (8.0 GT/s) Switch (rev ca)
In tis example, 7 is the address to change with setpci, my syntax here is wrong. In your case it may be 3
[doublepost=1533092697][/doublepost]Got it installed late last night in bottommost slot #1 and put a fresh Mojave b5 on it without problems. Need to make some PCIe slot speed tweaks after installing PCI tools and getting some data out.
Feels snappy so far.
Congrats on the install AND the performance boost.
I had a package arrive from amazon today as well.
It's ironic really. These cards are made in Taiwan about 1500 km from me in Tokyo but to reach me my card traveled Taiwan to CA and then to UT (shipping agent) and then to Tokyo or about 20,000 km and it was still half to 1/3rd the price I would have paid in Tokyo.
I'll put PCItools on the MP 3,1 this weekend and get some PCI setting data back to make the tweaks; I might need a bit of hand holding with that!
I'll put PCItools on the MP 3,1 this weekend and get some PCI setting data back to make the tweaks; I might need a bit of hand holding with that!
What am I doing wrong here? update-pciids is not running it seems.
Last login: Thu Aug 2 06:54:10 on console
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testNVMes-Mac-Pro:sbin testnvme$
Got it to work in the end using sudo ./lspci -q
Here is the resultant text for the HP7101A in Slot#1 (bottommost) in MP3,1.
Can someone (handheldgames) advise me what code I need to get this slot running at x16. At the moment, System Information shows it is at x4 8 GT/s.
Last login: Thu Aug 2 06:54:10 on console
Deleted
testNVMes-Mac-Pro:sbin testnvme$
Got it to work in the end using sudo ./lspci -q
Here is the resultant text for the HP7101A in Slot#1 (bottommost) in MP3,1.
Can someone (handheldgames) advise me what code I need to get this slot running at x16. At the moment, System Information shows it is at x4 8 GT/s.
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X4 8gts is correct speed for the 970 pro. 8.0 gts identifies it as a PCIe 3.0 device. With that configuration it will run at full speed without using pci tools - 3250 MB/sec
Using PCI tools, you can change PCIe address 3.0 to x16 5.0Gt/s. But you will need 2 or more SSDs to get a faster speed.
Using PCI tools, you can change PCIe address 3.0 to x16 5.0Gt/s. But you will need 2 or more SSDs to get a faster speed.
Thanks handheld games.
I'll have to start start saving for a second 970.
I'll have to start start saving for a second 970.
@nekton1 Congrats on the new purchase and upgrade!
For optimal cooling of a single NVMe drive in the 7101A, install the drive in Slot 3 on the HighPoint card as that slot has the best airflow with a 5C temp drop when compared to other slots. The 2 farthest slots from the center, slots 1 and 4, have less direct airflow than slots 2 and 3 with slot 3 having the most.
My 970 Pro 1TB drive is reporting a temp of 32C peaking at 35/36C under heavy load (writing) - Ambient 25C.
Edit: Posted without having my morning coffee - big no no!
For optimal cooling of a single NVMe drive in the 7101A, install the drive in Slot 3 on the HighPoint card as that slot has the best airflow with a 5C temp drop when compared to other slots. The 2 farthest slots from the center, slots 1 and 4, have less direct airflow than slots 2 and 3 with slot 3 having the most.
My 970 Pro 1TB drive is reporting a temp of 32C peaking at 35/36C under heavy load (writing) - Ambient 25C.
Edit: Posted without having my morning coffee - big no no!
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I read a review on Amazon stating that this is a software-only RAID card, and if one needs to boot with hardware RAID HP has one with 3 carrier slots instead of 4, and it’s a better choice for RAID configurations.
What if anything can you guys tell me about this? Also, is APFS RAID-0 booting possible at this point using the 7101A?
What if anything can you guys tell me about this? Also, is APFS RAID-0 booting possible at this point using the 7101A?
Which HP adapter are you referring to? They have several available around $611 on Newegg. It's much more than the limited deal on amazon @ $275.
RAID 0 is better suited for media rendering partition, due to a drop in 4k performance. The 970 pro also has better performance with Apple's NVMe driver than the current drivers from Highpoint .
Great observation. I've been running the 970 pro in SSD7101-a slot 1, I'll have to give it a try.
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http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ssd7110-overview.htm
This one is the card referenced in the review.
That's a Highpoint card. Can you share a link to the HP card with the 3 slots and hardware raid option?
No worries. I don't believe any of Highpoint's NVMe cards offer hardware raid. If they did, they would lack TRIM support.
Personally, I prefer using software raid (card or OS) with consumers SSDs coupled with an APC for power backup.
The supply of low-cost SSD7101-a's on Amazon is down to the last 4 @275
They have also sold through 3 used versions for $270 each in the last 4 days.
Once the last 4 cards sell out, the low prices are likely gone forever and the price jumps to $398. Unless Amazon gets more returns.
They have also sold through 3 used versions for $270 each in the last 4 days.
Once the last 4 cards sell out, the low prices are likely gone forever and the price jumps to $398. Unless Amazon gets more returns.
Actually, only 3 left since I ordered mine a few moments ago.
I didn’t order any NVME yet as I’m unclear on best choice for me.
I need to know clear real-world advantages between 970 Pro / 970 EVO. I think I’d be fine with a 250 GB boot drive, but I’ve never had one that small in an SSD.
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Congrats on the purchase! I am not sure what your workload is but I recommend you go with the 512GB 970 Pro if you care about sustained writes otherwise the 1TB 970 Evo is the next best option within the same price range. Both proposed options come with a 600TBW/5 year warranty at a minimum.
The 2 key differences between the 970 Pro and the 970 Evo drives is the NAND type, 2-bit MLC vs 3-bit TLC and the TurboWrite cache employed in the latter which allows it to perform on par with the 960 Pro but for short periods ie. once the cache is exhausted, performance becomes erratic.
Link to a comparison review and benchmarks - https://hothardware.com/reviews/samsung-ssd-970-evo-and-pro-review?page=1
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[doublepost=1533377884][/doublepost]Which is slot 3? The third slot counting away from (up?) the PCIe edge connector I guess.
[doublepost=1533378071][/doublepost]Has anybody tried pairing two 970 Pros in a software RAID0 on this card using Apple's DU (may need to do via Terminal) to boot a MacPro NVMe with the boot-rom patch?