MP 7,1 Installing PCIe ssd question

[lostinforums]

Hi,

im looking to add a 2tb nvme ssd to my 7.1 Mac Pro, I’ve found a drive I like, see link below, but Im not sure what ’caddy’ I should use to connect it to the Mac?
ideally don’t want to spend much at all, I saw a sonnet one but was super expensive and could take 4 SSD’s.
any help or advice would be great, I’ve read some good forum posts on here already.

the drive will be used for keeping my sample libraries on for audio work, the company recommended keeping them on a nvme ssd so It can reference them quicker when using the software.


thanks

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb...nvme-ssd-3d-nand-read-2400mb-s-write-1900mb-s

and would this m.2 to pcie adapter be good with it?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/glotrends-...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[MarkC426]

Refer here:

PCIe SSDs - NVMe & AHCI

This is a general info thread for blade SSDs that can be used in the Mac Pro. This is a WikiPost so anyone with the proper credentials may edit it. NVMe SSDs can be used as a boot drive in the MP5,1 and MP6,1 with the latest firmware installed (beginning with version 140.0.0.0.0 for MP5,1 and...

forums.macrumors.com

All depends how much performance you want.

 

[lostinforums]

Well I think like I say, it’s a drive being used for holding wav files which will be referenced when using the software, so read speed is the most important really. But I don’t think it needs to be ridiculously high end speed.

 

[4wdwrx]

I use this PCIe to M.2 adapter. Cheap and works great. Also, does not need to remove a slot panel, so cannot even see from the outside that it is installed.

SABRENT NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe X16/X8/X4 Card with Aluminum Heat Sink (EC-PCIE)

SABRENT NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe X16/X8/X4 Card with Aluminum Heat Sink (EC-PCIE)

www.amazon.com

 

[lostinforums]

I use this PCIe to M.2 adapter. Cheap and works great. Also, does not need to remove a slot panel, so cannot even see from the outside that it is installed.

SABRENT NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe X16/X8/X4 Card with Aluminum Heat Sink (EC-PCIE)

SABRENT NVMe M.2 SSD to PCIe X16/X8/X4 Card with Aluminum Heat Sink (EC-PCIE)

www.amazon.com

Thanks, appreciate that

 

[flowrider]

Hi,

im looking to add a 2tb nvme ssd to my 7.1 Mac Pro, I’ve found a drive I like, see link below, but Im not sure what ’caddy’ I should use to connect it to the Mac?
ideally don’t want to spend much at all, I saw a sonnet one but was super expensive and could take 4 SSD’s.

Think about what the future might hold. You may want to add more drives in the future. You have a 7,1 NcMP with GREAT expansion capabilities.

I have ten SSDs in mine. The original Apple SSD, three 3½" SSDs in an expansion cage, and six NVME SSDs. I use them all. Some are back-up. My NVME drives are mounted on two cards, a Syba I/O Crest 2 M.2 card, and a Highpoint 7103 card.

Whatever you get, be sure to get something with a good heatsink. NVME SSDs run hot.

For two or four drives look here:

Syba Dual M.2 M-Key NVMe Ports to PCIe 3.0 x16 Bifurcation Riser Controller - Support Non-Bifurcation Motherboard (SI-PEX40129)

The I/O CREST SI-PEX40129 is a great accelerated secondary storage solution for any workstation with true PCIe 3.0 x8 bandwidth (x16 Interface). It has two M.2 NVMe ports to accept two NVMe M.2 SSDs, so each NVMe M.2 SSD has dedicated PCIe 3.0 x4 bus bandwidth. It delivers transfer speeds 20 time...

www.amazon.com

So, IMO, you may want to think about the future and not go cheap or limit yourself for what you may want in the future.

Lou

 

[lostinforums]

Thanks Lou, great help there. May I ask, what is the x16 / x8 etc all about? If I get one that says x8 does that mean it’s half as fast as the x16 at doing the read and writes?

The ssd I’m looking at getting is a crucial 2tb nvme x4

I’m thinking a dual adapter would be good for me, so maybe a x8 adapter would make sense? Then I can put in 2 ssds on it at x4 each.

the price of a duel adapter jumps so high though compared to a single!

would this work for me? https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asu...60-80-110-slots-upto-256gbps-supports-pcie-40

 

[4wdwrx]

Good question, for more than one drive they become more expensive due to the additional circuitry required.

There are nice options for multi M.2, just make sure it has built in PCIe Bifurcation since the Mac Pro does not have built-in PCIe Bifurcation like some PC motherboards.

The x16/x8/x4/x2/x1 are the x amount of PCIe lanes. The more lanes, the faster. M.2 drives are at most x4.

The reason for the bifurcation support is the slots are x16 /x8 in the Mac Pro, it has to split the lanes to support more than one drive. ie. x16 can support 4 x4 drives. A PCIe switch is on those expensive bifurcation adapters, that is why they are so expensive.

There are cheaper ones, but not all have the PCIe switch built-in. The Mac Pro do not support those unfortunately and stuck with the expensive ones.

 

[flowrider]

would this work for me? https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asu...60-80-110-slots-upto-256gbps-supports-pcie-40

Nope, it has no bifurcation, as indicated above, is needed in multiple SSD applications. Your Mac has eight PCIe slots. Two are in use in a bare machine - the X4 slot one with your USB card and a X16 double wide slot one with the GPU. The slots vary lanes (4, 8 or 16. and width (double wide or single wide) For maximum speed you want a X16 card in a X16 slot. A double wide slot would make for better cooling, but other than those two considerations, an SSD card would fit in any slot.



Lou

 

[lostinforums]

Thanks for all help and advice, I think I’m going to go with a 2tb crucial p2 and this single adapter https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08F4SYG2Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A2ZOBOAN3OXYK&psc=1

’really’ fast speed isn’t crucial to me for this one, deffo good advice about future proofing, but the multiple adapters are just too much for me right now, I see their benefit but I don’t need multiple drives rn. Down the line I’ll circle back and change. For the price of that single adapter I think it’s great for now.

One question with the adapter I’ve chosen, it will fit in either 4x 8x or 16x slots, is there any advantage to putting it in a 16 Slot? The blade I’ve chosen is a x4. is it a waste of time putting the adapter in the 8x or 16x?

from what I understand any blade can only utilise 4 lanes anyway?

thanks

 

[4wdwrx]

Thanks for all help and advice, I think I’m going to go with a 2tb crucial p2 and this single adapter https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08F4SYG2Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A2ZOBOAN3OXYK&psc=1

’really’ fast speed isn’t crucial to me for this one, deffo good advice about future proofing, but the multiple adapters are just too much for me right now, I see their benefit but I don’t need multiple drives rn. Down the line I’ll circle back and change. For the price of that single adapter I think it’s great for now.

One question with the adapter I’ve chosen, it will fit in either 4x 8x or 16x slots, is there any advantage to putting it in a 16 Slot? The blade I’ve chosen is a x4. is it a waste of time putting the adapter in the 8x or 16x?

from what I understand any blade can only utilise 4 lanes anyway?

thanks

Yes, that is correct, no benefits in putting a 4x SSD into either a 8x or 16x slot. It is actually a waste, but the Mac Pro only has one 4x slot and is already used by the IO card.