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Mac Pro SSD speeds

S

snapdragonx

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 31, 2012
141
1
Hey guys,

I purchased my first Mac Pro today, a second hand 2.26GHz 8-core 4,1. Very happy so far :)

I have a Kingston V300 SSD installed in it, using a "MRA260 2.5" to 3.5" drive caddy. Looks like a cheap no-brand model, but it came free with the Mac so I used it.

I did a couple of disk benchmarks, and it seems to be maxing out at 150MB/s write, 200MB/s read. The SSD should be performing closer to 450/450MB/s judging by reviews online.

Is this a limitation of the Mac Pro, or possibly just a crappy drive caddy?

And while we're here, can anyone recommend a decent USB 3.0 PCI card? :)

Thanks in advance.
 
Should be faster even on SATAII

To get SATA3 speeds You need to get a PCI Card like apricorn velocity solo x2 or simmilar. The Mac pro Only has SATA2 connectors.
 
Thanks guys.

I've also noticed that when installing programs it's significantly slower than my old i5 system. Would this be due to the lower clocked CPU, or to do with the SSD?
 
snapdragonx said:
Thanks guys.

I've also noticed that when installing programs it's significantly slower than my old i5 system. Would this be due to the lower clocked CPU, or to do with the SSD?
Click to expand...

It's either the SSD or the caddy.....I haven't used Kingstons but have 2 Intel SSD's in our 5.1 Hex...using the drivers ( I don't know if the Kingston site might have some OSX stuff..? Worth a look) And they run at way above what your's getting...<300MPS.

I'd look at the Kingston site, and check that caddy...I have a USB3 external that will beat your SSD and that can't be right.:)
 
Macman45 said:
It's either the SSD or the caddy.....I haven't used Kingstons but have 2 Intel SSD's in our 5.1 Hex...using the drivers ( I don't know if the Kingston site might have some OSX stuff..? Worth a look) And they run at way above what your's getting...<300MPS.

I'd look at the Kingston site, and check that caddy...I have a USB3 external that will beat your SSD and that can't be right.:)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I just bought an OWC caddy that allows the SSD to plug directly into the SATA ports on the Mac, so I'll see how that goes.
 
Max for the mac pro is 375 (sata II) so you ain't going above that. I think anything close to 300 is great. I have a hp v300a that can only manage 250 but I didn't spend the money for a 840 pro because I was afraid it would top out at 275.
 
Last edited:
I recall reading in one of Anand's many early articles on SSDs that some drives designed for SATA3 perform poorly on SATA2... they couldn't saturate SATA2 for some reason. Perhaps this is the problem you have?
 
Just to throw out some comparison numbers:

Samsung 512GB 840 Pro SSD (SATA III)

write / read
257 / 270 MB/s on MacPro backplane sled (SATA II)
466 / 506 MB/s on Velocity Solo x2 PCIe card (SATA III)

When booting / running OS X I cannot really tell any difference in speed with the same drive mounted in a drive bay or mounted on a PCIe card other than a slight delay in booting due to drive internal/external precedence.

These times were using BlackMagicDesign DiskSpeedTest with 4GB test size.
Note: some drives, notably with Sandforce controllers, perform poorly with DiskSpeedTest due to the way they compress data.



-howard
 
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Thanks for the tips guys.

On another note (instead of starting a new thread) I've started getting complete Finder lockups (other apps still respond), so bad I have to pull the power plug. And twice I've had complete system lockups.

Argh. Maybe second hand wasn't such a good idea.

Likely hardware issue? It's a clean install of 10.8.5.
 
I wonder if the SSD you got is simply "full" and needs to be reset, then run in a system where trim is applied, or it has a chance to do garbage collection on its own.

You might try putting it in an external powered enclosure or dock, powering it up with no computer attached so it can just sit there idle. Let it sit for a half hour or so, then turn it off for 10 minutes, then repeat this cycle 3 or 4 times. Then replace it in your computer and try using it again.

I have heard that you might be able to accomplish the same thing with it installed in the computer by doing the "option key" boot to enter the boot manager mode, then let it just sit there for 1/2 hour, turn off for awhile, rinse and repeat several times.

Does your "new" Mac Pro work normally booting/running with a standard hard disk?


-howard
 
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hfg said:
I wonder if the SSD you got is simply "full" and needs to be reset, then run in a system where trim is applied, or it has a chance to do garbage collection on its own.

You might try putting it in an external powered enclosure or dock, powering it up with no computer attached so it can just sit there idle. Let it sit for a half hour or so, then turn it off for 10 minutes, then repeat this cycle 3 or 4 times. Then replace it in your computer and try using it again.

I have heard that you might be able to accomplish the same thing with it installed in the computer by doing the "option key" boot to enter the boot manager mode, then let it just sit there for 1/2 hour, turn off for awhile, rinse and repeat several times.

Does your "new" Mac Pro work normally booting/running with a standard hard disk?


-howard
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I've just installed 10.8.5 on a standard hard disk and I'm doing some video editing/rendering to see if I can replicate the issues I had with the SSD installed. So far so good.

As for the SSD, does OS X not have trim built in? The SSD has been used for several Windows and OS X installs, so maybe a low level format would help?
 
snapdragonx said:
Thanks for that. I've just installed 10.8.5 on a standard hard disk and I'm doing some video editing/rendering to see if I can replicate the issues I had with the SSD installed. So far so good.

As for the SSD, does OS X not have trim built in? The SSD has been used for several Windows and OS X installs, so maybe a low level format would help?
Click to expand...

Yes, it does have trim, but Apple only enables it for oem Apple supplied SSD systems. There are a couple of trim enablers (see discussions on these forums) which will enable the built-in trim for your SSD.

http://www.groths.org/trim-enabler-3-0-released/

-howard
 
snapdragonx said:
Hey guys,

I purchased my first Mac Pro today, a second hand 2.26GHz 8-core 4,1. Very happy so far :)

I have a Kingston V300 SSD installed in it, using a "MRA260 2.5" to 3.5" drive caddy. Looks like a cheap no-brand model, but it came free with the Mac so I used it.

I did a couple of disk benchmarks, and it seems to be maxing out at 150MB/s write, 200MB/s read. The SSD should be performing closer to 450/450MB/s judging by reviews online.

Is this a limitation of the Mac Pro, or possibly just a crappy drive caddy?

And while we're here, can anyone recommend a decent USB 3.0 PCI card? :)

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I just installed my new Samsung EVO SSD (500GB) along with a new Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 PCI card in the top slot of my Mac Pro 3,1 last night.

I too am seeing similar speeds using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test tonight.

SSD:
Write Avg: 176
Read Avg: 194

MY OLD Standard Disc HARD DRIVE boot drive in Bay 1:
Write:154
Read: 152

Surely something is not right?
 
choreo said:
I just installed my new Samsung EVO SSD (500GB) along with a new Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 PCI card in the top slot of my Mac Pro 3,1 last night.

I too am seeing similar speeds using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test tonight.

SSD:
Write Avg: 176
Read Avg: 194

MY OLD Standard Disc HARD DRIVE boot drive in Bay 1:
Write:154
Read: 152

Surely something is not right?
Click to expand...

On a 3,1 Mac Pro, you need to put the Solo x2 card in slot 2, next to your video card. This card requires a PCIe 2.0 slot, which on your Mac Pro is only available on the lower 2 card slots, one of which has your video card in it. The upper slots are PCIe 1.0 spec.
 
hfg said:
On a 3,1 Mac Pro, you need to put the Solo x2 card in slot 2, next to your video card. This card requires a PCIe 2.0 slot, which on your Mac Pro is only available on the lower 2 card slots, one of which has your video card in it. The upper slots are PCIe 1.0 spec.
Click to expand...

Well that would explain it, but I have (2) ATI 5770 Video cards in Slots 1 & 2 to drive all my monitors - guess the SSD was a waste of money for me.

I just ordered a new Mac Pro 6-CORE 5,1 (2010) model, but not sure if that will solve my issue?

This is what the PCI specs are for the new one coming next week…
3x open full-length PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots
1x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
2x PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots
All slots provide mechanical support for 16-lane cards
300W combined max for all PCI Express slots

Looks to me like ALL the slots in the 2010 model are v2.0?

Will that solve the problem?
 
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choreo said:
Well that would explain it, but I have (2) ATI 5770 Video cards in Slots 1 & 2 to drive all my monitors - guess the SSD was a waste of money for me.

I just ordered a new Mac Pro 6-CORE 5,1 (2010) model, but not sure if that will solve my issue?

This is what the PCI specs are for the new one coming next week…
3x open full-length PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots
1x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
2x PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots
All slots provide mechanical support for 16-lane cards
300W combined max for all PCI Express slots

Looks to me like ALL the slots in the 2010 model are v2.0?

Will that solve the problem?
Click to expand...

Yes, the 5,1 Mac Pro has all PCIe 2.0 slots.

Have you tried your SSD in one of the drive bay slots on your 2008 3,1 Mac Pro? What speeds were you seeing there.
 
hfg said:
Yes, the 5,1 Mac Pro has all PCIe 2.0 slots.

Have you tried your SSD in one of the drive bay slots on your 2008 3,1 Mac Pro? What speeds were you seeing there.
Click to expand...

No, I have not tried it in any other PCI slots or drive slots (I have two optical drives installed… actually my 2008 has:
PCI Slot 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5770 (drives my main monitor)
PCI Slot 2 - ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (drives my right and left monitors)
PCI Slot 3 - empty
PCI Slot 4 - Apricorn Velocity Solo x2

I will be retiring my 2008 Mac Pro when the new 6-Core comes in next week. Since the new Mac comes with a new ATI 5770 card, I figured I would just pull the other ATI 5770 from my current machine and put it slot 2 and retire the ATI 2600 card.

Sounds like the new 6-core I ordered from B&H should solve all my issues? I assume the one they have left on their site they are selling is the Mid-2012 6-core vs the Mid-2010 6-Core? Not sure how to tell the difference looking at their specs?
 
I may be missing something here.
1. You had a 2008 with the SSD in PCIe slot #4 getting slow speeds because #4 is 1.0 X4
2. PCIe slots #1 & #2 (2.0 X16) had video cards in them and slot #3 is the same as #4 1.0 X4
3. You order a 2010 with 3 PCIe slots all 2.0 Now you can put one 5770 in slot #1 2.0 X16 and the other 5770 in slot #2 2.0 X4
4. Your SSD will now be placed in PCIe slot #3 2.0 X4 to hopefully get the "full" speed of that SSD

What was missing is how the "speed" will be used. When it's all said and done with "that" speed be sufficient? That was a lot to do to get the full speed of an SSD! Were your "issues" the slow speed of the SSD or dealing with things (video editing) on regular HD's?

But then again to go from a 3,1 to a 5,1 you will never look in the rear view mirror! :p
 
OS6-OSX said:
I may be missing something here.
1. You had a 2008 with the SSD in PCIe slot #4 getting slow speeds because #4 is 1.0 X4
2. PCIe slots #1 & #2 (2.0 X16) had video cards in them and slot #3 is the same as #4 1.0 X4
3. You order a 2010 with 3 PCIe slots all 2.0 Now you can put one 5770 in slot #1 2.0 X16 and the other 5770 in slot #2 2.0 X4
4. Your SSD will now be placed in PCIe slot #3 2.0 X4 to hopefully get the "full" speed of that SSD

What was missing is how the "speed" will be used. When it's all said and done with "that" speed be sufficient? That was a lot to do to get the full speed of an SSD! Were your "issues" the slow speed of the SSD or dealing with things (video editing) on regular HD's?

But then again to go from a 3,1 to a 5,1 you will never look in the rear view mirror! :p
Click to expand...

The details you stated are correct. However, I did not order the new Mac Pro 6-Core because of the SSD issue (that is hopefully just a side-benefit). I actually ordered the new Mac Pro before I received the SSD drive. I was wanting to get the most recent "new" model of Mac Pro I could afford of the design they just retired. I don't really want to be a beta-tester of the new MacPros coming in December. I figure the 6-Core 2012 will serve me fine for at least 3-4 years and I can still use the thousands of dollars I have tied up in Peripeherals, internal drive, PCI cards cards, etc. Also the cost of 32-Gigs of ram was less than half what they wanted for the same ram upgrade on my 2008. I also should be able to sell my 2008 for something to help out.
 
I'm in the same row boat. I do not plan to get the nMP for the same reasons.
The main being I have "souped" up my 2008 to do everything I need to do. And when Avid gets off it's duff and writes a new engine like Adobe's Mercury Engine, the need for chasing hardware will end. It is time for the software companies to take full advantage of all the ram and cores in these machines! ;)
 
Whoa totally thread jacked. Ah well thanks everyone else, appreciate the tips.
 
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