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sunsetsothickly

macrumors member
Original poster
May 21, 2005
37
0
Having skimmed a few of the iMac and Mini forums, it seems that there are a few things that people have tried in their Mini-PCIe slots, but I haven't seen much mention of it in this forum.

With a couple of double wide cards in, space is starting to be at a premium - just wondering what people know about the capabilities of the Mini-PCIe slot in our Pros?
I don't need airport, so if push came to shove and the slot was capable, it'd be nice to make use of it for esata or USB 3.0 as people seem to have done (with mixed levels of success).

I hear that mini-PCIe SSDs are generally pretty slow, but are the esata and USB 3.0 adapters available similarly glacial or is that a limitation of the SSDs themselves? I haven't come across any solid benchmarks.

Just out of interest... For now.
 
^^^Oops, you're right AM :eek: Brain fart... My apologies OP.

Some machines (depending on I/O controller) can use mSATA SSDs in mini PCIe port, but it's not the case with Macs.
 
Good catch... The MP definitely does not use pins 7/8 for SATA. Just a 1x mini PCIE slot.

Mac Mini and iMac, MacbookPro owners have successfully installed 3rd party SATA adapters in their systems. There are mpcie SATA III adapters but I've only seen them with the slower ASMEDIA chipset.
 
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Any thoughts on this one? 2 port USB 3.0

http://www.commell.com.tw/news/News/News_20091231_MPX7202.htm

Has an NEC chipset. I guess with 1x lane, you'd only get the full, theoretical USB 3.0 bandwidth with a single port used. I am not sure what the latest is with ML and that controller - I know it is not a favourite.
 
Any thoughts on this one? 2 port USB 3.0

http://www.commell.com.tw/news/News/News_20091231_MPX7202.htm

Has an NEC chipset. I guess with 1x lane, you'd only get the full, theoretical USB 3.0 bandwidth with a single port used. I am not sure what the latest is with ML and that controller - I know it is not a favourite.

A fresco logic chipset would be best. Total cost would be about $40 with shipping. The USB ports would have to be routed from the CPU area to somewhere usable.

Mini-pci-e extender/riser - $5.00
Mini-pci-e to Express card - $20.00
FL1100 Based express card - $15.00

May have to do some ordering this weekend.
 
A fresco logic chipset would be best. Total cost would be about $40 with shipping. The USB ports would have to be routed from the CPU area to somewhere usable.

Mini-pci-e extender/riser - $5.00
Mini-pci-e to Express card - $20.00
FL1100 Based express card - $15.00

May have to do some ordering this weekend.

Where are you seeing Mini-PCIe to Expresscard for $20?
Thanks
g\
 
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