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NVMe with ST-NGFF2013-C; Vega Internal GPU; Mac Pro 2013 (6,1)

juan99999 said:
Thanks, I'll do that. I thought I should have been on .126 just by upgrading.

I'm assuming .127 still doesn't support bootcamp?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, no changes with BootCamp support yet. BTW, BootROM has nothing to do with BootCamp Assistant.

Edit: forgot to include Assistant.
 
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Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone here for getting me up and running. I would have failed if it wasn’t for this thread and everyone’s help.

Today I received my SSD drive and adapter, and I’m happy to say in less than an hour I was up and running at full blazing speed!

I am writing this quick guide for those that don’t want to go through the 31+ pages of this post and want a super simple guide.

For those of you hesitating about doing this, it’s super easy. DO NOT buy the “preinstalled used SSDs” from eBay.

Here is my super concise guide to perform the install:

WHAT YOU NEED:
PREPERATION:
  • Even if you want to install High Sierra, Upgrade your apple SSD to Mojave to install latest boot rom firmware (ideally public beta to get latest drivers) and CHECK your Boot rom in system information to make sure it’s at least 126. EVEN though I had upgraded to Mojave, for some reason mine was stuck at a previous version. Mine is 127.0.0.0.0 (upgraded with Beta 2)
  • Prepare an install USB for your OS. I used this guide https://www.macworld.com/article/32...-a-bootable-macos-mojave-installer-drive.html
INSTALL:
  • Install SSD into adapter, and replace drive in computer
  • Insert bootable USB drive, and press Option while booting
  • Use disk utility to format SSD
  • Install OS to SSD
  • Enjoy!!!!
WARNINGS:
DO NOT install bootcamp or any other partition. I for one hope the NVMe driver to support this is upgraded soon

Issues I read here but did not run into:
My screw worked perfectly on the new adapter
I do not experience a long boot time (in fact it feels faster, but then again it’s a new install!

If I missed something please LMK!
 
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I have been unable to get Bootcamp to work on either internal or external (USB) drives with High sierra and APFS on the NVMe (960EVO-1TB).

Still using VirtualBox 5.2 with everything I need thus far, but, I'd like to be able to boot into Win10 to play Fallout (which CANNOT be run in a VM)
 
Still the same BootROM version with 10.14.1DP4:

Code: 
$IBIOSI$ MP61.88Z.0125.B00.1809171517Copyright (c) 2005-2018 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
Apple ROM Version
  Model:        MP61
  EFI Version:  127.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     root@saumon
  Date:         Mon Sep 17 15:11:58 PDT 2018
  Revision:     127 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_D00
  Build Type:   Official Build, Release
  Compiler:     Apple clang version 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.10.1) (based on LLVM 3.0svn)
 
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Quick follow up, I did manage to get BootCamp working with my 6,1 even with the main SSD (NVME, 960EVO) working, but, only with an external SSD/USB drive.

I used VirtualBox instead of VMware. I already had a working Win10 guest and downloaded the ISO from Microsoft inside of it along with WinToUSB_free and the bootcamp software support files.

NOTE: If you are using NTFS-3G, turn it off for now until this is all working
- Format the external drive as GPT/JHFS+
- Start Vbox as "root"
- Add your USB drive to the guest (do NOT add it as a "raw" disk)
- Start your Win10 guest
- Delete JUST the JHFS+ partition, recreate an NTFS partition (simple)
- Mount the Win10 ISO to the guest
- Install Win10 using WinToUSB (select the EFI partition correctly, select the NTFS partition correctly)
- Copy the support files to the USB drive
- Shutdown the guest and reboot your Mac with option key

Then complete the setup, it will reboot, and you need to hold down the option key again.
Then install the support files manually by navigating to the setup folder

Afterwards, the bootcamp volume will show up in "Startup Disks"

USB3 performance with an SSD for Win10 appears to work just fine. I've not tried Thunderbolt... I've heard mixed results (mostly negative)

I will upgrade to Mojave later this fall, most likely a task for Christmas break. I plan to test with my original Apple SSD first.
[doublepost=1540048019][/doublepost]
tsialex said:
No new MP61 BootROM with Mojave 10.14.1 DP3. BootROM version 127.0.0.0.0 is the most recent one yet.
Click to expand...

Does 127 support re-installing High Sierra if Mojave is not compatible with some of my apps?
 
SillySammy said:
Quick follow up, I did manage to get BootCamp working with my 6,1 even with the main SSD (NVME, 960EVO) working, but, only with an external SSD/USB drive.

I used VirtualBox instead of VMware. I already had a working Win10 guest and downloaded the ISO from Microsoft inside of it along with WinToUSB_free and the bootcamp software support files.

NOTE: If you are using NTFS-3G, turn it off for now until this is all working
- Format the external drive as GPT/JHFS+
- Start Vbox as "root"
- Add your USB drive to the guest (do NOT add it as a "raw" disk)
- Start your Win10 guest
- Delete JUST the JHFS+ partition, recreate an NTFS partition (simple)
- Mount the Win10 ISO to the guest
- Install Win10 using WinToUSB (select the EFI partition correctly, select the NTFS partition correctly)
- Copy the support files to the USB drive
- Shutdown the guest and reboot your Mac with option key

Then complete the setup, it will reboot, and you need to hold down the option key again.
Then install the support files manually by navigating to the setup folder

Afterwards, the bootcamp volume will show up in "Startup Disks"

USB3 performance with an SSD for Win10 appears to work just fine. I've not tried Thunderbolt... I've heard mixed results (mostly negative)

I will upgrade to Mojave later this fall, most likely a task for Christmas break. I plan to test with my original Apple SSD first.
[doublepost=1540048019][/doublepost]

Does 127 support re-installing High Sierra if Mojave is not compatible with some of my apps?
Click to expand...
Yes, no problem. People are using 127.0.0.0.0 with High Sierra.
 
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Selsk said:
Can anyone please give me a quick recap on nvme ssd speeds? Im took lazy to look through the 30+ pages.

Specifically, is it worth getting the Samsung Evo Pro over the regular Evo in my 2013 nMp.

Can the mac pro even utilize the top end speeds of the Evo Pro?

Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

For the 1TB 960 EVO ... consistently
1200+ MB/sec writes
1400+ MB/sec reads

Nearly double what AHCI or SATA based SSDs can provide

But, I don't think the bus will get more than 1600MB/sec from the PRO models. (at least from what I am reading, thus far)
 
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RxJemm said:
I would also like to echo cgscotto's thanks to everyone in this forum that constributed to the research for this upgrade.

I used this ST-NGFF2013-C adapter :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CWWAENG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Interestingly, the area of my adapter that goes near to the MacPro's ssd socket no longer has exposed contacts, so I did not use the Kapton tape. I reused the stock screw.

- It's been 4 weeks and not one issue! :):apple:

View attachment 791044
Click to expand...
RxJemm, thanks for this post. I have been reading through all the different posts trying to figure out the best adapter to use in my trashcan. I bought the one you suggested, paired it with an 2TB EVO 970, and everything is rock solid. Thanks again.
 
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SillySammy said:
For the 1TB 960 EVO ... consistently
1200+ MB/sec writes
1400+ MB/sec reads

Nearly double what AHCI or SATA based SSDs can provide

But, I don't think the bus will get more than 1600MB/sec from the PRO models. (at least from what I am reading, thus far)
Click to expand...

These are sequential writes and reads benchmarks but depending on your use case there may not be much difference in overall performance. The 4k random read speed should be on par to good SSDs (even SATA). You may want to read this thread which goes into some benchmarks. Also if you're not in a hurry, there is a new line of drives coming out soon...

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...k-system-performance-and-bottlenecks.2147404/
 
juan99999 said:
These are sequential writes and reads benchmarks but depending on your use case there may not be much difference in overall performance. The 4k random read speed should be on par to good SSDs (even SATA). You may want to read this thread which goes into some benchmarks. Also if you're not in a hurry, there is a new line of drives coming out soon...

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...k-system-performance-and-bottlenecks.2147404/
Click to expand...

My only concern with some of the newer units is if they will work with EFI or if they will be "eventually" supported.

I know that there were some issues with the 970pro vs the 960pro for some.

I picked up the 960 EVO 1TB for a pretty good deal and I knew it was 100% compatible with APFS on the firmware in 10.13.4, so it was more of a "safe" purchase than a pure performance one.
 
No new MP61 firmware update this week with 10.14.1DP5, same 127.0.0.0.0 release:

Code: 
$IBIOSI$ MP61.88Z.0125.B00.1809171517Copyright (c) 2005-2018 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
Apple ROM Version
  Model:        MP61
  EFI Version:  127.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     root@saumon
  Date:         Mon Sep 17 15:11:58 PDT 2018
  Revision:     127 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_D00
  Build Type:   Official Build, Release
  Compiler:     Apple clang version 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.10.1) (based on LLVM 3.0svn)
 
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SillySammy said:
For the 1TB 960 EVO ... consistently
1200+ MB/sec writes
1400+ MB/sec reads

Nearly double what AHCI or SATA based SSDs can provide

But, I don't think the bus will get more than 1600MB/sec from the PRO models. (at least from what I am reading, thus far)
Click to expand...

I have the 960 Pro. Reads are about the same, but writes are a bit better:
 

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gammarART said:
So... what are the reasons to use the newer Samsung 970 and not a 960?

Don't want to use any windows on the PCIe SSD – only Mac OS.
Click to expand...

If you're talking EVO, my 970 has worked flawlessly for about a month now with no heat sync and with encryption on my Mac I get 100MB/sec performance than above benchmarks on both reads and writes vs. the 960 on my 1TB evo (so 100MB/s less than Pro). With the C adapter it fits perfectly and the existing screw works well to secure in Mac Pro 6,1. Also, mine was pretty cheap especially compared to the incremental write increase of the pro. Again, sequential writes aren't the end all... I think the pro has faster random access speeds.

Here is where I purchased my adapter and SSD:
 
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gammarART said:
Thanks a lot :)
I think... I can wait for the final and official 14.1 release.
Click to expand...

Chances are the bootrom won't change. You can upgrade your stock to the latest beta (or wait) then install regular 14.0 today if you plan on using that as your main SSD...
 
gammarART said:
Yup... the OS works on the internal SSD.
But I thought 14.1 is a must-have for the percectly run with full speed on the 970 ?
Click to expand...

Nope. Mine even mostly ran fine with the bootrom from high sierra on standard 14.0

I wanted latest bootrom, so I upgraded to 14.1 beta which works perfectly too...
 
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