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OWC Accelsior or what else?

gugy

gugy

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 31, 2005
3,933
5,392
La Jolla, CA
Hi,
I am looking to buy the OWC Accelsior PCI 240gb Express SSD for my MacPro 2010, 12 core.
Is this the best buy I can get out there?

It's a bit expensive but I like OWC and they seem to be very reputable. Is there any other brand or suggestion you guys can give me?
Thanks
 
Unlike you, I do not like OWC. I don't like their product quality and IMHO, their prices are inflated. With that said. My recommendation would be:

1. An Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 PCIE Card. Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Velo...=UTF8&qid=1401498834&sr=8-4&keywords=apricorn

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/887345-REG/Apricorn_vel_solo_x2_Velocity_Solo_X2_SSD.html

And A Samsung 840 Evo SSD. if you want a 240GB drive. The Samsung 250GB drive is available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...e=UTF8&qid=1401498961&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/998575-REG/samsung_mz_7te250bw_840_evo_250gb_2_5.html

Your total price for the Solo x2 and the Evo 250GB SSD will be $230 vs the OWC Accelsoir price of $380. IMHO, you will have a superior product and save yourself $150.00. The Solo x2 can also be upgraded in the future with a larger SSD should you so desire.

Lou
 
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Thanks for the suggestion and links.
I am not 100% sold on OWC but I have never had issues with them.
 
flowrider said:
Unlike you, I do not like OWC. I don't like their product quality and IMHO, their prices are inflated. With that said. My recommendation would be:

1. An Apricorn Velocity Solo x2 PCIE Card. Available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Velo...=UTF8&qid=1401498834&sr=8-4&keywords=apricorn

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/887345-REG/Apricorn_vel_solo_x2_Velocity_Solo_X2_SSD.html

And A Samsung 840 Evo SSD. if you want a 240GB drive. The Samsung 250GB drive is available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...e=UTF8&qid=1401498961&sr=8-1&keywords=840+evo

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/998575-REG/samsung_mz_7te250bw_840_evo_250gb_2_5.html

Your total price for the Solo x2 and the Evo 250GB SSD will be $230 vs the OWC Accelsoir price of $380. IMHO, you will have a superior product and save yourself $150.00. The Solo x2 can also be upgraded in the future with a larger SSD should you so desire.

Lou
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion and links.
I am not 100% sold on OWC but I have never had issues with them.

My only question is if these are as fast as OWC's Accelsior ?
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I have the 960 GB OWC Mercury Accelsior_E2 PCIe Express SSD for Mac Pro in a MP5,1. It provides a good 680 MB/s.

I also have the 480 GB, 240 GB and 120 GB Mercury Accelsior PCIe Express SSDs for Mac Pro. Note the missing "E2" which means they do not have the 2x eSATA ports. The current OWC price for the 240 GB OWC Mercury Accelsior PCIe Express SSD for Mac Pro is at $345 and the 120 GB one sells for $219.

I see no i/o performance differences in any of these OWC PCIe SSDs. The 960 GB one is maybe a tad faster, but in every day use it's not noticeable IMO.

There's no need to fuss with TRIM with these OWC PCIe SSDs.

These SSDs just plug and play without any issues based on my experience. I would buy any of these SSDs again without a question.

The OWC PCIe SSDs allow for Apple Recovery HD Partition even though the two SSD blades are hardware RAID-0. They are compatible with booting and draw little current and run cool.

OWC provides a 3 year warranty for these SSDs.

Note that OWC is running low on stock with the non E2 model PCIe SSDs. I suspect when they do run out of stock they will no longer offer them unless they are "pulled-used" ones.

I find OWC to be a good company in every respect and over the years they have just got better and better. I have no scruples at all dealing with them.

I also find if I'm going to spend a bunch of brass with them I call in my order and speak with a business sale rep and typical obtain a decent discount on all the items, plus free shipping and Ins and expedited 2-day delivery.
 
gugy said:
My only question is if these are as fast as OWC's Accelsior ?
Click to expand...

Get 2x120G Samsung 840 Evo, RAID them together via the solo x2 card, you should have better performance than accelsior (and cheaper).

However, if you are looking for a fast, dual bootable, zero wiring... SSD solution. The accelsior may be still a better choice for you.
 
gugy said:
Hi,
I am looking to buy the OWC Accelsior PCI 240gb Express SSD for my MacPro 2010, 12 core.
Is this the best buy I can get out there?

It's a bit expensive but I like OWC and they seem to be very reputable. Is there any other brand or suggestion you guys can give me?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I have used a Sonnet "Tempo SSD Pro" dual SATA PCIe card with a pair of Samsung 840 Pro SSDs in RAID-0, and currently a pair of Crucial M4 SSDs in RAID-0 as a OS X 1TB boot disk. It has been running 24/7 with no problems for a year or so. Note that both SSDs mount on the card, no additional wires required.

Attached are DiskSpeedTest results with with the 840Pro and M4 SSDs in RAID-0:

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempossdpro.html

See this thread also:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1552592/


-howard
 

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I have both the Tempo Pro card (w. 2 500GB Samsung Pro 840 SSDs) and the Accelsior 960GB card, and nonetheless what the benchmarks are telling me, I think the Accelsior is a tad faster.

It is simply more responsive, and as a boot drive, it just feels more "there".
 
I am in the same boat as the OP, but am sticking around to see what happens with pricing on the xp941.

Having said that, the thing that has dissuaded me from going the Solo *2 card with dual 840s on a RAID 0 is that a lot of people seem to have trouble booting from this volume. I understand it can be done, but it must be problematic for as many people as do to complain.

FWIW, I'll throw my name in the hat of people happy with OWC. For those of us not tech-savvy enough to fiddle around with jerry-rigging everything, I think they provide a handy service. It's true that most of the time you'll pay a couple of extra bucks than some other places, but at this point in my life, good customer service is worth something.
 
 
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I wasn't a huge fan of my OWC Accelsior experience. Both blades went bad right out of warranty. OWC replaced one out of good will but did not do the other. My Accelsior right now is collecting dust.

IO was appreciably better than SATA SSD drives...
 
Thanks for the replies, and apologies for my lack of using my eyes and seeing the NVMe part.

I have a Samsung 2.5" EVO 256GB.

Is there such a thing as a cheap, good card for this? :) Or should I be happy with the boot it's already provided over a 7200rpm drive?
 
cosmichobo said:
Thanks for the replies, and apologies for my lack of using my eyes and seeing the NVMe part.

I have a Samsung 2.5" EVO 256GB.

Is there such a thing as a cheap, good card for this? :) Or should I be happy with the boot it's already provided over a 7200rpm drive?
Click to expand...

I used to have a cheap OWC Accelsior S card and I did have a flawless experience for two years. Its a good solid card with no risk. The speed improvement is small, however I think it was never the less noticeable when used as boot disk.
Unfortunately I ran out of precious PCI slots, so it had to go. If you have slots left, you may want to check eBay for a real cheap but great little treat. The only question you need to ask yourself is your future expansion plan. There are also PCI cards out there that can accommodate two SATA SSD's for almost the same price tag.
 
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Thanks for the replies. I'll keep an eye out for one. $48 is certainly not a bad price - but in AU it's closer to $80.
 
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