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PCIE M.2 NVMe on MacPro

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superparati said:
How do you see that TRIM is active your your SSD?
Click to expand...

Go to SATA/SATA Express. You'll see something like this:

TinyGrab Screen Shot 2-10-17, 4.44.35 PM.png

Notice the entry for TRIM Support

Lou
 
h9826790 said:
Because the "boot" time won't improve by upgrading from SATA II SSD to PCIe SSD.
Click to expand...

Pls, this is not about boot - it is about IOPS and general OSX usage which *needs* an SSD.

Keep in mind not everyone here upgrades from a SATA SSD and across even 4 RAID0 HDDs *any* SSD is an improvement as boot drive.
 
Is there anyone can run the Xbench disk test on their SM951?

http://xbench.com

Only the disk test is enough. Otherwise, the benchmark may hang. I just wonder hows the SM951 compare to the new Macbook Pro's SSD (with a bit more details rather than only compare the max sequential speed). Million thanks in advance!

2016 Macbook Pro NVMe SSD.jpg
 
JedNZ said:
Results for me Samsung 960 EVO 500GB NVMe in a PCIe adapter (Slot 3 - x4). Not anywhere as impressive as your results h9826790.

View attachment 688645
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. When I am looking at the MacBook Pro's SSD speed, the uncached random 4K read speed really impress me. That's the only consumer SSD that I know can achieve >100MB/s. The SATA SSD usually at the 30MB/s range, and PCIe SSD may be up to 50MB/s, but >100MB/s is really rare. I wonder if there is any way to achieve this speed in the cMP.
 
h9826790 and JedNZ, thank you for posting your benchmarks. I am grateful for all the effort that has been put into NVMe enablement on cMP.
Attached are two benchmarks from my 5,1cMP (very similar to Jed's setup, but with an Amfeltec Squid in Slot 2 carrying an Apple/Samsung 1TB SSUBX with 100% free space). My SSUBX AHCI stick seems to be a lot slower on Xbench than either of your drives (despite BlackMagic results of 1420/1492 MB/s). I don't have an explanation for this but nothing seems wrong (x4 link width and 5.0GT/s link speed). I also ran Xbench on a 32GB RAM disk; the MBP 13.2 results above were stunningly close to cMP RAM disk overall and the MBP SSD was faster at small uncached reads. That is truly impressive MBP performance.

SSUBX.jpeg
RAM Disk.jpeg
 
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sterile stork said:
What was the trick that you used to enable the system to read your m.2 as internal vs being external?
Click to expand...

I don't recall doing anything special over and above the steps I followed in my post here to install the NMVe driver. I too was surprised (and thankful) to see the NVMe show up in the NVMExpress section in System Information, and for TRIM to be enabled (I already had enabled it for my other SSD drives). Maybe the Samsung 960 EVO is just compatible.

superparati: did you have to do anything special to get the NVMe to show up and for TRIM to be enabled?
 
JedNZ said:
I don't recall doing anything special over and above the steps I followed in my post here to install the NMVe driver. I too was surprised (and thankful) to see the NVMe show up in the NVMExpress section in System Information, and for TRIM to be enabled (I already had enabled it for my other SSD drives). Maybe the Samsung 960 EVO is just compatible.

superparati: did you have to do anything special to get the NVMe to show up and for TRIM to be enabled?
Click to expand...
The only thing I had to do is to enable trim via the terminal and that all.

Previously on El Capitan event with the trim command, it was impossible to know if the trim was enable on the NVMe SSD.
 
BombKilla said:
h9826790 and JedNZ, thank you for posting your benchmarks. I am grateful for all the effort that has been put into NVMe enablement on cMP.
Attached are two benchmarks from my 5,1cMP (very similar to Jed's setup, but with an Amfeltec Squid in Slot 2 carrying an Apple/Samsung 1TB SSUBX with 100% free space). My SSUBX AHCI stick seems to be a lot slower on Xbench than either of your drives (despite BlackMagic results of 1420/1492 MB/s). I don't have an explanation for this but nothing seems wrong (x4 link width and 5.0GT/s link speed). I also ran Xbench on a 32GB RAM disk; the MBP 13.2 results above were stunningly close to cMP RAM disk overall and the MBP SSD was faster at small uncached reads. That is truly impressive MBP performance.

View attachment 688706 View attachment 688707
Click to expand...

What adapter are you using to mount your SSUBX onto the Squid? Can you share a link?
 
ShawnF, I apologize for the delay. I was traveling for work and just saw your question.
Below is the Amazon listing for the "Flashmen" adapter I used (out of production). As noted by "HandHeldGames", the close arrangement of the Amfeltec slots mean that you are unlikely to get more than one of these adapters on each side of the 4-slot Squid Card, unless you do some creative (minor) filing to the Flashmen adapter board. Even if you do, the Apple 1TB SSD modules are so wide that two TB modules side-by side would result in module torquing/twisting and might even cause electrical shorts between modules. An unfortunate engineering design fail, but at least Amfeltec saved a few cents per Squid by spacing the sockets so tightly!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014LY71L6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I have ordered a Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD 960GB and it will arrived on Monday.
I will do the test to compare with my current Sonnet PCIE card @ 2X Angelbird SSD raid0~
Besides the SM951 AHCI, I believe there is only Kingston have M.2AHCI high capacity SSD
 
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DHL very quick, it arrived and will test tonight!
:D:D:D
 

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Just an observation about the PCI SSD usage here. I have the Kingston HyperX Predator and the benchmark numbers are considerably lower when it is my OS boot drive. When I use it as a work/scratch drive I get about 15% higher data transfer rates.
 
Gazember said:
Just an observation about the PCI SSD usage here. I have the Kingston HyperX Predator and the benchmark numbers are considerably lower when it is my OS boot drive. When I use it as a work/scratch drive I get about 15% higher data transfer rates.
Click to expand...

I think that normal. When it work as OS drive, there may be lots of small read write in the background, which will affect the benchmark score.
 
superparati said:
Hi,

Yesterday I did install my new Lycom DT-120 with its SM951 512GB (NVMe) M.2 PCIe.
I've to admit, it's fast! Moving from a SSD SATA II to a PCIe SSD it is a different world!

With the raise of the SSD it change my way of working but in the meantime the size of the files just boom!
After working/testing with a RAM disk to improve my way of working with all the pros and cons, I found the best of the two worlds! Secure and efficient!

Here is how i did proceed to install my card and the SSD on my MacPro running over El Capitan.
my SIP was already deactivated, before anything I suggest you to deactivate the SIP if you are going to do the same :)

  1. Install your card on the Slot 3 or 4 of your MacPro
  2. Download the NVMe driver here
  3. Copy the kext file NVMeGeneric.kext into /Library/Extensions
  4. cmd + i on the Extensions folder and update the permission by clicking on "apply to enclosed items"
    cmdi.png
  5. Reboot my computer
  6. Open the terminal and enter the following command line: "
  7. sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/NVMeGeneric.kext"
  8. A popup window should appear asking you to reinitialise the new detected support.
  9. Do it
  10. Happy!

You can reactivate SIP after :)

Bench
ssd-m2-pcie.png



​
However, the system information software doesn't seems to recognise the PCI card or the NVMe support.
When I click on NVMEExpress tab i have this message
This computer doesn't contain any NVMExpress devices. If you installed NVMExpress devices, make sure they are connected properly and powered on.

PCI tab
There was an error while gathering PCI device information.

Do you know why? is it a limitation of El capitan?

Other quick question because I don't find the answer. How can I activate the TRIM and where can I see the TRIM support confirmation?
The SSD is displayed as an external support which is strange with Disk utility.

Thanks!
Click to expand...



Hi there that is interesting,

thanks for posting but i'm having trouble right to get them recognized in the Disk Utility

Explaining, I got 2 Samsung SM951 MZ-VPV5120 512GB M.2 SSD NVMe PCIe Gen3
With a PCIe Express card that can house 4 blades, now without touching the system I'm getting the 2 blades recognized when I go to the NVMe tab in the system ( pictures attached ) but they are not seen in Disk Utility, the PCIe express card is in the slot 3 and is also seen in the system as you can see on the pictures.

If I use kextutility and put the Generic.Kext when I reboot I'm seeing a Kernel panic, when booting in Verbose Mode I do see that the problem is the Generic.Kext the problem. I'm on Sierra 11.12.5 though. SIP has been deactivated.

I'd like to as successful as you regarding the SSD's but it seems I'm missing something or the Kext does not work anymore with Sierra.

Any help here would be really appreciated.
Good ....jpeg
NVMe express activated .jpeg
Good ....jpeg
 
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