MP All Models PCIe SSDs - NVMe & AHCI

[tsialex]

Does anyone know if macpro 7.1 support pcie bifurcation, it has a dynamic lane allocation software and pcie switch onboard so that theorically support pcie bifurcation, and maybe we could use cheap passive 4x ssd pc adapter to get 4 blade on a 16 slot.

First post of this thread clearly states that MP7,1 is not PCI Express Lane Partitioning compatible since December, when we got the EFI dump and iFixit did the teardown.

Multiple people confirmed on this and other MP7,1 threads that an adapter that requires bifurcation don't work with more than one blade.

 

[Mikis]

Nice thank you. Do you recommend sata 2.5 ssd on drive bay? You know when the new MacBooks came out in 2014. Apples main marketting was that it was faster. I always assumed it was much snappier than my early 2013 which was really an upgraded 2012 rMBp. This was my logic for using an nvme for the OS. I have two options, stick with it in the sata tray or use my owc sata 2.5 to pci adapter to get 500mb/s.

As far as Kontakt is concerned. I almost want to get a 4tb 2.5 sata SSD. I heard kontakt is not optimized to utilize the full capabilities of an nvme drive, so I’ve almost given up on that idea. I have a 2tb nvme, a 1tb nvme on a syba, and a 2.5 sata in the tray running the OS. I’m going to add another drive but I haven’t quite figured out where I want things to go mainly because Sata 2.5 drives are still expensive and I’ve run out of pci slots. I have a 3.0 card I rarely use that could be pulledout

presently I have the OS on an Apple ssubx, 2 Sata II ssd’s (Internal) for Logic projects (time machined together for backup). All Kontakt libraries are on external samsung evo esata III ssd’s. This is definitely faster than spinners. As soon as I get the Highpoint with 3 NVMe 2tb ssd’s raided together and the 4th for the os, I will post benchmarks. (Probably do a YouTube video too). My friend has this setup so I might get him to do some benchmarks while I save up. we’ve both nearly got to the limit of what the 5.1 can do (without hacking). Just did the pixlas mod and installed a Vega 64 graphics card too. I think that music composition hits the computer harder than video editing as it’s all about the lowest latency. Massive amounts of Ram also really helps.

 

[effgee]

Popping in with my $0.02... just got done installing a single Samsung 970 Evo in my cMP5,1 using a ASM2824-equipped, dual-NVMe-slot Ableconn PEXM2-130 (AMZ, currently $145.99). The card does not come with heatsinks for the NVMe cards so I installed a generic solid copper one (AMZ, ~$8).

Quite happy with the performance so far...

 

[X-Housed]

With Lycom DT-129 is the same. When i add only Lycon to PCIe without SSD it's work fine.

I have the same Micron NVMe, did not get it running on Mac. Seems to be a Firmware issue. I tried to get in contact with Micron support but no response at all for 3 weeks. Can't recommend it!

 

[Itconnects]

Popping in with my $0.02... just got done installing a single Samsung 970 Evo in my cMP5,1 using a ASM2824-equipped, dual-NVMe-slot Ableconn PEXM2-130 (AMZ, currently $145.99). The card does not come with heatsinks for the NVMe cards so I installed a generic solid copper one (AMZ, ~$8).

Quite happy with the performance so far...

how is this possible without raid

 

[tsialex]

how is this possible without raid

It's a switched adapter with a PCIe 3.0 x8 switch. It magically converts PCIe 2.0 x8 into PCIe 3.0 x4 and shares it with two blades.

 

[Itconnects]

It's a switched adapter with a PCIe 3.0 x8 switch. It magically converts PCIe 2.0 x8 into PCIe 3.0 x4 and shares it with two blades.

Oooww nice!
What other adapters can do this?

Ah so that speed is split if he gets another blade. That’s actually not that bad if you’re not reading and writing at the same time

 

[tsialex]

Oooww nice!
What other adapters can do this?

Ah so that speed is split if he gets another blade. That’s actually not that bad if you’re not reading and writing at the same time

Read the first post, all tested adapters are there.

It's not split, it's shared. A PCIe switch works analogous as a network switch.

 

[Itconnects]

Read the first post, all tested adapters are there.

It's not split, it's shared. A PCIe switch works analogous as a network switch.

Honestly don’t understand. Is there a switch I’m supposed to click lol? I am going to return my syba. I’m not getting anywhere near the performance( on x16 and x4 )that I was getting alone with one nvme blade. I’m gonna try the highpoint.

 

[joevt]

Honestly don’t understand. Is there a switch I’m supposed to click lol? I am going to return my syba. I’m not getting anywhere near the performance( on x16 and x4 )that I was getting alone with one nvme blade. I’m gonna try the highpoint.

The switching is done internally. Read Network switch. Network packets are switched between network devices.
A PCIe switch is analogous to a network switch. PCIe packets are switched between different PCIe endpoints.

 

[flowrider]

Honestly don’t understand. Is there a switch I’m supposed to click lol? I am going to return my syba. I’m not getting anywhere near the performance( on x16 and x4 )that I was getting alone with one nvme blade. I’m gonna try the highpoint.

I have booth the Syba I/O Crest and the HighPoint 7103. If you're having troubled with the I/O Crest you'll also have trouble with the HighPoint. Both are working fine for me. What do you have mounted on your card?

Lou

 

[majus]

I have the same Micron NVMe, did not get it running on Mac. Seems to be a Firmware issue. I tried to get in contact with Micron support but no response at all for 3 weeks. Can't recommend it!

Who did you buy the Micron from? Their consumer portal is crucial.com. Try contacting them.

 

[Itconnects]

I have booth the Syba I/O Crest and the HighPoint 7103. If you're having troubled with the I/O Crest you'll also have trouble with the HighPoint. Both are working fine for me. What do you have mounted on your card?

Lou

Inland Premium SSD 1tb and 2tb

 

[effgee]

Oooww nice!
What other adapters can do this?

Take a look at the "Recommended PCIe adapters" section of this thread's first post – you'll see it is split up by performance & cost into four categories: "Low", "medium", "better" and "top". The last two categories consist of cards with chipsets that contain a switch which can take the place of a motherboard's bifurcation functionality (the cMP's MB cannot do bifurcation).

So when chosing an adapter, and assuming you want high(er)-end transfer rates, take a peek at that first post and make sure the card you're buying has one of the chipsets mentioned in either the "better" or the "top" category. For me the sweet spot was the ~$150 Ableconn adapter with the ASM2824 chipset since I don't need four NVMe slots or highest performance on MP7,1, and am perfectly happy with the read/write speeds of the 970 Evo (3000 and 2400MB/s, respectively). Important: these switched cards need to be installed in the cMP's slot 1 or 2 (16x) for proper performance.

Also, make sure you get a heatsink for your NVMe or else they'll throttle considerably.. you can check the card's temp with a utility like iStat. Last night, I ran QuickBench's extended test 161 times to see how the temp would develop and things are looking quite decent - performance was steady and temperature never rose above 55ºC (131ºF)

 

[Earl Urley]

So basically this Ableconn board is essentially the same as the Syba, minus large heat spreader and fan, correct? Maybe this would be good so long as I use a fan control program to kick up the PCIe fan in my 5,1 and put heat sinks on the SSDs..

 

[effgee]

tsialex probably has the expert knowledge here but going by my gut feeling I'd say that on the cMP, and with both of these coming with the AS2824 chipset, the Syba will probably be a smidgeon faster since it's a x16 card where my Ableconn is x8. Also, the Syba is actively cooled with a 40mm fan where the Ableconn comes only with a heatsink for the chipset and no heatsinks for the NVMe(s).

For me, since I'm not planning on running it in a RAID config, it just wasn't worth the extra $50 (is 30% more compared to the Ableconn, after all). I'm just nursing along my cMP5,1 until Apple comes out with a better option that doesn't have a starting cost of $6k.

 

[bsbeamer]

Those with TB3 that are looking at U.2 NVMe solutions may be interested in this new "Interchange System" for Mercury Helios 3S. Have not seen previously.

OWC U.2 NVMe Interchange System for Mercury Helios 3S at MacSales.com

HELIOS3STRY OWC U.2 NVMe Interchange System for Mercury Helios 3S. Convert Mercury Helios 3S into a fast, swappable U.2 NVMe SSD storage solution. Includes bay insert for Helios 3S + locking carrier tray.

eshop.macsales.com

OWC U.2 NVMe Interchange System for Mercury Helios 3S PCIe Expansion Chassis

Turns the Mercury Helios 3S PCIe Expansion chassis into a high-performance and money-saving swappable NVMe SSD storage solution with speeds up to 2631MB/s.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Nauzikaa]

Anyone use WD Blue SN550 1 TB?
New series, not expensive, nice specs. SSD controller based on the same architecture as the controller on their WD Black family (SN720/SN750), but with fewer channels.

 

[tsialex]

Anyone use WD Blue SN550 1 TB?
New series, not expensive, nice specs. SSD controller based on the same architecture as the controller on their WD Black family (SN720/SN750), but with fewer channels.

Don't buy the SN500. It's PCIe 3.0 x2, will work at ~750MB/s with a MP5,1 PCIe 2.0 slot.

Btw, seems WD is using the same name for different blades again, WD Blue old model is x2 (SN500), a newer model (SN550) was released and now is x4 - exactly the same as they did earlier with WD Black.

 

[X-Housed]

Who did you buy the Micron from? Their consumer portal is crucial.com. Try contacting them.

I bought a used one.
You are right, customer support is on crucial.com for both brands.
Seems that the P1 Crucial 2280 and Micron 2200 are the same modules as the Modelnumber 2280, Generation,... appear on the Micron sticker, just rebranded. Firmware is different, I tried to update the firmware with crucial executive soft. on a windows machine but no update available. Crucial Support could not help in the first place.

 

[majus]

Crucial Support could not help in the first place.

Their website shows the P1 Crucial 2280 is not compatible with Apple products. Probably the same for Micron 2200.

 

[Socket]

I founded this card: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07KG253NQ...b2ec1b23219d9befffe76cbbb20faf&language=it_IT
Seems that supports PCIe Bifurcation, so it could work in cMP? Someone tried yet?

 

[majus]

I founded this card: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07KG253NQ...b2ec1b23219d9befffe76cbbb20faf&language=it_IT
Seems that supports PCIe Bifurcation, so it could work in cMP? Someone tried yet?

I noted this answer on Amazon from the manufacturer about the card:
"This version is with SATA/IDE power connection from power supply, it's for personal PC, not for work station and server. The new version specially for server and work station will be ready soon."

And from the description of the card on Amazon:
"Power via SATA 15-pin and/or Molex 4-pin for stable and long time heavy work load. Connect both SATA & Molex if needed."

 

[Macschrauber]

In post 1 it is clearly written: no bifurcation on classic and 2019 mac pro.

 

[majus]

In post 1 it is clearly written: no bifurcation on classic and 2019 mac pro.

The card @Socket is asking about has a ASM2824 PCI Express 3.0 X16 Switch, does not require bifurcation. Whether it will work on a Mac Pro or not is still open to trying it.