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SATA 3 Anyone!

initialsBB said:
This card has been around here a couple of weeks only. I don't know if I'd rig a 24/7 machine on it yet. And who knows what will happen at the next OS update, and the next, and the one after that,...

What you ask can almost be completely taken care of by the Mac Pro without extra cards. You can rig 4 SSDs (and more) on the SATA2 controller and already have a significant performance to load your library, and it's not even sure SATA3 would best that. RAM is what you need most of all. Backup can go through firewire or eSATA.
Click to expand...

And there is little advantage to using a SSD for you DAW project files - the only thing that is speed sensitive is the sample libraries. If you need a scratch disk for something else, an SSD will certainly be fast, but the constant write cycles will present a problem from a longevity standpoint. As most major creative apps have been going to 64 bit, the need for an uber-fast scratch disk has been decreasing assuming you have enough RAM.

I am doing the exact type of work you are asking about, and the only thing (other than a boot/app drive) that will remotely warrant the cost of SSD is the sample libraries.

The first step is to make sure you have at least 24-32 GB of RAM, then the only issue is whether you have enough large libraries to need to use SSD to reduce the Kontakt/Play pre-load buffering. Also be aware that trying to run EWQL Hollywood Strings or Hollywood Brass on a Mac is not advisable due to the EW PLAY app being a POS on OS X. Everyone who is serious uses a PC/Windows slave via Vienna Ensemble Pro to host those. Your Kontakt stuff (and probably EWQLSO) will be fine on the Mac.

Without providing more info on what all you use your Mac for and the specific libraries and size of your template, it's hard to make specific recommendations.
 
khollister said:
Also be aware that trying to run EWQL Hollywood Strings or Hollywood Brass on a Mac is not advisable due to the EW PLAY app being a POS on OS X. Everyone who is serious uses a PC/Windows slave via Vienna Ensemble Pro to host those.
Click to expand...
I've heard that running the libraries on a PC slave into a Mac via VEP is by far the most cost-effective way to go, but I was not aware that the OS X version of their Play app was problematic.

I have also read that even using the VEPro app with a slave Mac also works well, but if the Play app is buggy, would that still be true?

In a Mac Pro master/PC slave arrangement, I assume it's the PC slaves that need the lion's share of the RAM, as they are the ones hosting the needed samples that are sent to the master DAW hosting computer via GBEthernet. Is that right? Or would the master Mac Pro need more?

Thanks for your advice.
 
I run my OS and some of my main apps incl Logic and all the plugs on a large ssd. Then I put all of my libraries on multiple Velociraptor 600's. No where near SSD speeds, but quite manageable in this combination. I am hoping sooner or later Velociraptors increase the 600gb limit though.
 
HHarm said:
Ordered the card.... Do I need to get a power cable?
Click to expand...

You will need to get power to the drive you connect to the card. Either a four pin to SATA power cable (i.e. to utilise the DVD ROM's power cable) or a SATA extender cable (i.e. from the SATA ports on the main board for the sled drives).

----------

I'm not getting the same speeds seen by others. Put this card in my 2008 MP hooked up brand new OWC Mercury Extreme 6G 120Gb, using the power from the DVD ROM and a spare SATA data cable to the card. Blackmagic tests show 165 MB/s write and 195 MB/s read. My old SATA 2 Intel Gen 2 80Gb drive connected to the main board scores 77 MB/s write and 250 MB/s read.

I've tried both PRAM and SMC resets, a second OWC SSD (a friend's), have swapped cables and ports, all with no change. Can anyone help? :confused: Did anyone do anything other than plug in an go?
 
I have a MP09 and I'll be using the DVD's SATA cable/connector for power. If I understand correctly I need to get the power from that one and data from the SATA 3 PCI card. The cable's that I've found seem to have both data and power or just the data (like the one that's included with the card). How do I get just the power from the DVD SATA? Or am I understanding something incorrectly?

If it's not too much trouble could somebody point me directly to the right cable for example from OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/Cables-Mounting-Kits/
 
rob finch said:
Data and power are always separate. I don't have a SATA DVD in my MP08, so I'm not sure, but I think you want to share it's power cable so you will want one of these.. Then you will need a cable from the drive to the card.
Click to expand...

My card already came with two 50cm/18" data cables, which are too short in a Mac Pro 2011. Getting data from the card to the optical bay means having to sneak the cable through a tight opening behind the top front fan (optical bay fan) so that the optical bay mount can go back in properly and the Mac Pro door closes normally.

I had to use 100cm/39" cables.
 
initialsBB said:
My card already came with two 50cm/18" data cables, which are too short in a Mac Pro 2011. Getting data from the card to the optical bay means having to sneak the cable through a tight opening behind the top front fan (optical bay fan) so that the optical bay mount can go back in properly and the Mac Pro door closes normally.

I had to use 100cm/39" cables.
Click to expand...

I was able to use the cable supplied with the card. I routed it under the hard drives and up to the optical bay past the front fan assembly. Had to connect the drive end first then pull it out to reach the card, but it did just reach. A 39 inch cable must leave plenty of spare cable to keep tidy and out of the way.
 
Has anyone been successful in connecting an external HD to one of the external eSata ports together with one internal port for SSD?

I've tried playing around with the jumpers but have been unsuccessful. I want to connect my WD My Book Studio II via eSata external port. Right now one of the internal port is connected to my SSD.

Much appreciated!
 
Never mind...I found the solution. Now I'm able to connect my SSD to CON3 and my external WD drive to CON2 by using these jumper settings. Sorry as my card did not come with a user manual.

Here's a pic if want to connect an external eSata drive.

IMG_4817.jpg






imacdaddy said:
Has anyone been successful in connecting an external HD to one of the external eSata ports together with one internal port for SSD?

I've tried playing around with the jumpers but have been unsuccessful. I want to connect my WD My Book Studio II via eSata external port. Right now one of the internal port is connected to my SSD.

Much appreciated!
Click to expand...
 
I suppose I got what I paid for... The card is no longer working. It crashed the Finder yesterday and seemed OK after a reboot. Today it's either not booting at all, not getting past the grey screen, or crashing as soon as it gets to the Finder. I've tried reseating the card, different PCI slots, different cables and switching between the two ports. Dead.

The SSD is now back on the internal port of the second optical bay and working fine.
 
initialsBB said:
I suppose I got what I paid for... The card is no longer working. It crashed the Finder yesterday and seemed OK after a reboot. Today it's either not booting at all, not getting past the grey screen, or crashing as soon as it gets to the Finder. I've tried reseating the card, different PCI slots, different cables and switching between the two ports. Dead.

The SSD is now back on the internal port of the second optical bay and working fine.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, mine is still fast as ever and rock solid, not a glitch so far so iam very pleased with the card. maybe RMA for a new one might be a good idea.:)
 
Ktmster said:
Hello
I'm new to MacRumors and wanted to order the Card from Amazon.de;
but it's sold out at the Moment.
So i ordered this one:
http://www.delock.de/produkte/G_89299/merkmale.html?setLanguage=en
Because it's also an AsMedia-Chip on it, i hope it works too;
Best is: Its a PCIex4 Card
It should arrive in 2-3Days, i'll check back when i tried the Card out.

Greetz
Click to expand...

Very interesting indeed. Please let us know how it works. I am very eager to find a bootable PCI x4 card.

Highpoint have just released a new one too:
http://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_r640L.htm

It's supposedly even doing onboard RAID1/0, but given the bad experience I had with the 620 series, I don't trust them anymore.

So it would be nice to get some hands on info about the Delok card.
 
Back again, the Card arrived today, but no Luck!!
Tried it in every Slot: x4, x4, x16.....nothing.
Maybe it's because of the 2 USB3-Ports, powered by an Asmedia-Chip too.

Greetz
 
Ktmster said:
Back again, the Card arrived today, but no Luck!!
Tried it in every Slot: x4, x4, x16.....nothing.
Maybe it's because of the 2 USB3-Ports, powered by an Asmedia-Chip too.

Greetz
Click to expand...

Hi,

I am sorry to disappoint you, but the card you bought is not bootable. In fact, I have one in my drawer also, collecting dust.

You see, it has a design problem - because it uses the PLX chip, the SPI ROM on the card is not accessible. This creates two problems:
1. The card cannot boot devices attached to it (no BIOS can load).
2. The card doesn't identify itself properly as an AHCI device, and it wrongly identifies itself as an IDE device.

The above 2 render it completely useless under Mac. It works under Windows with their driver which forces the AHCI mode.

I tried to contact Delock who confirmed the card is not bootable, and I was told that Asmedia won't address a problem which they did not create (the ASM chip was not meant to be used with the PLX).

I know this is not good news, but I thought to clarify this anyway.

Further more, regarding the 4x PCIE interface of this card - although it really is a 4x interface, the ASM1061 chip has only a 1x PCIE connection, so the throughput will be limited to about 390 MB/s. The reason they used 4x interface is to connect 1 lane to the ASM1061 and another lane to the USB3 ASM1042.

funkahdafi said:
Highpoint have just released a new one too:
http://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series_r640L.htm
Click to expand...

That Rocket 640L card seems very interesting. It is based on Marvell 88SE9230 which is a 2-lane chip, and should provide bandwidth of about 780 MB/sec. The card is AHCI compilant so it should theoretically operate properly under OSX, and it also has the Marvell BIOS on it. I plan to order one myself, once I find a place that actually stocks them and is willing to ship to my country.
 
Last edited:
Question

I have a 2007 8 core Mac Pro---
I am wanting to add 2 Crucial 250GB SATA 3 SSD's....and possibly 2 Momentus 750GB Hybrids...(I already have the drives)
If I had a DX4 and the card on this thread, would the card be able to power all those drives? Would I be able to boot from it (in Lion)?
Forgive me, I have had Macbooks for years, but this is my first experience in the Mac Pro realm and am a total novice.
I am going to be using the SSDs for audio modules (Hollywood Strings/Brass). SATA3 and SSD is really needed for them.
Thanks much for any help you can give.
 
memphispiano said:
I have a 2007 8 core Mac Pro---
I am wanting to add 2 Crucial 250GB SATA 3 SSD's....and possibly 2 Momentus 750GB Hybrids...(I already have the drives)
If I had a DX4 and the card on this thread, would the card be able to power all those drives? Would I be able to boot from it (in Lion)?
Forgive me, I have had Macbooks for years, but this is my first experience in the Mac Pro realm and am a total novice.
I am going to be using the SSDs for audio modules (Hollywood Strings/Brass). SATA3 and SSD is really needed for them.
Thanks much for any help you can give.
Click to expand...

You need more than 260MB/s for audio samples? OK. You can RAID0 those on internal SATA 3G and get over 500MB/s without a PCI card. Most PCI cards are 1x PCI resulting in 300-400MB/s average and not bootable especially via RAID0. To get better speeds you need Areca or Atto HBA or RAID at a pretty penny. Atto is bootable after an EFI firmware flash. Get the RAID if you can swing it as it is way more beneficial in the long term. They are SAS though so be prepared for a cable nightmare or spend more for a backplane to replace the internal sled connections. Personally I would look at the OWC PCI thing:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe/OWC/Mercury_Accelsior/RAID
Bootable, fast, and no cable nightmare. Then get a cheaper 6G 1x card if you need a little more boost and RAID up your 3G internals.
 
People who wants to use sataIII ssd should consider using on board raid 0.
It will get you over 500 read and 450 write speed. And more importantly, even though the sataIII card can give you 400r/285w speed and bootable as most people think notable value, it will slow down your graphic performance:mad:. Believe it or not, I tried my self with sata III card with 120gb corsair GT ssd and get my finding when load web pages. These sataIII card share bandwidth with your graphics card and CPU power. Unlike on bard sataII interface which runs much smoothly (because of the integrated Sata controller) when comparing using sataIII card that share pcie bandwidth.

You can buy 2 120gb ssd and make 240gb raid 0 from disk utility, clone a bootable lion to the raid0 drive, It can boot and handle everything smoothly with 500r/450w speed.
 
Prince134 said:
You can buy 2 120gb ssd and make 240gb raid 0 from disk utility, clone a bootable lion to the raid0 drive, It can boot and handle everything smoothly with 500r/450w speed.
Click to expand...

With software RAID0 don't you have to give up the ability to boot Windows via Boot Camp?
 
Bill.the.Cat said:
With software RAID0 don't you have to give up the ability to boot Windows via Boot Camp?
Click to expand...
Assuming it's controlled by the OS, and is the boot location, Yes. Software RAID via OSX is only functional for OSX, since Windows does it differently (i.e. offsets aren't the same). So Windows must be loaded on a single volume when controlled by the MP.

Using a proper RAID controller that's bootable is the only way to get around this, but they tend to be rather expensive.
 
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