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Just upgraded my Mac Pro to a 128Gb SM951 with the Lycom DT-120 adapter. Can't believe how small thing is!

Reads capped at around 1,300MB/s, Writes around 650MB/s
Try a larger test file size. Your write speeds should be around the same 1300 MB/s.
 
It's only the 128Gb model, writes are only around 600Mb/s as advertised.

The 256Gb model writes at around 1,200MB/s, the 512Gb model writes at around 1,500Mb/s.

As someone else said, it's unlikely Samsung will make another AHCI PCIe SSD, so it looks like this is the best performance we can expect (capped at around 1,300MB/s due to the PCIe V2 limitations on the X58 chipset).
 
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Hi everyone,
this thread is gold but it's also super long :)
Can you give me a quick tip about what card can be compatible with this 768 Samsung storage? I have it in an external box but not using it anymore for local backups and I'd love to use it into my Mac Pro 5,1.
In my understanding there are different connectors/standards for those flash units, and I can't understand which card to choose from.
Thanks and sorry if I wasn't able to browse around the whole thread correctly.

That module should be what was available w/ the Late 2012/Early 2013 MacBook Pro 15" Retina. This is a SATA-based SSD w/ an Apple-specific connector. The SSDs focused on in this thread are what became available w/ the Late 2013 MBPs and later, and are x2 and x4 PCIe-based units, also with Apple-specific (SSUAX & SSUBX) connectors, as well as their more standardized M.2-connector counterparts (XP941 & SM951).

I'm not sure if there will be an easy PCIe-card option for this SSD of yours, as the cards most frequently used here are basically just physical converters from the PCIe SSD connector to the PCIe slot in the computer...IOW, they don't do any processing of their own. You might look around on eBay for SATA adapters for this card. I found one that allowed use of an older MacBook Air SATA SSD card w/ a regular SATA connector.
 
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It's only the 128Gb model, writes are only around 600Mb/s as advertised.

The 256Gb model writes at around 1,200MB/s, the 512Gb model writes at around 1,500Mb/s.

As someone else said, it's unlikely Samsung will make another AHCI PCIe SSD, so it looks like this is the best performance we can expect (capped at around 1,300MB/s due to the PCIe V2 limitations on the X58 chipset).
Ah, thank you. I knew that the 512 GB was faster but not that the 128 GB was slower.

I moved from a MacPro5,1 to a Hackintosh a few weeks ago and realize now that I didn't consider the differing PCIe revisions on my motherboard's slots. I originally had the DT-120 in a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and was getting the same 1300 MB/s reads and 1200 MB/s writes as I had seen on my Mac Pro. I've just moved the card to a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot and now get around 1900 MB/s reads.

(Moving the card dropped my GTX 970 from a x16 to a x8 connection, but if I understand correctly there should be no noticeable performance hit. And in any case, it's no slower than the 2.0 x16 slot in the Mac Pro.)
 
Make sure you keep an eye on the temperature of your SM951 because at maximum speed it tends to get hot (which is not the case in a 5.1 Mac Pro!).
 
I have some unfortunate news to report to enthusiasts of this thread. It would appear that my 1TB SSUBX Apple PCI-e SSD has officially died!

It had been working flawlessly as my primary boot drive for the last 11 months in a Sintech Adapter installed in a Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1). One day a couple of weeks ago the system suddenly became unstable and upon a reboot (to a different drive) I was no longer able to mount the drive to the file system (the disk shows up in Disk Utility but the partition can not be mounted or properly reformatted).

I have spent the last few weeks trying everything in my arsenal as well as scouring Google for potential solutions. No mater what I try I am completely unable to reformat or repartition this drive.

Just some of the methods/utilities I have tried to recover/reformat/repartition this drive:

1. OS X Disk Utility (from various versions of OS X as well as the version in Recovery)
2. DiskWarrior
3. Tech Tool Pro
4. Terminal (have tried a command line formats as well as trying the command line cat function to write over existing data)
5. Windows Disk Management
6. A variety of low level Windows/Linux based disk utilities

I consistently receive errors (the actual error message varies based on the utility) indicating that they can not successfully write to the drive.

To rule out a defective Sintech adapter I have since removed the drive from the Sintech adapter and placed it into a USB3 OWC Envoy enclosure designed specifically for Apple PCI-e SSD's.

Here is the crazy part. When I connect the drive to a Windows machine (running bootcamp) I can access the drive and ALL of the data appears to be completely in tact. This is despite the fact that I have attempted to reformat and/or repartition the device probably in excess of 50 times using the various methods listed above.

It would seem that whatever hardware on the SSD handles the write function seems to have gone bad and the drive is essentially now in a read only mode.

I guess I have learned a $900 lesson on purchasing gray market Apple Replacement Parts for use in unsanctioned capacities. 1400 MB/s on the Mac Pro was truly bliss while it lasted but now I am back to 500 MB/s in the form of Samsung SATA3 SSD's.

If anyone has any suggestions I am open to try them but at this point I believe that the drive is officially a lost cause.
 
I'm very sorry to hear of your bad luck. Do you have access to a late 2013 or newer MacBook Air or Pro? If so, it may be worth a try mounting your 1TB SSUBX Apple PCI-e SSD in it. Best of luck!

I have some unfortunate news to report to enthusiasts of this thread. It would appear that my 1TB SSUBX Apple PCI-e SSD has officially died!

It had been working flawlessly as my primary boot drive for the last 11 months in a Sintech Adapter installed in a Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1). One day a couple of weeks ago the system suddenly became unstable and upon a reboot (to a different drive) I was no longer able to mount the drive to the file system (the disk shows up in Disk Utility but the partition can not be mounted or properly reformatted).

I have spent the last few weeks trying everything in my arsenal as well as scouring Google for potential solutions. No mater what I try I am completely unable to reformat or repartition this drive.

Just some of the methods/utilities I have tried to recover/reformat/repartition this drive:

1. OS X Disk Utility (from various versions of OS X as well as the version in Recovery)
2. DiskWarrior
3. Tech Tool Pro
4. Terminal (have tried a command line formats as well as trying the command line cat function to write over existing data)
5. Windows Disk Management
6. A variety of low level Windows/Linux based disk utilities

I consistently receive errors (the actual error message varies based on the utility) indicating that they can not successfully write to the drive.

To rule out a defective Sintech adapter I have since removed the drive from the Sintech adapter and placed it into a USB3 OWC Envoy enclosure designed specifically for Apple PCI-e SSD's.

Here is the crazy part. When I connect the drive to a Windows machine (running bootcamp) I can access the drive and ALL of the data appears to be completely in tact. This is despite the fact that I have attempted to reformat and/or repartition the device probably in excess of 50 times using the various methods listed above.

It would seem that whatever hardware on the SSD handles the write function seems to have gone bad and the drive is essentially now in a read only mode.

I guess I have learned a $900 lesson on purchasing gray market Apple Replacement Parts for use in unsanctioned capacities. 1400 MB/s on the Mac Pro was truly bliss while it lasted but now I am back to 500 MB/s in the form of Samsung SATA3 SSD's.

If anyone has any suggestions I am open to try them but at this point I believe that the drive is officially a lost cause.
 
I'm very sorry to hear of your bad luck. Do you have access to a late 2013 or newer MacBook Air or Pro? If so, it may be worth a try mounting your 1TB SSUBX Apple PCI-e SSD in it. Best of luck!

Certainly a valid suggestion. I do not personally have a Macbook that would accept this drive but it might be worth trying to find one to give it a shot.
 
I have some unfortunate news to report to enthusiasts of this thread. It would appear that my 1TB SSUBX Apple PCI-e SSD has officially died!

Mine (1TB SSD MZ-KPU1T0T/0A2 Late 2013) has gone on permanent holidays as well. Firstly had disappearing documents folder. Restored from Time Macine but same on following reboots?? Also in a Sintech.
I didn't try too much to restore it as I lost interest with the lack of reliability. Went back to normal SSD.
No nothing else to try it in & didn't try Windows.
 
See what happens with an older version of OS X

I have tried Disk Utility under 10.11, 10.10.x, 10.9.x. No dice. Do you think there would be any valid technical reason to try to go back further than that? I believe that I can go back as far as 10.7 before I would have to pull my video card (Sapphire 7950) in order to boot up.
 
I have tried Disk Utility under 10.11, 10.10.x, 10.9.x. No dice. Do you think there would be any valid technical reason to try to go back further than that? I believe that I can go back as far as 10.7 before I would have to pull my video card (Sapphire 7950) in order to boot up.

No Mavericks was back enough. It really seems the blade has developed an error in the firmware if it has entered read only mode under Windows and won't initialise under the Mac.

This highlights why it is so important not to buy OEM drives as they have no manufacturer warranty. Unfortunately the cMP has no decent options for retail Samsung based PCIE SSDs. Kingston Predators are probably the only option with warranty.
 
Hello!
after a few days I have received all the material.
Intel Xeon 3690 .
Crucial MX200 m.2 500gb .
SSD PCIe adapter .

I tried to install the SSD and have problems, my mac pro 5.1 does not recognize the SSD.
I turn on the mac and does not indicate anything, I 'm going to system information and does not appear the SSD.
What's going on?
you can help me ?

I copy the material links .
http://www.pccomponentes.com/crucial_mx200_500gb_m_2_type_2280.html
http://www.pccomponentes.com/adaptador_ssd_pcie_3_0_x4_a_m_2__ngff_.html

thank you very much!
 
Hello!
after a few days I have received all the material.
Intel Xeon 3690 .
Crucial MX200 m.2 500gb .
SSD PCIe adapter .

I tried to install the SSD and have problems, my mac pro 5.1 does not recognize the SSD.
I turn on the mac and does not indicate anything, I 'm going to system information and does not appear the SSD.
What's going on?
you can help me ?

I copy the material links .
http://www.pccomponentes.com/crucial_mx200_500gb_m_2_type_2280.html
http://www.pccomponentes.com/adaptador_ssd_pcie_3_0_x4_a_m_2__ngff_.html

thank you very much!

I may be overlooking something here, but that looks to me like a SATA-based SSD (see where description says "SATA 6.0Gb"), while the adapter is merely a PCIe passthrough board. So, physically, because of the M.2 connector, it will fit the socket on the PCIe card. But electrically, it is different. You'll either need to get an actual PCIe SSD or get a SATA-to-PCIe adapter board.

Fred
 
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sonnet_pcie_ssd1_05_e3_512gb_05_e3_pcie_ssd_1175451.jpg
Anyone see or try this? http://www.sonnettech.com/product/tempopcie3ssd.html
 

Haven’t tried it myself, but the one user comment currently on the Amazon product page points out that in a Mac Pro 3,1 it performs at half rate. To me this suggests the card is using a Samsung SSD subject to the same quirky behavior regarding PCIe 2.0 slots with more than x4 lanes as described elsewhere in this thread.

Otherwise looks like it should work okay in Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1. Will be interested in other users’ comments.
 
Mac Pro 3,1 has 2 x PCIe 1.1 slots and even the two PCIe 2.0 slots hold back a GPU. So not great performance. Even a 4,1 PCIe design was improved upon in the 5,1.

Plenty of bench tests in this threat.
 
The topic needs to change title anyway. SATA Express refers to a specific interface connector (backward compatible with legacy SATA) but everyone here is talking about M.2/NGFF devices.

Both interface types can utilise PCIE, but SATA Express is being very poorly supported by the industry and might be killed off.

This is SATA Express

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA_Express

No SATA Express cards are available for Mac Pro (don't confuse it with the ExpressCard for notebooks)
 

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Slots 3 & 4 are different. Combined bandwidth using different chip. Not huge maybe but.

Go read thru other posts - took me multiple reads of this thread and outside tests. They are not 100% same DNA
 
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