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dahn

macrumors newbie
Aug 30, 2017
11
14
Reporting a setup similar to another user on this forum:

- two separate Acacias TBU401E 40Gbps NVMe m.2 SSD TB4/USB 3.2 cases
- a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro in each case
- separate supplied TB4 cables into 2 separate TB4 ports
- Apple Studio Display in one TB4 port (OWC has a video showing that a TB3/4 display speeds up TB disk transfer speeds)
- rubber feet on the bottom of each case to allow some convection airflow (the m.2 card is on the bottom of the case, not the top)
IMG_7647.jpg


I achieved similar results as said poster, but I'm pleased as punch as they are a stone's throw from my 2TB internal SSD on BlackMagic Speedtest results. Worse than the NVMe drives are capable of, but MUCH better than I expected based on TB/USB limitations:

EXT R0: 5343 write, 4279 read
Mac Int: 5442 write, 5225 read

Acasis 40Gbps TB4 980 Pro 2TBx2 R0.png
 

dahn

macrumors newbie
Aug 30, 2017
11
14
Incidentally, this whole experiment was inspired by the lackluster performance of my Synology ds1621+ with 6 WD Red 12TB drives over 10GbE internal wiring in my condo. Over gigabit ethernet, it was not usable for photo editing with 61-65MB ARW (Sony RAW) files. Once I got my 10GbE setup finally up and running, it's acceptable but slightly laggy to move from photo to photo, I'd estimate 100-200 milliseconds.

So new workflow: import to external Raid0, edit, then back up to Synology RAID. I'll have to see if the extra couple of import/export steps are worth the snappy editing performance.
Synology 10GbE 1388 Kettner.png
 
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cpnotebook80

macrumors 65816
Feb 4, 2007
1,228
550
Toronto
Reporting a setup similar to another user on this forum:

- two separate Acacias TBU401E 40Gbps NVMe m.2 SSD TB4/USB 3.2 cases
- a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro in each case
- separate supplied TB4 cables into 2 separate TB4 ports
- Apple Studio Display in one TB4 port (OWC has a video showing that a TB3/4 display speeds up TB disk transfer speeds)
- rubber feet on the bottom of each case to allow some convection airflow (the m.2 card is on the bottom of the case, not the top)


I achieved similar results as said poster, but I'm pleased as punch as they are a stone's throw from my 2TB internal SSD on BlackMagic Speedtest results. Worse than the NVMe drives are capable of, but MUCH better than I expected based on TB/USB limitations:

EXT R0: 5343 write, 4279 read
Mac Int: 5442 write, 5225 read
This looks great - I have the Acasis case also with a 2tb in there for a year now. I was also wondering since I have the OWC 4m2 enclosure I was testing, with 4 slots for NVME, it does have 2 thunderbolt output behind it and would be interesting to see the result if both were connected to the mac studio at the back via tb cables. Hoping I get similar speeds as you, maybe. I am waiting for some NVME drives to be delivered for the test.
 
Last edited:

edubfromktown

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2010
837
711
East Coast, USA
Reporting a setup similar to another user on this forum:

- two separate Acacias TBU401E 40Gbps NVMe m.2 SSD TB4/USB 3.2 cases
- a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro in each case
- separate supplied TB4 cables into 2 separate TB4 ports
- Apple Studio Display in one TB4 port (OWC has a video showing that a TB3/4 display speeds up TB disk transfer speeds)
- rubber feet on the bottom of each case to allow some convection airflow (the m.2 card is on the bottom of the case, not the top)

I achieved similar results as said poster, but I'm pleased as punch as they are a stone's throw from my 2TB internal SSD on BlackMagic Speedtest results. Worse than the NVMe drives are capable of, but MUCH better than I expected based on TB/USB limitations:

EXT R0: 5343 write, 4279 read
Mac Int: 5442 write, 5225 read
That's awesome.

The TBU401E enclosures are $99 on Amazon so I'm going to order one along with WD_BLACK 2TB SN770 (WDS200T3X0E NVMe Gen4) and see if I can get anywhere close to 5,150 MB/s on my Studio Base Max.
 

rworne

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2002
653
124
Los Angeles
I'm done testing out the OWC Envoy Pro FX I reported about earlier. I also heard back from OWC's tech support.

The issue I was seeing is that BlackMagic would report a lot of read transfers at 700MB/sec, with the occasional read at over 2800MB/sec. Writes were nearly all fast, with an occasional write speed of 700MB/sec or so.

Other benchmarking apps showed consistent performance showing saturation of the TB port (2300+ writes, 2800+ reads). Testing with creating/reading a dummy file with dd also verified the transfer rate. OWC said that BM's test has some issues with their drive. I'm apt to believe them at this point, as I perceive no issues with large file transfers.
 
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poematik13

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2014
1,394
2,046
Reporting a setup similar to another user on this forum:

- two separate Acacias TBU401E 40Gbps NVMe m.2 SSD TB4/USB 3.2 cases
- a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro in each case
- separate supplied TB4 cables into 2 separate TB4 ports
- Apple Studio Display in one TB4 port (OWC has a video showing that a TB3/4 display speeds up TB disk transfer speeds)
- rubber feet on the bottom of each case to allow some convection airflow (the m.2 card is on the bottom of the case, not the top)
View attachment 2133705

I achieved similar results as said poster, but I'm pleased as punch as they are a stone's throw from my 2TB internal SSD on BlackMagic Speedtest results. Worse than the NVMe drives are capable of, but MUCH better than I expected based on TB/USB limitations:

EXT R0: 5343 write, 4279 read
Mac Int: 5442 write, 5225 read

View attachment 2133704

How are you getting these speeds? Are the SSD's in a RAID 0?

Please advise, as the specs for the enclosure you listed doesn't line up with the speeds. I have a 980 that I am waiting for an enclosure fro that fully uses the potential
 

EzisAA

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2017
110
66
Riga, Latvia
How are you getting these speeds? Are the SSD's in a RAID 0?

Please advise, as the specs for the enclosure you listed doesn't line up with the speeds. I have a 980 that I am waiting for an enclosure fro that fully uses the potential
It's simpol Raid 0 😃 , I soming simular doing wih SD memory cards, when I need somsing faster then HDD for saving data in short time, last year when was covid lockdown.
 

poematik13

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2014
1,394
2,046
Oh, I see. Yeah hopefully CES 2023 this month shows new chipsets for TB4 enclosures that can actually saturate the nvme/PCIe 4.0 bandwitdh
 
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steve123

macrumors 65816
Aug 26, 2007
1,151
716
Oh, I see. Yeah hopefully CES 2023 this month shows new chipsets for TB4 enclosures that can actually saturate the nvme/PCIe 4.0 bandwitdh
I googled around but could only find recently announced hubs and docks. There doesn't appear to be any mention of improved TB4 device chipsets out of CES.
 

dickiedunn

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2019
120
2
I'm attempting to see if I can get by with my maxed out M2 MBA, coming from a 2012 cMP 5,1. I've got the Studio Display as well. I just bought the ACACIS tbu401 based on this thread and will pull the 2TB 970 Evo NVME stick from my old machine. I'm curious to see what speeds I'll get with the MBA. I assume it will be slower connected to the Studio Displays USB 3 ports but faster if I connect directly to the TB port on the MBA? Unfortunately I'm beginning to realize I should have gone with a MBP to get more ports. I"ll see how it goes.
 

Chancha

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2014
2,244
2,041
I'm attempting to see if I can get by with my maxed out M2 MBA, coming from a 2012 cMP 5,1. I've got the Studio Display as well. I just bought the ACACIS tbu401 based on this thread and will pull the 2TB 970 Evo NVME stick from my old machine. I'm curious to see what speeds I'll get with the MBA. I assume it will be slower connected to the Studio Displays USB 3 ports but faster if I connect directly to the TB port on the MBA? Unfortunately I'm beginning to realize I should have gone with a MBP to get more ports. I"ll see how it goes.
970 EVO Plus is known to not getting top of its potential speed in Macs for a variety of reasons. That said it should at least get 1000MB/s sequential with thinderbolt regardless.
 

dickiedunn

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2019
120
2
970 EVO Plus is known to not getting top of its potential speed in Macs for a variety of reasons. That said it should at least get 1000MB/s sequential with thinderbolt regardless.
I understand the 970 Evo Plus is maybe not the fastest NVME, but I already have it. I suppose what I'm wondering is where is the bottleneck? Won't it be on the USB-C ports on the studio display? I was planning on connecting the Acacis TB enclosure, out of the way to the back of the studio display.
 

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,364
276
NH
I think it was mention earlier or in another thread that, if you want optimum throughput you need to connect the NVME enclosures and studio display directly to the Studio. If you RAID them, you can get close to internal speeds. Connecting the display to a studio port can affect the NVME for some reason I don't recall off hand. There seems to be some black magic involved.
 
Last edited:

EzisAA

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2017
110
66
Riga, Latvia
I'm attempting to see if I can get by with my maxed out M2 MBA, coming from a 2012 cMP 5,1. I've got the Studio Display as well. I just bought the ACACIS tbu401 based on this thread and will pull the 2TB 970 Evo NVME stick from my old machine. I'm curious to see what speeds I'll get with the MBA. I assume it will be slower connected to the Studio Displays USB 3 ports but faster if I connect directly to the TB port on the MBA? Unfortunately I'm beginning to realize I should have gone with a MBP to get more ports. I"ll see how it goes.
SSD speed will be limited up 10Gb/s, but for 99% workload it's more than enough. Lots of video editors work from 10Gb/s network from a NAS.

Only difference you see when transferring large files, but remember your Samsung Evo Plus is only ~100GB SLC cache memory, after them anyway your writ speed will be drop to 1,5GB/s if you conenct direct to the Mac via Thunderbolt.

So in your scenary MBA + Studio Display + EVO Plus you will get about 800-1000 MB/s all time read and write speed
 

dickiedunn

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2019
120
2
Ok, following up. I purchased the ACACIS TB401E enclosure from Amazon. What's odd is what I received says TB401E, but it is tool less, so looks identical to the TB405. I'm not sure if there is a difference between them anymore?

In any case, I pulled my 2TB 970 EVO Plus stick from my cMP and hooked it up to the TB port on my M2 MBA. Read speeds are amazing at 2687 MB/Sec, at but the write speed is only 712 MB/Sec. Is this due to the enclosure? I was getting 1242 MB/Sec write speeds via Pcie on my cMP 5,1 so I don't think it is the 970 EVO Plus.

I then hooked it up to the USB C ports on the studio display and only see 587w/868r. I know USB C is slower, but is this the best I can expect connecting to the Studio Display ports?
 

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rworne

macrumors 6502a
Jul 23, 2002
653
124
Los Angeles
Ok, following up. I purchased the ACACIS TB401E enclosure from Amazon. What's odd is what I received says TB401E, but it is tool less, so looks identical to the TB405. I'm not sure if there is a difference between them anymore?

In any case, I pulled my 2TB 970 EVO Plus stick from my cMP and hooked it up to the TB port on my M2 MBA. Read speeds are amazing at 2687 MB/Sec, at but the write speed is only 712 MB/Sec. Is this due to the enclosure? I was getting 1242 MB/Sec write speeds via Pcie on my cMP 5,1 so I don't think it is the 970 EVO Plus.

I then hooked it up to the USB C ports on the studio display and only see 587w/868r. I know USB C is slower, but is this the best I can expect connecting to the Studio Display ports?
That write speed may be a false report, so don't give up yet.

Try a few different benchmarking tools. I had the OWC drive (4TB Envoy Pro FX) report perfectly using Black Magic and other times at 1/4 the speed. Every other utility I tried said it is saturating the port for both read and write.

Practical use tells me it's good as I can transfer large files from internal storage to external stupidly fast.
 

steve123

macrumors 65816
Aug 26, 2007
1,151
716
Ok, following up. I purchased the ACACIS TB401E enclosure from Amazon. What's odd is what I received says TB401E, but it is tool less, so looks identical to the TB405. I'm not sure if there is a difference between them anymore?

In any case, I pulled my 2TB 970 EVO Plus stick from my cMP and hooked it up to the TB port on my M2 MBA. Read speeds are amazing at 2687 MB/Sec, at but the write speed is only 712 MB/Sec. Is this due to the enclosure? I was getting 1242 MB/Sec write speeds via Pcie on my cMP 5,1 so I don't think it is the 970 EVO Plus.

I then hooked it up to the USB C ports on the studio display and only see 587w/868r. I know USB C is slower, but is this the best I can expect connecting to the Studio Display ports?
I seem to recall some earlier reports that there were issues with the 970 EVO Plus in the TB3 thread:
 

Chancha

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2014
2,244
2,041
O1CN016HCKYM1q7EYU1twzN_!!1108735448.jpg


This above image is taken from the official Acasis TMALL (Chinese Amazon) product page for TBU405:

The footnote #3 at the bottom says "981A, 970 evo plus when used on Macs, due to incompatibility the write speed is likely limited to approx 1200MB/s, and disconnection can happen".

I myself have a 2TB 970 EVO PLUS, I am using it in a WAVLINK UTE01 enclosure instead. Speed is as bad as listed but at least there is no random disconnection.
 

sam1057

macrumors newbie
Feb 2, 2023
1
0
Reporting a setup similar to another user on this forum:

- two separate Acacias TBU401E 40Gbps NVMe m.2 SSD TB4/USB 3.2 cases
- a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro in each case
- separate supplied TB4 cables into 2 separate TB4 ports
- Apple Studio Display in one TB4 port (OWC has a video showing that a TB3/4 display speeds up TB disk transfer speeds)
- rubber feet on the bottom of each case to allow some convection airflow (the m.2 card is on the bottom of the case, not the top)
View attachment 2133705

I achieved similar results as said poster, but I'm pleased as punch as they are a stone's throw from my 2TB internal SSD on BlackMagic Speedtest results. Worse than the NVMe drives are capable of, but MUCH better than I expected based on TB/USB limitations:

EXT R0: 5343 write, 4279 read
Mac Int: 5442 write, 5225 read

View attachment 2133704
Hey, I got interested in the RUBBER FEET that's attached to the ACASIS case.
Where did you buy it from?

Thanks!
 

Shamgar

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2015
198
170
Seeing as how my Thunderbolt devices occasionally disconnect while the Studio is sleeping, I'd be terrified to do any kind of RAID across multiple enclosures long term. RAID within same enclosure seems fine so far. Has anybody who daily drives a multiple-enclosure RAID for more than a few months encountered issues with array stability?
 

Ploki

macrumors 601
Jan 21, 2008
4,324
1,560
View attachment 2152177

This above image is taken from the official Acasis TMALL (Chinese Amazon) product page for TBU405:

The footnote #3 at the bottom says "981A, 970 evo plus when used on Macs, due to incompatibility the write speed is likely limited to approx 1200MB/s, and disconnection can happen".

I myself have a 2TB 970 EVO PLUS, I am using it in a WAVLINK UTE01 enclosure instead. Speed is as bad as listed but at least there is no random disconnection.
I bought 970 EVO plus to up storage on my EVO non plus, and it performed worse on my M1 so i returned it.
I replaced it with a 980 Pro instead. Speed is as expected.
 

OSXconvert

macrumors member
Apr 11, 2002
79
5
Brooklyn, NY
This looks great - I have the Acasis case also with a 2tb in there for a year now. I was also wondering since I have the OWC 4m2 enclosure I was testing, with 4 slots for NVME, it does have 2 thunderbolt output behind it and would be interesting to see the result if both were connected to the mac studio at the back via tb cables. Hoping I get similar speeds as you, maybe. I am waiting for some NVME drives to be delivered for the test.
Did you ever test the owc 4m2 with striped raid pairs? Curious if you can get speeds close to the separate Acasis enclosures striped over two separate tb4 channels. I’d imagine the owc allows a bit more convection cooling.
 

Gr1f

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2009
158
29
Hmm, wonder if it's worth upgrading my Sabrent TB3 enclosures Raid0 to These Acasis TB4 enclosures.... seems like I might double my speed.
 
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