USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[MIKX]

I just ordered this two x Type A ports USB 3.1 ASM3142 PCIe link width probably X2 from Aliexpress for US$13.55

Maker seems to be http://ssu-tech.com

How bad can it be for $13.55 ? Has a nice heatsink which I can probably change to a copper one.

Link : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32950854951.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4a264c4d55MFJG

Main use is for my dual slot external USB 3.1 UASP HD/SSD dock.

Knowing AliExpress delivery time I'll report back in 20 ~ 40 days . . . ?

The performance of the ASM3142 should be interesting with my Sandisk Ultra3D SSDs in the external dock.


=================================================

the above card will be a backup spare for my current tried & true Owltech ASM 1142 ( OWL-PCEXU31E2 ) which works very well but had no heatsink ( vital for hot Japanese summers ) and is probably only available in Japan where I live.

オウルテック USB3.1増設ボード ASMedia ASM1142採用 USB3.1 (Gen2)対応 ロープロファイルブラケット付き OWL-PCEXU31E2

オウルテック USB3.1増設ボード ASMedia ASM1142採用 USB3.1 (Gen2)対応 ロープロファイルブラケット付き OWL-PCEXU31E2

www.amazon.co.jp

 

[DearthnVader]

I got Usb Keyboards and Mice working in preboot when connected to a XHCI card, and the system does see the connect USB2 flash drive, but it doesn't map the file system on it for booting.

Soon........

 

[tommy chen]

Interesting. Did "system_profiler SPPCIDataType" report pci1b21,2142 ?

yes
[automerge]1577130266[/automerge]

what card is that on exactly?

RocketU 1344A 4-Port USB 3.1 PCI-Express 3.0 x4 USB Card - HighPoint Global Website

The RocketU 1344A is the latest iteration of HighPoint's industry-leading 4-port USB HBA's, and provides four dedicated USB 3.1 ports.

highpoint-tech.com

[automerge]1577130621[/automerge]

Whats with the watermarks so quick ?!?!

removed from the computer > photographed > photoshop watermark +g*

 

[tommy chen]

@MIKX

this card needs external power

 

[DearthnVader]

I was able to boot from a USB2 flash drive connected to a FL1100 XHCI card on my 3,1.

Tho I'm still having issues with USB2 flash drives not mapping early enough in the preboot to work without some hackery.

My USB3 to SATA enclosure seems to work just fine in USB3 or USB2 mode, it maps the drive early enough to boot from it, but I use it on PowerPC so it's APM, but I can see all the files and partitions from the EFI Shell, so I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work as a boot drive if I made it a GPT disk and installed a supported Intel OS.

I don't have any USB3 flash drives, so that is untested.

For the 5,1, bootable USB3 would require a firmware patch, as the UsbBus driver in the 5,1's firmware is not compatible with XHCI devices, causes a system hang. With the 3,1 it's not an issue, as the 3,1's UsbBus driver in firmware doesn't cause a boot hang, tho it doesn't support XHCI, you can load a newer UsbBus.efi driver externally.

The main benefit would be for people with 3,1/4,1/5,1 to be able to boot from XHCI devices, as they are much faster than the EHCI drives.

Please like this post if you have interest in bootable XHCI on our older Mac Pro's and if I get 10 likes I'll start a new thread on how to enable it. I don't know if anyone other than me and @LightBulbFun are interested in it.

I already have it working for me, so if no one else cares about it being bootable, I'll just leave it at that.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I got your PM! sorry been a bit busy today!

but very nice work

you should be able to boot mavericks or El cap or such from a USB 3.0 APM partitioned drive im pretty sure,

I was wondering what Chipset your card had, Im also using an FL1100 based XHCI card, as thats the same USB chipset apple used in the trash can as such is compatible with OS X etc

and also would have the best chance of working with the USB drives from its firmware

an interesting thing to test would be are USB 3.0 thunderbolt devices (say a TB dock or a PCIe card in suitable enclosure) based on the FL1100 chipset, bootable on say a 2012 MBP?

which has XHCI drivers, but IIRC no FL1100 specific drivers

 

[DearthnVader]

I got your PM! sorry been a bit busy today!

but very nice work

you should be able to boot mavericks or El cap or such from a USB 3.0 APM partitioned drive im pretty sure,

I was wondering what Chipset your card had, Im also using an FL1100 based XHCI card, as thats the same USB chipset apple used in the trash can as such is compatible with OS X etc

and also would have the best chance of working with the USB drives from its firmware

an interesting thing to test would be are USB 3.0 thunderbolt devices (say a TB dock or a PCIe card in suitable enclosure) based on the FL1100 chipset, bootable on say a 2012 MBP?

which IIRC has XHCI drivers, but no FL1100 specific drivers

I also have a very cheap USB-C card that has a USB-C port and I think a USB-A port, I get so confused.

It doesn't work with the macOS drivers at all, nor does it work in my linux box. It shows up as a XHCI device in both, but no drives connected to it show up at all.

Like I said, a very cheap card( $5 new on Ebay ). It must not comply with the XHCI standard, and it came with a driver mini CD with Windows and Linux drivers, but I don't have any use for Windows, and the install for Linux didn't seem to be that straightforward. I also don't think an XHCI card should require any drivers later Linux kernels don't provide.

I got that card first, and ran into the issue of the hanging XHCI.efi, then I figured it maybe the card, so I ordered the FL100 card because I knew it worked with the macOS drivers.

 

[joevt]

I just ordered this two x Type A ports USB 3.1 ASM3142 PCIe link width probably X2 from Aliexpress for US$13.55

How bad can it be for $13.55 ? Has a nice heatsink which I can probably change to a copper one.

The performance of the ASM3142 should be interesting with my Sandisk Ultra3D SSDs in the external dock.

the above card will be a backup spare for my current tried & true Owltech ASM 1142 ( OWL-PCEXU31E2 ) which works very well but had no heatsink ( vital for hot Japanese summers ) and is probably only available in Japan where I live.

The ASM3142 might be better than the ASM1142 but it will be limited to 8 Gbps in the cMP unless you have an external PCIe 3.0 slot. So 750 MB/s instead of 950 MB/s.

I was able to boot from a USB2 flash drive connected to a FL1100 XHCI card on my 3,1.

Tho I'm still having issues with USB2 flash drives not mapping early enough in the preboot to work without some hackery.

rEFInd had a scan_delay option for drives that don't show up early.

My USB3 to SATA enclosure seems to work just fine in USB3 or USB2 mode, it maps the drive early enough to boot from it, but I use it on PowerPC so it's APM, but I can see all the files and partitions from the EFI Shell, so I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work as a boot drive if I made it a GPT disk and installed a supported Intel OS.

Can't cMP boot from APM? It's been awhile since I had a APM disk. cMP can find EFI boot loaders on HFS disks if they are blessed properly.

I don't have any USB3 flash drives, so that is untested.

Kingston Data Traveller 100G3 16 GB or greater. Cheap and not the slowest.

For the 5,1, bootable USB3 would require a firmware patch, as the UsbBus driver in the 5,1's firmware is not compatible with XHCI devices, causes a system hang. With the 3,1 it's not an issue, as the 3,1's UsbBus driver in firmware doesn't cause a boot hang, tho it doesn't support XHCI, you can load a newer UsbBus.efi driver externally.

This is where a source code driver would help.

 

[DearthnVader]

The ASM3142 might be better than the ASM1142 but it will be limited to 8 Gbps in the cMP unless you have an external PCIe 3.0 slot. So 750 MB/s instead of 950 MB/s.



rEFInd had a scan_delay option for drives that don't show up early.


Can't cMP boot from APM? It's been awhile since I had a APM disk. cMP can find EFI boot loaders on HFS disks if they are blessed properly.


Kingston Data Traveller 100G3 16 GB or greater. Cheap and not the slowest.


This is where a source code driver would help.

I could likely boot from the APM disk, I just don't have any supported OS's installed on it, only PPC Tiger and OS 9.

I'll look into getting a USB3 flash drive to test.

One of my USB2 flash drives is the rEfInd rescue USB, I think it's El Torito file system, seems to work and is bootable from the rEFInd menu. The other is GPT Catalina installer made from @dosdude1's Catalina Patcher, that drive only maps if my USB3 SATA inclosure is connected.

 

[MIKX]

@MIKX

this card needs external power

I know. I ONLY use SATA powered cards

 

[tommy chen]

here i have the SSU card without external power

has USB 3.1 gen2 and a USB NVMe* will do 730 MB/s

* the same USB NVMe read/write about 900 MB/s at a HP1344A

 

[joevt]

here i have the SSU card without external power

has USB 3.1 gen2 and a USB NVMe* will do 730 MB/s
* the same USB NVMe read/write about 900 MB/s at a HP1344A

The SSU card will have the same or slightly better performance in a PCIe 3.0 slot than the HP1344A since they both use the same ASM3142. The HP1344A is better in a PCIe 2.0 slot because it has a PCIe switch to convert PCIe 3.0x2 to PCIe 2.0 x4.

 

[VaZ]

I know. I ONLY use SATA powered cards

Must be an old card to require external power like that. 75w is plenty UNLESS you need to charge a laptop thats 90w or something then i can see a reason for it.

 

[MIKX]

Here is my ( soon to be delivered ) ASM3142 SATA powered USB 3.1 card. 2 X Type A ports.
it will be useful both for my cMP and future Hackintosh.

I will post benchmarks after it arrives.

Having SATA power available is good insurance.

I will be using this card ONLY for USB 3/3.1 devices.

eg: External dual 2.5" & 3.5" USB UASP dock for SSDs. & also for USB 3.0 Mem sticks.

If it performs as advertised I will be more than happy.

 

[DearthnVader]

I got your PM! sorry been a bit busy today!

Never got your reply.

Edit:Sorry you never said you replied?

 

[serpico007]

Just picked up the Inateck model for my 3,1. Of course it worked without drivers and was easy to install.

Well, not the 2 minute upgrade as I thought it would take. This is my first time opening and installing an upgrade. So, after several Youtube videos later I still screwed this up. I used to build computers and knew I had to add the screw to keep the card steady. In my rush to install this card, I lost the screw in the case and after an hour of moving the case around, it showed up!

Then I remembered about the Apple bracket I removed first and why there is no need for screws to hold the cards. I noticed the video card had no screws too and thought at first WTF, this too? Haha. I can't believe this is my Christmas Day to remember.

 

[Sg335man]

Okay so will the ASM2142/ASM3142 chips be able to pull off 10GB/s where the ASM1142 will cap out at 8GB/s per port on the Mac Pro 5,1 ?

I'm using this card https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=657&area=en and it works wonderfully in Slot 3 with Link Width: x2 Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

Can you boot from an external device like a OWC Drive Dock with this card? Thanks DonH

 

[tsialex]

Can you boot from an external device like a OWC Drive Dock with this card? Thanks DonH

MP5,1 can only boot from the native sothbridge USB ports. No booting from PCIe USB cards.

 

[BelgianBoy]

Happy new year everybody!

I have cMP 5,1 with 140 bootrom. High Sierra. Installed SSD7101A with 2 EVO 970's.
Am runnig one EVO as bootdisc with no problem. Nice speeds...
Can I configure a bootdisc in raid 0?

Sorry if I am in the wrong thread.

 

[crjackson2134]

Sorry if I am in the wrong thread.

Happy New Year right back.

Yes,you are totally in the wrong thread. I’ll post back with a link later, if you can’t figure it out you then.

 

[Sg335man]

I am trying to find out what read write speed differences between The Sonnet PCIE Allegro USB 3.1 C 4 port and 2 port in practice, use. I am looking for a card that will support external Drive Docks. SSD and SATA. I guess with the CMP 2010 your limited USB wise. There is a big difference in cost despite the #of ports. Cheers DonH

 

[Slash-2CPU]

The Sonnet USB3C-2PM-E will deliver about 700-750MB/s(the limit of the 5,1's PCIe slot for these cards), but you will need a USB 3.1 Gen2 or 3.2 Gen2 to break 500MB/s.

USB3-4PM-E is Gen1, which will top out around 500MB/s.

USB3C-4PM-E is Gen2, just like the USB3C-2PM-E. Difference is it has two USB3.1 Gen2 controller chips. It can do 750MB/s on two drives at the same time, 1500MB/s total. It will not be any faster than the USB3C-2PM-E for a single drive.

If you're never going to put anything faster than a SATA-600 SSD on it, then it won't really matter.

Two good alternatives are Ableconn PU31-1A1C and PUSB31P2A. You do not need to connect the additional power port on the cards. They will both top out around 500MB/s.

 

[Sg335man]

The Sonnet USB3C-2PM-E will deliver about 700-750MB/s(the limit of the 5,1's PCIe slot for these cards), but you will need a USB 3.1 Gen2 or 3.2 Gen2 to break 500MB/s.

USB3-4PM-E is Gen1, which will top out around 500MB/s.

USB3C-4PM-E is Gen2, just like the USB3C-2PM-E. Difference is it has two USB3.1 Gen2 controller chips. It can do 750MB/s on two drives at the same time, 1500MB/s total. It will not be any faster than the USB3C-2PM-E for a single drive.

If you're never going to put anything faster than a SATA-600 SSD on it, then it won't really matter.

Two good alternatives are Ableconn PU31-1A1C and PUSB31P2A. You do not need to connect the additional power port on the cards. They will both top out around 500MB/s.

Many thanks For your help and time. Your advice and breakdown was excellent thank you. I am in the UK so finding Sonnet products there’s few have stock. Then sales tax 20% and they all hammer you with shipping here. The 4 port seems to offer most options but the 2 port alot more affordable. Thank You again
DonH

 

[flygbuss]

Is there an alternative to the Caldigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus or the NewerTech Card with USB 3.0/3.1 + esata?
I need a card that provides USB + bootable esata.

I have the Caldigit card and I need something similar for another 5,1.

I ordered a Startech PEXUSB311A1E for testing but I'm afraid it won't be bootable due to the lack of 'native' SATA.

Thanks in advance..

 

[Sg335man]

Is there an alternative to the Caldigit FASTA-6GU3 Plus or the NewerTech Card with USB 3.0/3.1 + esata?
I need a card that provides USB + bootable esata.

I have the Caldigit card and I need something similar for another 5,1.

I ordered a Startech PEXUSB311A1E for testing but I'm afraid it won't be bootable due to the lack of 'native' SATA.

Thanks in advance..

The CMP tower will not support 3.0 or 3.1 Booting from external devices. The necessary USB drivers only get loaded after the machine has Booted. Theres no card out there that can do this! The Startech you mentioned to my knowledge is not supportive of current Mac OS, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra.