USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[EugW]

Might be helpful MSI info:

Handling and Routing Interrupts

Explains an external expansion interface for improving transfer speed between devices.

developer.apple.com

Thanks, but I'm a n00b at this sort of stuff, so that page is way over my head.

All I can say for sure is the FL1100 based KT4006 which has MSI is way faster (with native El Capitan drivers) than my NEC 720700 based DUB-1310 (with 3rd party kext), even with my slow 1X PCIe 1.0 slot.

 

[joevt]

Why? The photo of the chip is on Sonnet’s website on the card. Order one and prove me wrong. All you have to do is zoom in. The part number is on it. It’s definitely a photo, not a rendering. There’s visible dust specks on the card.

Other tell that it’s not a PCIe 3.0 switch is there’s no heatsink on it. A 3-port, 8-lane(2/2/4) 3.0 switch will be a 3-6 watt part and will need a heatsink.

Here: I cleaned up the image to make it really easy. There’s no other part from that manufacturer that matches those alphanumerics.

I can't see the markings on the Asmedia chips in that picture, so I don't know if it's the older dual ASM1142 card or the newer dual ASM3142 card.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

I can't see the markings on the Asmedia chips in that picture, so I don't know if it's the older dual ASM1142 card or the newer dual ASM3142 card.

What PCIe switch is on the 1142 card? If it’s not the PI7C9X2G308GPANJE with 1142, then that’s the 3142 card we’re looking at in these photos.

I also do not see any switches that are 2.0/3.0 mixed. The fact that the card has 2.0 on the edge connector, I seriously doubt it has 3.0 internally.

 

[ruben_ruben]

Hello, this is an extremely long thread - may be someone can help me directly. I am looking for a PCIe Card with USB 3.1 or 3.2 for a Mac Pro 1,1 2006 with Firmware 2,1 running Mac OS El Capitan. I am already using the Inateck KT4004 - it works fine, but I am wondering if USB 3.1 also would be possible or reasonable. Maybe the PCI1 Slots can't handle anyway the speed of USB 3.1.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Hello, this is an extremely long thread - may be someone can help me directly. I am looking for a PCIe Card with USB 3.1 or 3.2 for a Mac Pro 1,1 2006 with Firmware 2,1 running Mac OS El Capitan. I am already using the Inateck KT4004 - it works fine, but I am wondering if USB 3.1 also would be possible or reasonable. Maybe the PCI1 Slots can't handle anyway the speed of USB 3.1.

I used to have this card down below. It works really great on Mac Pro 5.1, so I can recommend it. Chances are high that it will work on a MP1.1 as well. I still have it, but I will replace it with a Modded Gigabyte Titan Ridge card for Thunderbolt 2/3 and USB-C via Open Core.

USB 3.1 Card - 5-Port PCIe USB C&A + IDC - USB 3.0 Cards | Add-on Cards & Peripherals | StarTech.com

USB 3.1 PCIe Card - 5 Port - USB 3.1 10Gbps - 1x USB-C, 2x USB-A + 1x 2 Port IDC 5Gbps - USB-C Card - USB 3.1 Controller - PCI Express USB 3.1 Card

www.startech.com

If you can run 10.8 on your Mac Pro 1.1, you can run this card as verified above...

 

[VaZ]

That looks Identical to my card which works wonderfully for years even on older osx systems using GenericUSBXHCI.kext https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=657&area=en

 

[jscipione]

Hello, this is an extremely long thread - may be someone can help me directly. I am looking for a PCIe Card with USB 3.1 or 3.2 for a Mac Pro 1,1 2006 with Firmware 2,1 running Mac OS El Capitan. I am already using the Inateck KT4004 - it works fine, but I am wondering if USB 3.1 also would be possible or reasonable. Maybe the PCI1 Slots can't handle anyway the speed of USB 3.1.

There are a couple of ASM1142 based USB 3.1gen2 cards that will theoretically go faster than the FL1100-based Inateck KT4004 card that you currently have, BUT, they tend to require macOS 10.12+ for driver support and you won’t get any speed benefit out of them on the PCIe 1.1 bus present on your Mac Pro 1,1. So the KT4004 is probably your best bet on that machine.

 

[yurc]

BT is weak on cMP. USB 3.0 interferes.

Re-routing to external antenna is only way to get strong bluetooth connection without interference. Default antenna on 5,1 are rather poor enclosed within PCIe cage.

Mine is connected to antenna like this, sat behind my monitor. Works very great, even I went overkill with high dBi antenna. I can wake up my computer from my front yard lol

This is also eschew wired keyboard previously required to access recovery mode / special keys. I can confirmed able to enter recovery and doing operation such as reset NVRAM. Might need upgraded Broadcom BT4 /wi-fi ac card.

 

[BigSteel]

I searched a bit and found some info about 20 pages ago, but the discussion is pretty here-and-there.
I'm looking to put together an external 2.5 inch SSD RAID (Samsung 860 EVO 1TB x ... 4?).

I picked up a couple of these drives a few days ago to use in a Convergent Design Odyssey 7q recorder/monitor, but after trying all manner of ways to get it working, got a support message saying that the CV qualified 860 drives all have 'S3' serial numbers, and then Samsung went and made 'S4' and 'S5' versions that also have slightly different internals that are no longer recognised by the recorder. But now instead of return them I'm thinking of just making a (somewhat) cheap external RAID 0 box for video editing.

It seems like USB 3.2 2x2 20 Gbps cards don't work, eh? All the cards I ran across require a PCE 3.0 x4 connection, which the 5,1 doesn't have. Is the fastest single-connection external speed we can get out of the 5,1 10Gbps?

 

[VaZ]

x2 slot should get you around 8 Gbps, or 1 GB/s.

 

[BigSteel]

x2 slot should get you around 8 Gbps, or 1 GB/s. View attachment 963584

It looks like the 10 Gbps Sonnet drives use either a PCI 2.0 x 4, or PCI 3.0 x 2 connection, so isn't a max of 2 GB/s theoretically possible (minus overhead)? As long as the drives support those speeds...

Anyone have any experience with the Sonnet Fusion Dual? Being able to have two SSDs in RAID 0 and still have a 10 Gbps port seems nice, as long as one can fit it in their case...I have an RX 580 in there now. Might be tight...

 

[mandofab]

Hi all

I've just treated myself to a Silverstone ECU05 USB 3.0 & 3.1 card which seems to work fine with my MacPro 5,1, but I'm at a total loss as to how to route the cable from a usb 3.0 front panel in the DVD bay to the card. The hole for the DVD SATA cable is too small to get the plug through. Do I have to do a full teardown?

 

[jscipione]

I've just treated myself to a Silverstone ECU05 USB 3.0 & 3.1 card which seems to work fine with my MacPro 5,1, but I'm at a total loss as to how to route the cable from a usb 3.0 front panel in the DVD bay to the card. The hole for the DVD SATA cable is too small to get the plug through. Do I have to do a full teardown?

See this post which hopefully you’ll still be able to see the photos: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...o.1501482/page-94?post=27301538#post-27301538

The hole in the back is tight but there is just enough room to fit a sata cable through. I suggest using a braided cable to prevent fire. Are you able to fit the usb header connector through? If notit’s going to be really hard to route the cable.

 

[mandofab]

Many thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately the 20 pin data plug is a bit thicker than the SATA plug. I might have to break out the hacksaw!

 

[VaZ]

Hi all

I've just treated myself to a Silverstone ECU05 USB 3.0 & 3.1 card which seems to work fine with my MacPro 5,1, but I'm at a total loss as to how to route the cable from a usb 3.0 front panel in the DVD bay to the card. The hole for the DVD SATA cable is too small to get the plug through. Do I have to do a full teardown?

That's the same card i posted a few pages back and i've never attached extra sata power and everything works perfect.

 

[jscipione]

According to https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=657&area=en

The Silverstone ECU05 card includes two chipsets. The ASM1142 chipset has drivers installed for macOS but the VIA chipset does not, so I’m not sure that all of the USB ports will work on that card in macOS. You said everything works perfect so maybe I’m wrong about that...

USB 3.0 controller

VIA Lab VL812

USB 3.1 controller

ASMedia ASM1142

 

[VaZ]

According to https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=657&area=en

The Silverstone ECU05 card includes two chipsets. The ASM1142 chipset has drivers installed for macOS but the VIA chipset does not, so I’m not sure that all of the USB ports will work on that card in macOS. You said everything works perfect so maybe I’m wrong about that...

USB 3.0 controller

VIA Lab VL812

USB 3.1 controller

ASMedia ASM1142

All 5 ports work great using the expansion header for 2 more 3.0 ports. After reading that page i'm guessing the extra sata power is for the dedicated fast charging port which i don't use to charge iPads/Notebooks

PXS3:
Type: USB eXtensible Host Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-3
Vendor ID: 0x1b21
Device ID: 0x1242
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1b21
Subsystem ID: 0x1242
Revision ID: 0x0000
Link Width: x2
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

 

[mandofab]

All 5 ports work great using the expansion header for 2 more 3.0 ports. After reading that page i'm guessing the extra sata power is for the dedicated fast charging port which i don't use to charge iPads/Notebooks

PXS3:
Type: USB eXtensible Host Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-3
Vendor ID: 0x1b21
Device ID: 0x1242
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1b21
Subsystem ID: 0x1242
Revision ID: 0x0000
Link Width: x2
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

Hi Vaz

How did you manage to route the data cable for the expansion header?

 

[VaZ]

Hi Vaz

How did you manage to route the data cable for the expansion header?

With one of these

 

[joevt]

The Silverstone ECU05 card includes two chipsets. The ASM1142 chipset has drivers installed for macOS but the VIA chipset does not, so I’m not sure that all of the USB ports will work on that card in macOS. You said everything works perfect so maybe I’m wrong about that...

USB 3.0 controller

VIA Lab VL812

USB 3.1 controller

ASMedia ASM1142

The 3.0 controller is actually just a USB 3.0 hub connected to the 3.1 controller. It follows the USB spec so it should be able to use the normal USB driver.
The 3.1 controller is a XHCI controller. It follows the XHCI spec, so it should be able to use the normal USB XHCI driver.

 

[mandofab]

With one of these
View attachment 965769

The USB ports are mounted in the DVD bay on a 3.5 to 5.25 adapter and the only route for the data cable is throught the hole used by the DVD cable - too small for the connectors to fit through. I'd have gone for your solution if I'd had any spare slots.

 

[trifero]

I have a FASTA-6GU3 Plus. Try it.

 

[Chrisl33]

I purchased a NewerTech Maxpower USB PCIe card for my Mac Pro 2012, 5.1 computer running Mojave.

I have tried it in slot 4 and slot 3 but it is not recognized, there is power to a USB external drive but the drive does not show on the desktop or the card in the system profiler.

I tried the card in a Mac Pro 2008, 3.1 running El Capitan and the card shows in profiler and the hard drive appears on the desktop.

The problem is not the card, any ideas what could be wrong?

Any help appreciated,
Thanks Chris

 

[ijnad51]

Hi everyone in this amazing thread. I purchased a KT4004 recently for my Mac Pro 2009 (4.1 flashed to 5.1) running 10.13 and.... am confused. Eventually i got it to show up, and some drives i have on hand will mount from it. But others, including some usb sticks, won't, ever.

After doing some speed tests it seems like i'm topping out around 40ish MBps, which is admittedly a bit faster than the 32ish i'm getting on the original USB 2.0 ports with the same drive, but i'm suspicious that that could be just a difference of system overhead on the controllers, and that i'm not actually getting USB 3 on the card.

Seeing that some people don't seem to get these Inateck cards to work on every machine i'd be content to return this card and get another one, probably one of the newer chipset cards i'm guessing (recommendations welcome!). But thought i'd ask first if there are any other troubleshooting procedures anyone's had luck with getting the KT4004 to work on 10.13, suggestions for things to try while i've got it, or ultimately, ideas for another card to try. (This FebSmart card caught my eye, anyone try it?)

The card shows this in system info btw:

PXS2:
Type: USB eXtensible Host Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-2
Vendor ID: 0x1b73
Device ID: 0x1100
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1b73
Subsystem ID: 0x1100
Revision ID: 0x0010
Link Width: x1
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

 

[Macschrauber]

I purchased a NewerTech Maxpower USB PCIe card for my Mac Pro 2012, 5.1 computer running Mojave.

I have tried it in slot 4 and slot 3 but it is not recognized, there is power to a USB external drive but the drive does not show on the desktop or the card in the system profiler.

I tried the card in a Mac Pro 2008, 3.1 running El Capitan and the card shows in profiler and the hard drive appears on the desktop.

The problem is not the card, any ideas what could be wrong?

Any help appreciated,
Thanks Chris

have you checked the Slots, do other cards work in them?

have you tried the card in Slot 1 or 2?

I got a backplane with broken Slot 3/4 Switch chip, so maybe a faulty backplane.