USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[joevt]

Thanks for your reply. Not sure if the built in driver is working... I cant see the device in system report hardwear overview under PCI or USB devices. Should it appear? Do I need to load or check for the built in USB driver?
The card is installed in slot 3 and is providing power to USB devices plugged in, just not detecting...

What card exactly? It should appear under PCIe at least. Is your slot broken?

 

[timmeahh]

Thanks for your reply. Not sure if the built in driver is working... I cant see the device in system report hardwear overview under PCI or USB devices. Should it appear? Do I need to load or check for the built in USB driver?
The card is installed in slot 3 and is providing power to USB devices plugged in, just not detecting...

I've just reseated the card and now its detected in the PCI and USB hardware devices...perhaps that was the issue??

Shows up as PXS3 Card and USB3.1.. issue could be solved

Main reason for the Card is to attach several USB Audio devices, Will be interesting to see if performance improves.

 

[krishnaM]

Planning to get usb 3.2 with dedicated 10Gbps ports for my cMP 4.1-5.1 (mojave). I am thinking of getting either High Point 1344A or Ableconn PEX-UB 160. I prefer the Ableconn as it has both A & C type ports but haven't seen many reviews about it here. Also it has optional 15 pin power connector for SATA power. What is the purpose and when do I need to attach the power cable?

 

[0134168]

Planning to get usb 3.2 with dedicated 10Gbps ports for my cMP 4.1-5.1 (mojave). I am thinking of getting either High Point 1344A or Ableconn PEX-UB 160. I prefer the Ableconn as it has both A & C type ports but haven't seen many reviews about it here. Also it has optional 15 pin power connector for SATA power. What is the purpose and when do I need to attach the power cable?

If the power delivered by the pci socket is not enough for the connected usb device.

 

[krishnaM]

I just purchased the (Ableconn PEX-UB160 USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) 4-Port PCIe 3.0 Card (2X USB-C + 2X USB-A) - PCI Express Gen3 x4 Lane Host Adapter Card (Dual ASMedia ASM3142 Controllers) - 2A2C), are you referring to that one? Or which one are you referring?

Hi chuco915
I am considering the same Ableconn card for my cMP. Is it working good for you?

 

[chuco915]

Hi chuco915
I am considering the same Ableconn card for my cMP. Is it working good for you?

I tried this card "Ableconn PEX-UB160 USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) 4-Port PCIe 3.0 Card (2X USB-C + 2X USB-A) - PCI Express Gen3 x4 Lane Host Adapter Card (Dual ASMedia ASM3142 Controllers) - 2A2C" from Amazon but returned it.

It worked great but I couldn't get the best R/W performance from each port. I was hitting about 250/300 MBs for each port via the Blackmagic Speed Test app.

joevt​

sent instructions on how to get better speeds but I got lost in the instructions. I hope someone can create a video for others, like myself, that need a step by step process explanation.

I then decided to upgrade to the "Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge 2.0 Thunderbolt 3 USB-C 3.2 flashed Mac Pro BootScreen card", you can find on eBay, so I could attach an external GPU (RX580) via a Razer Core X. Usings dual GPU and HW Acc (in Resolve 17 and PR20) has helped my 4K/6K Braw/ProRes workflows tremendously. I'm still in disbelief that my 2009 cMP can handle all that data in record times.

I have two TB3 ports on the TR card. One goes to eGPU and the other goes to a "CalDigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 Dock" where I can attach my USB-A devices and one USB-C device. The speeds are about the same, for USB-A as before, 250/300 MBs with HDDs but when I attach a Sabrent Rocket Nano 1TB USB 3.2, I get about 700/800 MBs via the USB-C port.

Hope that helps.

FYI, the TR card needs warm boots before the TB3 Dock is stable, the guy who sells the card on eBay is very helpful and is constantly updating the card so we can have stable features. Going in that direction is not suitable for those wanting to "sleep" their machine. I'm sure there is a way to do it, but I just turn off my workstation every night; at least for now.

 

[krishnaM]

You type (copy and paste) the lines into Terminal.app one line at a time and press enter to execute the command.

First, setup boot-args. You might need to do this from the recovery partition if you don't have SIP disabled.

sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x144"

Then restart the computer.

Then do these commands:

git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree
git clone https://github.com/joevt/pciutils.git
cd pciutils
make
sudo make install
grep -q /usr/local/sbin /etc/paths || sudo sed -e $'1i\\\n/usr/local/sbin\\\n' -i "" /etc/paths
sudo update-pciids
cd ../pcitree
chmod +x pcitree.sh
sudo ./pcitree.sh

Hi joevt
I also purchased the Ableconn PEX-UB160 USB 3.2 Gen 2 for my cMP 4.1-5.1 at pci slot 3 (with Mojave and latest firmware 144.....) and was getting the max. read/write speeds around 750 MBs on a Samsung 970 evo nvme ssd in Orico enclosure.

I followed your instructions: disabled SIP...ran the nvram boot-args command and after restarting entered all the commands and saved the result as text doc. However for some reason I am unable to attach text doc to this message and I am copy/pasting the terminal window output:


Last login: Sat Jan 23 19:11:13 on console


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree


xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree


Cloning into 'pcitree'...


remote: Enumerating objects: 4, done.


remote: Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 4


Unpacking objects: 100% (4/4), done.


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ git clone https://github.com/joevt/pciutils.git


Cloning into 'pciutils'...


remote: Enumerating objects: 4301, done.


remote: Total 4301 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 4301


Receiving objects: 100% (4301/4301), 1.50 MiB | 1.20 MiB/s, done.


Resolving deltas: 100% (3180/3180), done.


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ cd pciutils


Krishnas-Mac-Prociutils krishna$ make


cd lib && ./configure


Configuring libpci for your system... x86_64--darwin 18.7.0 x86_64 darwin


Looking for access methods... darwin i386-ports dump


Checking for zlib support... no (auto-detected)


Checking for DNS support... no (auto-detected)


Checking whether to build a shared library... no (set manually)


/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/make -C lib all


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o init.o init.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o access.o access.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o generic.o generic.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o dump.o dump.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names.o names.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o filter.o filter.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names-hash.o names-hash.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names-parse.o names-parse.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names-net.o names-net.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names-cache.o names-cache.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o names-hwdb.o names-hwdb.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o params.o params.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o caps.o caps.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o i386-ports.o i386-ports.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o darwin.o darwin.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o DirectHW.o DirectHW.c


rm -f libpci.a


ar rcs libpci.a init.o access.o generic.o dump.o names.o filter.o names-hash.o names-parse.o names-net.o names-cache.o names-hwdb.o params.o caps.o i386-ports.o darwin.o DirectHW.o


ranlib libpci.a


sed <libpci.pc.in >libpci.pc -e 's,@PREFIX@,/usr/local,' \


-e 's,@INCDIR@,/usr/local/include,' \


-e 's,@LIBDIR@,/usr/local/lib,' \


-e 's,@IDSDIR@,/usr/local/share,' \


-e 's,@Version@,3.6.4,' \


-e 's,@LDLIBS@, -lresolv -framework CoreFoundation -framework IOKit,'


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o lspci.o lspci.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-vpd.o ls-vpd.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-caps.o ls-caps.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-caps-vendor.o ls-caps-vendor.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-ecaps.o ls-ecaps.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-kernel.o ls-kernel.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-tree.o ls-tree.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o ls-map.o ls-map.c


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o common.o common.c


gcc lspci.o ls-vpd.o ls-caps.o ls-caps-vendor.o ls-ecaps.o ls-kernel.o ls-tree.o ls-map.o common.o lib/libpci.a -lresolv -framework CoreFoundation -framework IOKit -o lspci


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o setpci.o setpci.c


gcc setpci.o common.o lib/libpci.a -lresolv -framework CoreFoundation -framework IOKit -o setpci


gcc -O2 -Wall -W -Wno-parentheses -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -c -o example.o example.c


gcc example.o lib/libpci.a -lresolv -framework CoreFoundation -framework IOKit -o example


M=`echo 2020-01-25 | sed 's/-01-/-January-/;s/-02-/-February-/;s/-03-/-March-/;s/-04-/-April-/;s/-05-/-May-/;s/-06-/-June-/;s/-07-/-July-/;s/-08-/-August-/;s/-09-/-September-/;s/-10-/-October-/;s/-11-/-November-/;s/-12-/-December-/;s/\(.*\)-\(.*\)-\(.*\)/\3 \2 \1/'` ; sed <lspci.man >lspci.8 "s/@today@/$M/;s/@Version@/pciutils-3.6.4/;s#@IDSDIR@#/usr/local/share#"


M=`echo 2020-01-25 | sed 's/-01-/-January-/;s/-02-/-February-/;s/-03-/-March-/;s/-04-/-April-/;s/-05-/-May-/;s/-06-/-June-/;s/-07-/-July-/;s/-08-/-August-/;s/-09-/-September-/;s/-10-/-October-/;s/-11-/-November-/;s/-12-/-December-/;s/\(.*\)-\(.*\)-\(.*\)/\3 \2 \1/'` ; sed <setpci.man >setpci.8 "s/@today@/$M/;s/@Version@/pciutils-3.6.4/;s#@IDSDIR@#/usr/local/share#"


M=`echo 2020-01-25 | sed 's/-01-/-January-/;s/-02-/-February-/;s/-03-/-March-/;s/-04-/-April-/;s/-05-/-May-/;s/-06-/-June-/;s/-07-/-July-/;s/-08-/-August-/;s/-09-/-September-/;s/-10-/-October-/;s/-11-/-November-/;s/-12-/-December-/;s/\(.*\)-\(.*\)-\(.*\)/\3 \2 \1/'` ; sed <pcilib.man >pcilib.7 "s/@today@/$M/;s/@Version@/pciutils-3.6.4/;s#@IDSDIR@#/usr/local/share#"


M=`echo 2020-01-25 | sed 's/-01-/-January-/;s/-02-/-February-/;s/-03-/-March-/;s/-04-/-April-/;s/-05-/-May-/;s/-06-/-June-/;s/-07-/-July-/;s/-08-/-August-/;s/-09-/-September-/;s/-10-/-October-/;s/-11-/-November-/;s/-12-/-December-/;s/\(.*\)-\(.*\)-\(.*\)/\3 \2 \1/'` ; sed <pci.ids.man >pci.ids.5 "s/@today@/$M/;s/@Version@/pciutils-3.6.4/;s#@IDSDIR@#/usr/local/share#"


sed <update-pciids.sh >update-pciids "s@^DEST=.*@DEST=/usr/local/share/pci.ids@;s@^PCI_COMPRESSED_IDS=.*@PCI_COMPRESSED_IDS=@"


chmod +x update-pciids


M=`echo 2020-01-25 | sed 's/-01-/-January-/;s/-02-/-February-/;s/-03-/-March-/;s/-04-/-April-/;s/-05-/-May-/;s/-06-/-June-/;s/-07-/-July-/;s/-08-/-August-/;s/-09-/-September-/;s/-10-/-October-/;s/-11-/-November-/;s/-12-/-December-/;s/\(.*\)-\(.*\)-\(.*\)/\3 \2 \1/'` ; sed <update-pciids.man >update-pciids.8 "s/@today@/$M/;s/@Version@/pciutils-3.6.4/;s#@IDSDIR@#/usr/local/share#"


Krishnas-Mac-Prociutils krishna$ sudo make install


Password:


/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/make -C lib all


make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.


install -d -m 755 /usr/local/sbin /usr/local/share /usr/local/man/man8 /usr/local/man/man7 //usr/local/man/man5


install -c -m 755 -s lspci setpci /usr/local/sbin


install -c -m 755 update-pciids /usr/local/sbin


install -c -m 644 pci.ids /usr/local/share


install -c -m 644 lspci.8 setpci.8 update-pciids.8 /usr/local/man/man8


install -c -m 644 pcilib.7 /usr/local/man/man7


install -c -m 644 pci.ids.5 /usr/local/man/man5


Krishnas-Mac-Prociutils krishna$ grep -q /usr/local/sbin /etc/paths || sudo sed -e $'1i\\\n/usr/local/sbin\\\n' -i "" /etc/paths


Krishnas-Mac-Prociutils krishna$ sudo update-pciids


sudo: update-pciids: command not found


Krishnas-Mac-Prociutils krishna$ cd ../pcitree


Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$ chmod +x pcitree.sh


Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$ sudo ./pcitree.sh


#=========================================================================================


Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$

I tried to re run the commands but I am getting this error message:​

Last login: Sat Jan 23 19:11:24 on ttys000


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree


fatal: destination path 'pcitree' already exists and is not an empty directory.


Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$

 

[joevt]

I tried to re run the commands but I am getting this error message:

Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree
fatal: destination path 'pcitree' already exists and is not an empty directory.

You already succeeding in downloading pcitree. You don't need to do git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree more than once.

Open a new Terminal.app window and do the following:

sudo update-pciids
cd pcitree
chmod +x pcitree.sh
sudo ./pcitree.sh

 

[krishnaM]

You already succeeding in downloading pcitree. You don't need to do git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree more than once.

Open a new Terminal.app window and do the following:

sudo update-pciids
cd pcitree
chmod +x pcitree.sh
sudo ./pcitree.sh

Do I need to have SIP disabled for these commands? I reenabled it last night:





Last login: Sat Jan 23 22:41:44 on console

Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ sudo update-pciids

Password:

% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current

Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed

100 264k 100 264k 0 0 185k 0 0:00:01 0:00:01 --:--:-- 185k

Done.

Krishnas-Mac-Pro:~ krishna$ cd pcitree

Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$ chmod +x pcitree.sh

Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$ sudo ./pcitree.sh

# Unexpected pattern DirectHW.kext not loaded.

sed: 1: /tmp/pcidevices1.txt: extra characters at the end of D command

#=========================================================================================

Krishnas-Mac-Procitree krishna$

 

[krishnaM]

I think Ableconn card doesn't have that PCIe 3.0 switch like 1344A, I am getting the Highpoint on Monday to see if that works better

 

[joevt]

Do I need to have SIP disabled for these commands? I reenabled it last night.

I keep SIP disabled so I don't know if it's required.
Don't do ./pcitree.sh until you know sudo lspci works.
You need the debug thing setup in the nvram boot-args variable. Use nvram boot-args to check that. It must show something like this:
boot-args debug=0x144
There may be other words in the boot-args, each separated by a space, like this (don't copy this):
boot-args -v keepsyms=1 debug=0x144 -no_compat_check maxmem=63488 nv_spanmodepolicy=1 nvda_drv=1

Please format your posts. Copy text from Terminal.app to TextEdit.app (switch to Plain Text) to make sure it's not triple spaced. Use [ code] and [ /code] around multiline text. use [ icode] and [ /icode] around single words or single line commands.

I think Ableconn card doesn't have that PCIe 3.0 switch like 1344A, I am getting the Highpoint on Monday to see if that works better

It must have a PCIe switch to have four USB ports using two ASM3142 controllers.

 

[krishnaM]

Hi joevt
Here is the pcitree with Ableconn card

 

[krishnaM]

Installed the Highpoint 1344A card and getting write/read speeds 905/890 MBs. I'll return the Ableconn

 

[chuco915]

Installed the Highpoint 1344A card and getting write/read speeds 905/890 MBs. I'll return the Ableconn

Can you summarize what you did to make this work? I get so confused with all the information available and while it's fresh in your mind, I wanted to know if you can share. Greatly appreciated.

 

[krishnaM]

I just followed joevt's instructions: disabled SIP...ran the boot args and after restart entered all other commands in terminal. For some reason it wasn't successful on first time but today I was able to get the pcitree.

 

[joevt]

Installed the Highpoint 1344A card and getting write/read speeds 905/890 MBs. I'll return the Ableconn

Good idea. The Ablecomm is crippled garbage. It's only connecting to your x4 slot using x2. They cheaped out on the PCIe switch.

│ │└┬03:00.0-[04-0c]  # g3x8 > g2x2    [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ ├┬04:00.0-[05]    # g3x2           [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ │└─05:00.0        # g3x2           [1b21:2142] [0c03]          USB controller            : ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
│ │ ├┬04:0c.0-[0a]    # g3x2           [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ │└─0a:00.0        # g3x2           [1b21:2142] [0c03]          USB controller            : ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller

It's obvious from the pictures that it's not using x4 (look at the traces and compare with PCIe x4 pinout on wikipedia - only the first two lanes are connected).

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81cj%2B4tXChL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71E1SoCcpzL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Also, the product description on the Amazon page says that it uses the ASMedia ASM2806A for the PCIe switch. The product page for that chip confirms that it's x2 upstream.

ASM2806A|ASMedia Technology Inc.

ASMedia Technology was founded in 2004 and went public in 2012 (stock code: 5269.TW). Headquarter is located in Taiwan. ASMedia specializes in high-speed interface technologies with strong expertise in high-speed SERDES in house development. Company strives for continual innovation and the...

www.asmedia.com.tw

Please show the pcitree for the HighPoint so we can see what a proper USB card looks like.

 

[chuco915]

I just followed joevt's instructions: disabled SIP...ran the boot args and after restart entered all other commands in terminal. For some reason it wasn't successful on first time but today I was able to get the pcitree.

After adding the command below:

sudo ./pcitree.sh

I get the error message below:

# Unexpected pattern DirectHW.kext not loaded.
sed: 1: /tmp/pcidevices1.txt: extra characters at the end of D command

Did you get the same error?

My pictree does not show up.

 

[chuco915]

Good idea. The Ablecomm is crippled garbage. It's only connecting to your x4 slot using x2. They cheaped out on the PCIe switch.

│ │└┬03:00.0-[04-0c]  # g3x8 > g2x2    [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ ├┬04:00.0-[05]    # g3x2           [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ │└─05:00.0        # g3x2           [1b21:2142] [0c03]          USB controller            : ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller
│ │ ├┬04:0c.0-[0a]    # g3x2           [1b21:2824] [0604] (rev 01) PCI bridge                : ASMedia Technology Inc. Device
│ │ │└─0a:00.0        # g3x2           [1b21:2142] [0c03]          USB controller            : ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller

It's obvious from the pictures that it's not using x4 (look at the traces and compare with PCIe x4 pinout on wikipedia - only the first two lanes are connected).

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81cj%2B4tXChL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71E1SoCcpzL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Also, the product description on the Amazon page says that it uses the ASMedia ASM2806A for the PCIe switch. The product page for that chip confirms that it's x2 upstream.

ASM2806A|ASMedia Technology Inc.

ASMedia Technology was founded in 2004 and went public in 2012 (stock code: 5269.TW). Headquarter is located in Taiwan. ASMedia specializes in high-speed interface technologies with strong expertise in high-speed SERDES in house development. Company strives for continual innovation and the...

www.asmedia.com.tw

Please show the pcitree for the HighPoint so we can see what a proper USB card looks like.

Hey Joevt,

Would running this code help me with the Titan Ridge V2, with thunderbolt 3? Or is this only for USB cards?

I ask because I'm running TB3 to an external TB3 hub and connecting a USB-C device to that and get R/W speeds of 100/300.

 

[joevt]

I tried this card "Ableconn PEX-UB160 USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) 4-Port PCIe 3.0 Card (2X USB-C + 2X USB-A) - PCI Express Gen3 x4 Lane Host Adapter Card (Dual ASMedia ASM3142 Controllers) - 2A2C" from Amazon but returned it.

It worked great but I couldn't get the best R/W performance from each port. I was hitting about 250/300 MBs for each port via the Blackmagic Speed Test app.

joevt​

sent instructions on how to get better speeds but I got lost in the instructions. I hope someone can create a video for others, like myself, that need a step by step process explanation.

300 MB/s sounds like PCIe 1.0 x2. Are you using the latest Mac Pro firmware for the MacPro5,1? It should automatically negotiate PCIe gen 3 devices at PCIe gen 2 speed. My MacPro3,1 negotiates gen 3 devices at gen 1 speed so I use PCIe commands in EFI or macOS to up it to gen 3.

I have two TB3 ports on the TR card. One goes to eGPU and the other goes to a "CalDigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 Dock" where I can attach my USB-A devices and one USB-C device. The speeds are about the same, for USB-A as before, 250/300 MBs with HDDs but when I attach a Sabrent Rocket Nano 1TB USB 3.2, I get about 700/800 MBs via the USB-C port.

Should be able to get 980 MB/s if the Titan Ridge is connected at PCIe 2.0 x4.

Would running this code help me with the Titan Ridge V2, with thunderbolt 3? Or is this only for USB cards?

I ask because I'm running TB3 to an external TB3 hub and connecting a USB-C device to that and get R/W speeds of 100/300.

What USB device? What speed is it connected at (show USB tab in System Information.app)?
You shouldn't have any problem with the Titan Ridge card if you have the latest firmware for MacPro5,1.
As for the pcitree commands, I just went through all this with krishnaM. Reread the last couple pages. Make sure debug=0x144 is in boot-args, and reboot.

 

[chuco915]

300 MB/s sounds like PCIe 1.0 x2. Are you using the latest Mac Pro firmware for the MacPro5,1? It should automatically negotiate PCIe gen 3 devices at PCIe gen 2 speed. My MacPro3,1 negotiates gen 3 devices at gen 1 speed so I use PCIe commands in EFI or macOS to up it to gen 3.


Should be able to get 980 MB/s if the Titan Ridge is connected at PCIe 2.0 x4.


What USB device? What speed is it connected at (show USB tab in System Information.app)?
You shouldn't have any problem with the Titan Ridge card if you have the latest firmware for MacPro5,1.
As for the pcitree commands, I just went through all this with krishnaM. Reread the last couple pages. Make sure debug=0x144 is in boot-args, and reboot.

Hello Joevt,

I'm running Mojave 10.14.6 (18G7016)

Here's a pic of my Rom

I followed your instructions from a previous post and attached the Git Clone output I get.

I also attached the output for sude update-pcilids

My SIP is disabled

I did the nvram step and did the restart and started with the Git code and I attached that here.

Should I run again? starting with the nvram step?

 

[chuco915]

300 MB/s sounds like PCIe 1.0 x2. Are you using the latest Mac Pro firmware for the MacPro5,1? It should automatically negotiate PCIe gen 3 devices at PCIe gen 2 speed. My MacPro3,1 negotiates gen 3 devices at gen 1 speed so I use PCIe commands in EFI or macOS to up it to gen 3.


Should be able to get 980 MB/s if the Titan Ridge is connected at PCIe 2.0 x4.


What USB device? What speed is it connected at (show USB tab in System Information.app)?
You shouldn't have any problem with the Titan Ridge card if you have the latest firmware for MacPro5,1.
As for the pcitree commands, I just went through all this with krishnaM. Reread the last couple pages. Make sure debug=0x144 is in boot-args, and reboot.

I'm connecting the media sonic via USB-C output to my TB3 hub that then goes into Titan Ridge V2 via TB3 cable.

 

[chuco915]

300 MB/s sounds like PCIe 1.0 x2. Are you using the latest Mac Pro firmware for the MacPro5,1? It should automatically negotiate PCIe gen 3 devices at PCIe gen 2 speed. My MacPro3,1 negotiates gen 3 devices at gen 1 speed so I use PCIe commands in EFI or macOS to up it to gen 3.


Should be able to get 980 MB/s if the Titan Ridge is connected at PCIe 2.0 x4.


What USB device? What speed is it connected at (show USB tab in System Information.app)?
You shouldn't have any problem with the Titan Ridge card if you have the latest firmware for MacPro5,1.
As for the pcitree commands, I just went through all this with krishnaM. Reread the last couple pages. Make sure debug=0x144 is in boot-args, and reboot.

USB Systeme Information below:

 

[chuco915]

You type (copy and paste) the lines into Terminal.app one line at a time and press enter to execute the command.

First, setup boot-args. You might need to do this from the recovery partition if you don't have SIP disabled.

sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x144"

Then restart the computer.

Then do these commands:

git clone https://gist.github.com/e3cd4ff08aae06279134969c98ca3ab7.git pcitree
git clone https://github.com/joevt/pciutils.git
cd pciutils
make
sudo make install
grep -q /usr/local/sbin /etc/paths || sudo sed -e $'1i\\\n/usr/local/sbin\\\n' -i "" /etc/paths

Then close the terminal window, open a new terminal window and do these commands:

sudo update-pciids
cd pcitree
chmod +x pcitree.sh
sudo ./pcitree.sh

I did the code sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x144"

and added the TextEdit file that shows what I get once I restart the computer.

I also added the instruction to close the terminal window after adding the git clone steps.

My Sip is disabled because I use OpenCore for Boot Screen, HW Acc with Titan Ridge Card V2.

 

[chuco915]

300 MB/s sounds like PCIe 1.0 x2. Are you using the latest Mac Pro firmware for the MacPro5,1? It should automatically negotiate PCIe gen 3 devices at PCIe gen 2 speed. My MacPro3,1 negotiates gen 3 devices at gen 1 speed so I use PCIe commands in EFI or macOS to up it to gen 3.


Should be able to get 980 MB/s if the Titan Ridge is connected at PCIe 2.0 x4.


What USB device? What speed is it connected at (show USB tab in System Information.app)?
You shouldn't have any problem with the Titan Ridge card if you have the latest firmware for MacPro5,1.
As for the pcitree commands, I just went through all this with krishnaM. Reread the last couple pages. Make sure debug=0x144 is in boot-args, and reboot.

My TR card is in slot 4.

In slot 3, I have a Sonnet Presto Solo, is there a way to increase these speeds in Slot 3?

 

[joevt]

I'm running Mojave 10.14.6 (18G7016)

Mojave is good enough for the pciutils access method that uses AppleACPIPlatformExpert.

Here's a pic of my Rom

Looks like you have the latest rom so these PCIe commands are probably not helpful unless you want to reduce the PCIe link width (to test performance with slower slots)

media sonic

What kind of drives does it contain? Is it RAID 0? What speed are you expecting?

USB Systeme Information below:

Ok. It says it's connected at 10 Gbps.

I did the code sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x144"

You didn't check if it got saved by typing nvram boot-args

My Sip is disabled because I use OpenCore for Boot Screen, HW Acc with Titan Ridge Card V2.

OpenCore may be blocking you from changing nvram. In that case, add debug=0x144 to boot-args in OpenCore config file.

I have a Sonnet Presto Solo, is there a way to increase these speeds in Slot 3?

I dunno. Probably not. You didn't show the PCI link speed (in System Information.app) or the max pci link speed (in pcitree output).