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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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In case you missed it when I posted earlier, there are some reasons why USB 3.0 might be really slow listed here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201163
Trying on a different computer is a good idea. I'd also remove anything else in the USB 3.0 chain (hub, memory card reader, etc.)
Here in the forums I've also seen a USB 3.0 card conflict with an OWC PCIe SATA card, with the result being that the USB 3.0 drives were really slow.
If you had a $5 enclosure from Ebay, I'd probably blame that--but I'm sure the stuff that WD MyBook uses is of reasonable quality.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
Yes, I am sure. And yes, it is Asmedia 1142 chipset, the only USB 3.1 chipset for now in the market.
I've had mine for about a week now (installed in 3,1). Haven't really put it through it's paces yet, though I'm fairly certain that it is more than I need in this particular cMP.New Sonnet USB 3.0 card launched. Now with dedicated controller for each port and UASP support.
Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe
Well that is why I bought the card because i thought it was designed to work with the pro.
There are a few threads on the Inateck forums with the same info that the card won't work. Im not disputing that yours doesn't work, I can only go with the fact mine doesn't.
I bought the card from amazon looks just like this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ports-Inate...qid=1432302118&sr=8-1&keywords=inateck+kt4004
Im at work atm so will have to have a look at the revision when I get back.
I have a 5,1 2010 Mac Pro upgraded with a hex 3.46ghz 48gb ram.
When you upgraded to yosemite was it a clean install or an upgrade from mavericks? Ive just got the machine so its a fresh install of yosemite. Wonder if the drivers transfer? I have a drive with Mavericks so I will give that a go later too.
I also have a 2008 oct 2.8 so il give it a go in that too.
Like I said the card is showing but doesn't recognise any devices, just frustrating.
Well, perhaps you simply got or choose the WRONG CARD!
I got 2 cards - one was for the MAC (which still works very well) and another one was the wrong one (did NOT work, because someone at Amazon packed the wrong one) which was exclusively for WINDOWS. Shurly, the latter does not work - sent it back and got the right one.
There are also nearly identical PCI-cards from Inatech for WINDOWS!
So - make shure you got the right PCI-card (the KT 4004 and NOT the wrong one)
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00B6ZCNGM?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
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Apologies if this was mentioned somewhere but search came up with nothing and at 58 pages it's a bit too much hunting...
Looking at the Oculus Rift CV1, it will require 2 USB 3 ports (+ a USB 2 for controller, and I am assuming a 3rd USB 3 for a second tracking camera eventually...).
I'm drawn towards the Inateck 4004 since no power cables is always a good thing (especially since I would have to draw off the DVD bay(s), and that means making some custom cables to keep things clean...), but it's a single controller for all 4 ports... if running 2 or 3 devices I'm thinking that might bottleneck a bit (all speculative of course, but it needs USB 3 for a reason...).
It looks like USB 3.1 cards are landing soon and that should theoretically help a bit but is pricing expected to be sky high? And I'm guessing they'll need power as well. Would love to get a card sooner rather than later for other things, but I've lived without USB 3 on my desktops so far so it's not critical until CV1 lands.
Also compatibility, I hear conflicting reports regarding the inateck and Yosemite. None should really have an issue through bootcamp since it's just windows drivers at that point, but would really like everything working everywhere.
Thoughts, suggestions, etc? Waiting obviously makes sense since nothing is set in stone and it's not critical yet, but do we think 3.1 will be crazy expensive and/or help with multi-device bottlenecks (as opposed to multi-controller 3.0 cards). Can cards be expected to work in 10.10.3+ or do I need to do more research or spend more to get compatibility?
Looking at the Oculus Rift CV1, it will require 2 USB 3 ports (+ a USB 2 for controller, and I am assuming a 3rd USB 3 for a second tracking camera eventually...).
I'm drawn towards the Inateck 4004 since no power cables is always a good thing (especially since I would have to draw off the DVD bay(s), and that means making some custom cables to keep things clean...), but it's a single controller for all 4 ports... if running 2 or 3 devices I'm thinking that might bottleneck a bit (all speculative of course, but it needs USB 3 for a reason...).
It looks like USB 3.1 cards are landing soon and that should theoretically help a bit but is pricing expected to be sky high? And I'm guessing they'll need power as well. Would love to get a card sooner rather than later for other things, but I've lived without USB 3 on my desktops so far so it's not critical until CV1 lands.
Also compatibility, I hear conflicting reports regarding the inateck and Yosemite. None should really have an issue through bootcamp since it's just windows drivers at that point, but would really like everything working everywhere.
Thoughts, suggestions, etc? Waiting obviously makes sense since nothing is set in stone and it's not critical yet, but do we think 3.1 will be crazy expensive and/or help with multi-device bottlenecks (as opposed to multi-controller 3.0 cards). Can cards be expected to work in 10.10.3+ or do I need to do more research or spend more to get compatibility?
I would definitely get a multi-controller card in your scenario.
I used Black Magic speed test using a single-controller card with two external drives. I also tested speed through real-life test by copying files from internal drives to both external drives at the same time.
We might expect the USB 3.0 bandwidth to be split in half between the two external drives, but this is not what happened. In both tests, whichever drive started first ran at its typical full speed, and the second drive ran at an extremely slow speed.
After the first drive finished, there was inconsistent results. Sometimes, rarely, the second drive would then speed up. But most of the time, it stayed at its extremely slow speed until it finished the transfer.
These drives are both rotational drives that get about 170MB/s over USB 3.0. There should be enough bandwidth for two drives to run at their normal speed if the multiplexer was able to share the bandwidth evenly, but it doesn't seem to be able to. In fact, it doesn't even seem to be able to recover well from two ports being used simultaneously.
In my case this is no big deal as only one drive is ever hooked up; the other drive is hooked up to a different Mac. In your case, with two to three devices specified for USB 3.0 and which will definitely be used at the same time, I would unquestionably get a multi-controller card.
If you need a card now, the HighPoint RocketU 1144C would be a good choice. It is a multi-controller USB 3.0 card that doesn't require supplemental power and that uses native drivers in OS X. I don't have personal experience with it, but it comes highly recommended from CRJackson, and he's probably the most knowledgeable and trustworthy person on the topic of USB in the Mac Pro.
If you have time to wait, you could hold out for a multi-controller USB 3.1 card that doesn't require supplemental power and that uses native drivers in OS X. I'm assuming these doesn't exist quite yet, but I admit I am not really following the USB 3.1 thread (I don't have any 3.1 devices). If they turn out to be crazy expensive, you can always default back to the 3.0 card.
I've never had any problems with the Inateck card but I've run across about 5 people who have. It's an inexpensive, well built card but the growing number of people who've had issues, and your requirement for multiple port use leaves me uneasy at recommending it to you. In all likelihood it would work just fine, but one never knows about any of these USB 3.0 cards and their compatibility with untested devices.
In your case, if it were me, I would go with the RocketU 1144C. This card has had near perfect performance for me. The one exception has been an on/off issue with a Seagate Backup+ Desktop 4GB drive. This drive has fooled me several times into thinking it's fine, only to suddenly fail to transfer files and disconnect. I've never had that issue out of any other drive (including other seagate usb 3.0 drives). I've chalked it up to drive enclosure issues but short of ripping it out and putting it in a different enclosure I can't prove it (it's under warranty, and not a big issue for me).
I haven't yet tested it, but I believe an equally capable card would be the new Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0. This card also has 4 independent controllers (Fresco Logic). I haven't personally got one of these yet, but my confidence is high based on Sonnet's single controller card with the Fresco Logic chip.
If I were in your shoes, I'd probably purchase from a well known vendor where returns would be painless, grab one of the cards and test it. If it doesn't fit your needs, return it and try the other. One thing I've learned about USB 3.0 is that no card is perfect for everyone. It's kind of like blood pressure medicine, you have to find what works specifically for you.
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Thanks guys, great info and even greater help. Combining the 2, since I'm not in a rush until the Rift is about to land I'm going to hold off and hope that 3.1 cards become available before then. If their price is stupid high then I'll fall back on the 3.0 cards recommended and do some trial and error (happy to guinea pig this since I've gotta make it work one way or another) through amazon or newegg and sort out what plays nicest. My suspicion is that the rift is requiring 3.0 for latency rather than raw bandwidth, so I think even a single controller 3.0 will probably work fine BUT there's zero way to know until the hardware is in hand and I can do some actual testing.
Final question: Are there any known hardware incompatibility issues between cards and specific mac pro models (i.e. 1,1 vs. 5,1) or are all the compatibility issues just drivers or device quirks (which are pretty common in windows too... what is up with 3.0 being so wonky?)
Final question: Are there any known hardware incompatibility issues between cards and specific mac pro models (i.e. 1,1 vs. 5,1) or are all the compatibility issues just drivers or device quirks (which are pretty common in windows too... what is up with 3.0 being so wonky?)
Just understand that the cards with 4 controllers are PCIe 2.0 4x lane cards. They will work in the early MPs but be mindful of the slot you install it in (PCIe 1 vs. PCIe 2), and the OS version (for proper driver support).
Ah thanks, I completely forgot about the lane stuff. I think the 1,1 is only PCIe 1.0 as well. Not a huge deal, just want to know about viability of swapping the USB card into the old system if required at some point (for some external driver work or whatever).
It should function fine as long as the OS supports it.
RocketU 1144C needs OS X 10.9+
Inateck KT4004 & Sonnet Allegro Pro need OS X 10.8.2+ for out of the box support.
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Once again the "Edit" button has disappeared on the first post, so I am no longer able to update the first post thread summary unless it magically reappears again (as it has once before).
If anyone knows what makes that go away and come back, I'd love to know.
If anyone knows what makes that go away and come back, I'd love to know.
I just reported the issue, and requested that be corrected. Hopefully soon...
They just fixed it now by converting it to a wiki post.
Although .... it appears everyone here can edit it as well ... I see the "EDIT" button as well on the first post of this thread.
A while back when you asked me to take over that post, I inquired about it. The moderator told me he wouldn't mind but it could only work if converted to a wiki. I declined because I personally felt that the content should be handled by one or two people only. Now it seems this is the only way. I don't think it's ideal, but we'll see what happens next.
It looks like I can toggle the wiki status. So if there are problems with abusive editing I'll just toggle Wiki status off and then only toggle it on when I make updates myself.
CRJackson, please feel free to make any corrections, additions, or any other kind of improvements any time.
If I install a HighPoint RocketU 1144C USB 3.0 card into my 2008 Mac Pro and use a PCIe 1.1 4x slot, will the aggregate 10 Gb/s bandwidth limit each of the four USB ports to 2.5 Gb/s or will the card support up to 2 ports at the full 5 Gb/s each simultaneously?
Both PCIe 2.0 slots are already in use, otherwise this would not be an issue.
Both PCIe 2.0 slots are already in use, otherwise this would not be an issue.
I don't have access to an older MP for testing. It should still allow all ports to work 1/2 speed, but I have no way of confirming this, it's just my personal opinion.
Given HighPoint advertises support for PCIe 1.0, I would expect each port would receive at a minimum 2.5 Gb/s of bandwidth.
My question is what happens if I have a single USB 3.0 device plugged into this card. Since the aggregate PCIe 1.1 4x bandwidth is 10 Gb/s, will that port have access to the full 5 Gb/s rate? If so, I would expect up to 2 ports could be active simultaneously with each receiving up to 5 Gb/s, and the card only throttling with 3 or 4 ports active if the aggregate bandwidth demand across all ports exceeded 10 Gb/s.
Here's my personal thinking on this...
Each port has its own dedicated controller.
Each controller has one dedicated lane (no lane aggregation).
Each PCIe 1.x lane is capable of 2.5 GT/s (half speed of PCIe 2.x), so you can only get 1/2 speed on each port regardless if anything else is connected.
If I'm correct, you can't go any faster with only a single connected storage device. To get more speed, you would have to connect multiple storage devices running in RAID.
Non-storage devices obviously can't be connected in RAID type configuration.
I sent an email to May at Highpoint about your question. There is a 4 hour time differential so it will probably be late tomorrow before I hear from her.
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