USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[crjackson2134]

What's the difference between FrescoLogic controller and the one from the RocketU? which company has better customer support?

HighPoint (RocketU) support works... but it's somewhat slow and not very streamlined when 1st requesting support. Once you jump through the registration hurdles and find the right login link, it's pretty easy, just slow.

I don't have any experience with Sonnet support so I can't comment there.

Well, the FrescoLogic chipset is the same that Apple uses in it's nMP, so the potential for long term support is expected.

The RocketU has an ASMedia chipset and it is supported out of the box, but since it's not a piece of hardware included in any stock Apple products, they could discontinue driver support out of the box in newer versions of the OS. That has happened in the past with some of the older HighPoint products. To solve the problem you would need either an updated driver from HP, or a new HP card that is supported (this is the case most of the time) and that can get a little costly in the eyes of some.

With the information provided by the Capitan, the advantage of the RocketU over the Allegro Pro is a very slight speed advantage, and a much lower price. So once again, this seems to put the RocketU firmly in 1st place amongst the x4 controller cards. I have both, they both work great, no complaints about either.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

The RocketU has an ASMedia chipset and it is supported out of the box, but since it's not a piece of hardware included in any stock Apple products, they could discontinue driver support out of the box in newer versions of the OS. That has happened in the past with some of the older HighPoint products. To solve the problem you would need either an updated driver from HP, or a new HP card that is supported (this is the case most of the time) and that can get a little costly in the eyes of some.

A chipset just has to be XHCI compliant and it will work with all future USB drivers forever. It's pretty impossible to drop support because all USB drivers must be XHCI compatible including backwards compatibility, it's an Intel requirement.

 

[crjackson2134]

A chipset just has to be XHCI compliant and it will work with all future USB drivers forever. It's pretty impossible to drop support because all USB drivers must be XHCI compatible including backwards compatibility, it's an Intel requirement.

That's good to know. I have 2 older RocketU cards with ASMedia chipsets that are no longer supported however. I guess they weren't compliant (or were they).

Please note that on page 4 of the RocketU-1144CM, it is listed as an xHCI complaint device. It is not supported in Yosemite OOTB. Actually it's not supported in Yosemite at all, but it will work with a driver install. Look at the 3rd bullet from the bottom.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

That's weird because Intel's eXtensible interface is supposed to work like a universal driver.

 

[flowrider]

HighPoint (RocketU) support works... but it's somewhat slow and not very streamlined when 1st requesting support. Once you jump through the registration hurdles and find the right login link, it's pretty easy, just slow.

Actually, IMHO, I agree RocketU support is slow, and, at least in my case, I'm not completely satisfied. I had one of my ports go bad. And after much back and forth, they agreed to RMA my unit, but they will not cross ship, and I need the connectivity I will be losing when I return my card. Also, I'm not yet sure, but I believe I will be paying shipping both ways. At least that's what their T&Cs say. I know I will be paying shipping outgoing.

If it were not for Charles (crjackson) sending me his unit to use in the interim (while I am without my card) I would be up the creek without a paddle (since I sold my old Inateck card). Thanks again Charles, you're a LIFESAVER

Lou

 

[m4v3r1ck]

If it were not for Charles (crjackson) sending me his unit to use in the interim (while I am without my card) I would be up the creek without a paddle (since I sold my old Inateck card). Thanks again Charles, you're a LIFESAVER View attachment 572584

Lou

These are the posts that prove that MacRumors is a great website/forum. Good luck Lou with the exchange!

Cheers

 

[crjackson2134]

Thanks again Charles, you're a LIFESAVER

My pleasure...

 

[cmunoz_s]

Hi all.
I just wanted to share some info.
I have a Mac Pro 2,1 2007 and recently installed a Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe card (the one with 4 independent ports). To my surprise, the card didn't have drivers for OS X Lion which is the last OSx this Mac can officially install. Sent an email to Sonnet support and they confirmed it.

After surfing the web a couple of hours, I found this thread with precious information. Generic driver installation for this card and now the card is working fine! I thought I needed to return it, which is a pain because I bought it outside of my country (i live in Chile).
Many thanks to all of you for this info.
Installed oficial kernel extension from Sonnet to be able to charge devices and working properly for now.
Added some screen caps to confirm.
Thanks!

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Still no 3.1 driver in PB4

 

[ActionableMango]

Still no 3.1 driver in PB4

I don't understand what's going on. Doesn't OS X need to provide a 3.1 driver and xHCI 1.1 support for whatever they are using in the new MacBook with the USB-C port? Or is that a different chipset than we are seeing available in PCIe form?

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I don't understand what's going on. Doesn't OS X need to provide a 3.1 driver and xHCI 1.1 support for whatever they are using in the new MacBook with the USB-C port? Or is that a different chipset than we are seeing available in PCIe form?

No because type C connectors don't need XHCI 1.1. We will not see that until a Mac has "true" 3.1 ports (I hate calling them Gen 2). Maybe next year.

 

[crjackson2134]

No because type C connectors don't need XHCI 1.1. We will not see that until a Mac has "true" 3.1 ports (I hate calling them Gen 2). Maybe next year.

There's a lot that I'm not clear on with USB especially v. 3.1. Aren't these PCIe cards actually designed for PCIe 3? And if that's the case, won't they run at 1/2 speed on PCIe 2 slots. And if that's the case, won't it just be running at USB 3.0 speeds but with a new connector? I hope that's not correct, otherwise I don't see the point. What's the scoop?

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

There's a lot that I'm not clear on with USB especially v. 3.1. Aren't these PCIe cards actually designed for PCIe 3? And if that's the case, won't they run at 1/2 speed on PCIe 2 slots. And if that's the case, won't it just be running at USB 3.0 speeds but with a new connector? I hope that's not correct, otherwise I don't see the point. What's the scoop?

Backwards compatible. The ASUS are x2 lane cards. On PCIE 2.0 each lane is 500mb/s, giving 800mb/s total bandwidth in a x2 lane connection after you subtract overhead. If you get a X1 lane card there would be no benefit over 3.0

 

[crjackson2134]

Backwards compatible. The ASUS are x2 lane cards. On PCIE 2.0 each lane is 500mb/s, giving 800mb/s total bandwidth in a x2 lane connection after you subtract overhead. If you get a X1 lane card there would be no benefit over 3.0

Okay, what I'm getting at is this. If I install a X4 PCIe 3.0 card in an X4 PCIe 2.0 slot will it be running with reduced performance, or is PCIe 2.0 able to handle 4 full speed USB 3.1 devices the same as PCIe 3.0?

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Okay, what I'm getting at is this. If I install a X4 PCIe 3.0 card in an X4 PCIe 2.0 slot will it be running with reduced performance, or is PCIe 2.0 able to handle 4 full speed USB 3.1 devices the same as PCIe 3.0?

As long as there is no bugs in the link speed being negotiated, the number of lanes always stays the same. Only the lane speed changes 1gb/s to 500mb/s.

A USB 3.0 card can't saturated x4 lanes anyway. Remember there is electrical (Max transfer rate) and mechanical format (shape of the connectors on the card). If a USB card says x4 mechanical it doesn't mean x4 electrical. Read the small type.

 

[crjackson2134]

As long as there is no bugs in the link speed being negotiated, the number of lanes always stays the same. Only the lane speed changes 1gb/s to 500mb/s.

A USB 3.0 card can't saturated x4 lanes anyway. Remember there is electrical (Max transfer rate) and mechanical format (shape of the connectors on the card). If a USB card says x4 mechanical it doesn't mean x4 electrical. Read the small type.

I'm just trying to figure out if a x4 PCIe 3 card with 4 ports (each with it's own controller) would be able to operate at full speed 3.1 spec. on a PCIe 2 slot.

It sounds like the answer is yes. Just to be clear, I'm talking about x4 lanes electrically & mechanically.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I'm just trying to figure out if a x4 PCIe 3 card with 4 ports (each with it's own controller) would be able to operate at full speed 3.1 spec. on a PCIe 2 slot.

It sounds like the answer is yes. Just to be clear, I'm talking about x4 lanes electrically & mechanically.

X2 lanes is enough on PCIE 2 to get full speed 3.1. That's what the ASUS has. There are X1 cards out there to avoid unless you have a PC with PCIE 3

 

[crjackson2134]

Okay, thanks.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Asus/Asmedia USB 3.1 card is partially broken in El Cap. The card does still show as a 3.0 device in System Information but it won't connect to anything, not even a keyboard.

In Yosemite it works fine with everything, but obviously as a 3.0 card.

In Windows 10 it works with anything connected to it as a perfectly functional 3.1 card. I'm still looking for an M2 enclosure for M key blades.

 

[crjackson2134]

Asus/Asmedia USB 3.1 card is partially broken in El Cap. The card does still show as a 3.0 device in System Information but it won't connect to anything, not even a keyboard.

In Yosemite it works fine with everything, but obviously as a 3.0 card.

In Windows 10 it works with anything connected to it as a perfectly functional 3.1 card. I'm still looking for an M2 enclosure for M key blades.

Yeah, Cappy does have sketchy USB support overall including USB 2.0 / 3.0. Hopefully things will be ironed out in the final release.

 

[knowhate]

.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Has anyone looked at this?
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Ports-Express-Profile-Bracket/dp/B00XAT4IH4/

It's just another Asmedia card but it has a molex connector for supplemental power. If you are going to buy Asmedia then you should just buy an ASUS as they are part owners of Asmedia.

 

[ActionableMango]

I've done the supplemental power thing before, and I'm not going to do that again.

 

[Babyboi]

So I went ahead and bought and installed the Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0. I did some testing and I'm not getting the speeds I thought I was going to get.

Blackmagic Disk Speed test results:
WD My Passport 2TB Portable USB 3.0 - R/W ~58MB/s
Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Fast Portable R/W ~95MB/s

Sonnet says the drivers were native to OS X 10.9 and i'm running 10.9.5 so I know I have the drivers. I also went to the website to install the USB 3.0 Power Kernel Extension (OS X) 1.01 driver (this is probably for the power feature).

I'm not sure which PCI slot it's supposed to be installed. Here's my PCI configuration from Top to Bottom in my Mac Pro.
1- 4 port PCIe SATA III RAID controller card
2- Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0
3- OEM Apple GPU (2009 MP)
4- EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Graphics Card

Is my card defective, my PCI configuration not optimal, or am I doing something wrong?

 

[pastrychef]

Those numbers look fine to me. Why do you think something is wrong?