USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[ActionableMango]

I can get the 4P for $27 or the 2P for $23, shipped to Canada. Is it absolutely mandatory to run the power if you're going to use 3.5" enclosure that is powered via a Power Brick and not via USB port. I'm just hoping it works just fine without plugging in power to the card.

I've tried the Orico PFU3-2O2I, Orico PFU3-4P, and Fresco Logic FL-1009 cards. In all three cases the card had to have the Molex power connected, even for a self-powered USB 3.0 drive.

A few people have reported the PFU3-2P works without connecting the Molex. I personally cannot speak to that one way or the other because I've never found one to buy. However, if you have found one in stock some where, that seems the way to go according to others.

If you've found the PFU3-2P in stock, I'm sure others would love to know where (hint hint).

 

[handheldgames]

I've tried the Orico PFU3-2O2I, Orico PFU3-4P, and Fresco Logic FL-1009 cards. In all three cases the card had to have the Molex power connected, even for a self-powered USB 3.0 drive.

A few people have reported the PFU3-2P works without connecting the Molex. I personally cannot speak to that one way or the other because I've never found one to buy. However, if you have found one in stock some where, that seems the way to go according to others.

If you've found the PFU3-2P in stock, I'm sure others would love to know where (hint hint).

Amazon has cards in stock: http://www.amazon.com/Fresco-Logic-...n-SuperSpeed/dp/B00570PQAC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_3

I grabbed a power line out of my DVD Bay to power a 2-port and a 4-port card. You can also alternatively modify a MacPro PCI-E power adapter to tap into the power at the front of the 2009-2012 mac pro motherboard.

 

[ActionableMango]

Amazon has cards in stock: http://www.amazon.com/Fresco-Logic-...n-SuperSpeed/dp/B00570PQAC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_3

I grabbed a power line out of my DVD Bay to power a 2-port and a 4-port card. You can also alternatively modify a MacPro PCI-E power adapter to tap into the power at the front of the 2009-2012 mac pro motherboard.

I already have one of those. That's not a PFU3-2P.

 

[sarthak]

I've tried the Orico PFU3-2O2I, Orico PFU3-4P, and Fresco Logic FL-1009 cards. In all three cases the card had to have the Molex power connected, even for a self-powered USB 3.0 drive.

A few people have reported the PFU3-2P works without connecting the Molex. I personally cannot speak to that one way or the other because I've never found one to buy. However, if you have found one in stock some where, that seems the way to go according to others.

If you've found the PFU3-2P in stock, I'm sure others would love to know where (hint hint).

eBay.ca actually. There are a few sellers that ship to Canada. I'd do anything to avoid having more cables.

 

[handheldgames]

I already have one of those. That's not a PFU3-2P.

is there a difference?

 

[BlueWaterVA]

I recently won the bid on a 2 port HighPoint 1022 Mac Edition. I wasn't able to use the drivers from highpoint but I downloaded the generic drivers that are mentioned in a previous post and the card is awesome. I can even use my Blu-Ray writer externally with it. I only paid $9.98 plus shipping.
I've had Caldigit and Lacie previously and they did not perform as well as this card.

 

[TitouDoc]

I've buy recently an Orico PFU3-2P, the one supposed to work without additional power (despite the card has a molex pin).

With self powered drive (Lacie Rugged USB3) everything was fine. But with à Lacie D2 Thunderbolt & USB3, the drive hang around 200-500 Mo of transfert...

I've ordered cables in order to bring power to the card... And now erverything is working fine with both drive...

Morality, even the PFU3-2P need to be powered with molex pin...

 

[sarthak]

Morality, even the PFU3-2P need to be powered with molex pin...

Does the card (without Molex Power) work with the Rugged drive perfectly fine, what speeds are you getting (try Blackmagic Disk Speed Test)? I guess I will have to try the card my self. I was hoping for a "power cable free" solution for an external self powered 4 Bay enclosure.

 

[TitouDoc]

Does the card (without Molex Power) work with the Rugged drive perfectly fine, what speeds are you getting (try Blackmagic Disk Speed Test)? I guess I will have to try the card my self. I was hoping for a "power cable free" solution for an external self powered 4 Bay enclosure.

The Rugged drive work perfectly without additionnal power to the card, speed around 130 Mo/sec...
But the D2 USB3 hang during transfer... I figure out it seems the card is malfunctioning...

I hesitate between replace sur PFU3-2P or order a Caldigit card...

 

[sarthak]

The Rugged drive work perfectly without additionnal power to the card, speed around 130 Mo/sec...
But the D2 USB3 hang during transfer... I figure out it seems the card is malfunctioning...

I hesitate between replace sur PFU3-2P or order a Caldigit card...

Why, the Caldigit does not need Molex Power?

 

[crjackson2134]

Usb 3.0

Has anyone tired this vendor?

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orico-pfu3-2p-usb3-0-expansion-card-desktop-pci-e-2-usb3-0-adapter-5/326597_745459378.html

 

[ActionableMango]

Has anyone tired this vendor?

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orico-pfu3-2p-usb3-0-expansion-card-desktop-pci-e-2-usb3-0-adapter-5/326597_745459378.html

I tried, sort of. First I checked the reseller ratings and they were all over the map, good and bad. Lots of good, lots of bad.

I decided to take the risk and attempt to order one. AFTER creating an account and trying to buy it with a username, password, full name, address, and credit card information, they said they couldn't sell to me because they do not have an escrow license for Washington State, whatever that means.

Now I wonder if they just harvested my CC information and I feel I have to watch my credit card statements like a hawk.

 

[crjackson2134]

I tried, sort of. First I checked the reseller ratings and they were all over the map, good and bad. Lots of good, lots of bad.

I decided to take the risk and attempt to order one. AFTER creating an account and trying to buy it with a username, password, full name, address, and credit card information, they said they couldn't sell to me because they do not have an escrow license for Washington State, whatever that means.

Now I wonder if they just harvested my CC information and I feel I have to watch my credit card statements like a hawk.

Good to know, I was thinking of placing an order but now I'll steer clear, thanks again.

 

[handheldgames]

Has anyone tired this vendor?

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Orico-pfu3-2p-usb3-0-expansion-card-desktop-pci-e-2-usb3-0-adapter-5/326597_745459378.html

I bought my 4 port model from China here: http://www.dhgate.com/p-ff8080813bdf4af4013bfa3729d71ad6.html They also have the 2 port version: http://www.dhgate.com/new-desktop-p...-ff8080813bdf4af4013bfa3728401ac8.html#s1-1-1

Took forever to get here, but it showed up as promised. While waiting I purchased a 2 port look alike from Amazon.

Needless to say the performance is STELLAR! Im seeing equivalent read write performance with a Samsung 840 on this card as I get on a native Apricorn X2.

For those needing a drive docking enclosure, this is a steal for 19.99 (regurally 49.99): http://aluratek.com/usb-3-0-superspeed-sata-hard-drive-docking-enclosure-outlet

 

[Tesselator]

For those needing a drive docking enclosure, this is a steal for 19.99 (regurally 49.99): http://aluratek.com/usb-3-0-superspeed-sata-hard-drive-docking-enclosure-outlet

Image

Awesome price for a USB 3.0 cradle! Thanks!

 

[crjackson2134]

@ ActionableMango,

Bare with a bit, I'm a new Mac user, and apparently stupid (based on what others on this forum say) for shelling out big bucks for a new MacPro. Stupidly, so far I love the machine though and I don't find it to be technologically archaic as other's here do. I'll admit it's lacking on a couple of features I can live without, none the less, I enjoy doing upgrades and I would like to pick your brain a bit.

I was going to send you a private message through the board but this forum doesn't seem to support that feature.

Okay here it goes, from what at least one other person has said, it seems that no matter what card you install or how you accommodate providing extra power to the adapter, there is no way to get full transfer speed from USB 3.0 or eSATA because the MacPro motherboard doesn't support the bandwidth needed. I find this hard to believe since these cards are designed to work with PCIe 2.0 which has specific standards in their design.

Perhaps I'm just ignorant to some of the intricacies, but since you seem to have accomplished the install with a standard card I thought you could give me a definitive answer. Do you achieve full speed transfer rates with your set up, and are there any USB devices (mostly older) that won't work with your configuration.

Sorry for the long post, but you seem to be quite knowledgeable and way more experienced than me, and as stated earlier, I couldn't figure out how to send a PM.

 

[ActionableMango]

Okay here it goes, from what at least one other person has said, it seems that no matter what card you install or how you accommodate providing extra power to the adapter, there is no way to get full transfer speed from USB 3.0 or eSATA because the MacPro motherboard doesn't support the bandwidth needed. I find this hard to believe since these cards are designed to work with PCIe 2.0 which has specific standards in their design.

Other people who are smarter than me have replied to that guy and pointed out that PCIe 2.0 has plenty of bandwidth to support USB 3.0 and eSATA speed.

I use my USB 3.0 with a single USB 3.0 hard drive. The hard drive itself is far slower than the USB 3.0 and eSATA interfaces anyway. If you are planning to do a RAID of fast HDs or SSDs, I believe you would start hitting bandwidth limitations of USB 3.0 and eSATA before you were limited by PCIe 2.0.

Also, as a side point, Tesselator has pointed out that the Orico/Fresco Logic boards have all ports shared with a single controller, so each port you fill is sharing the bandwith. I believe him, and I mean to test it some day and report the results. I wonder if I can run two instances of Black Magic Speed Test and run them simultaneously on two different drives?

 

[crjackson2134]

Thanks for your quick reply. I don't expect to need an external RAID or SSD, I will probably just use one HD for backup / transport. I just want to be sure I know how to proceed before jumping. I wonder if using the split power cable would void the warranty on my system.

Anyway, thanks again for you reply and your personal research/documentation. Like you, I don't want a convoluted driver issues down the road and prefer to work with what the OS has provided. I wish Apple would just release a proper card and be done with it.

 

[deconstruct60]

Okay here it goes, from what at least one other person has said, it seems that no matter what card you install or how you accommodate providing extra power to the adapter, there is no way to get full transfer speed from USB 3.0 or eSATA because the MacPro motherboard doesn't support the bandwidth needed. I find this hard to believe since these cards are designed to work with PCIe 2.0 which has specific standards in their design.

Not true.
There are couple things being muddled here.

What the Mac Pro motherboard supports with its own embedded controllers and what are the overall capabilties of the Motherboard. That isn't the same set of things but they do overlap.

The USB and SATA controllers embedded on the Mac Pro motherboard don't support USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s transfer speeds.

Independent PCI-e cards that have their own USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s controllers can. Technically, most USB 3.0 controllers can't support the top end theoretical raw speed of USB 3.0 ( 5Gb/s ) with just a 1x PCI-e 2.0 connection ( v2.0 one lane is only about 4Gb/s) . But you'll never see the theoretical top end speed anyway due to USB overhead ( even in the much lower overhead Super Speed mode). That also has nothing to do with the Mac Pro's motherboard.

Low cost SATA cards tend to have a controller with a x2 PCI-e controller in them. Again the throttling of two 6Gb/s SATA streams the controller might support is gated by the throttled by the ( 8Gb/s) connection from the controller to the Mac Pro. It isn't on the Mac Pro end.


As long as the PCI-e card is slotted into a >= x4 PCI-e slot, it is not a problem covering SATA or USB 3.0 speeds ( even if the bandwidth from a Mac Pro's two x4 slots is actually being shared .... which it is in several versions. )

What many complain about what the Mac Pro's motherboard doesn't do is support USB 3.0 and 6Gb/s natively with embedded controller(s) on the motherboard so no PCI-e cards would be necessary for connections.

 

[crjackson2134]

Not true.
There are couple things being muddled here.

What the Mac Pro motherboard supports with its own embedded controllers and what are the overall capabilties of the Motherboard. That isn't the same set of things but they do overlap.

The USB and SATA controllers embedded on the Mac Pro motherboard don't support USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gb/s transfer speeds.

Independent PCI-e cards that have their own USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s controllers can. Technically, most USB 3.0 controllers can't support the top end theoretical raw speed of USB 3.0 ( 5Gb/s ) with just a 1x PCI-e 2.0 connection ( v2.0 one lane is only about 4Gb/s) . But you'll never see the theoretical top end speed anyway due to USB overhead ( even in the much lower overhead Super Speed mode). That also has nothing to do with the Mac Pro's motherboard.

Low cost SATA cards tend to have a controller with a x2 PCI-e controller in them. Again the throttling of two 6Gb/s SATA streams the controller might support is gated by the throttled by the ( 8Gb/s) connection from the controller to the Mac Pro. It isn't on the Mac Pro end.


As long as the PCI-e card is slotted into a >= x4 PCI-e slot, it is not a problem covering SATA or USB 3.0 speeds ( even if the bandwidth from a Mac Pro's two x4 slots is actually being shared .... which it is in several versions. )

What many complain about what the Mac Pro's motherboard doesn't do is support USB 3.0 and 6Gb/s natively with embedded controller(s) on the motherboard so no PCI-e cards would be necessary for connections.

Okay, If I'm understanding you correctly, I should be able to get the same throughput as any other PC that is using a particular card. I have a brand new 5,1 model with the 6-core 3.33GHz processor. Is there any particular PCIe slot this thing should be installed in for best performance? Are some slots 1x and other's 4x?

 

[deconstruct60]

Are some slots 1x and other's 4x?

The smallest bandwidth slot on a Mac Pro is x4 v2.0 ( that's 2008 and up ). There are no x1 slots like on a PC to added stuff like Bluetooth/Wifi/Ethernet because they are already on the board ( in the latest one for Bluetooth).

A 4,1 will have two x16 and two x4. Technically, the two x4 actually share a x4 connection to rest of network but a non issue if sticking x1 and x2 kinds of cards into a x4 slot.

 

[ActionableMango]

Okay, If I'm understanding you correctly, I should be able to get the same throughput as any other PC that is using a particular card. I have a brand new 5,1 model with the 6-core 3.33GHz processor. Is there any particular PCIe slot this thing should be installed in for best performance? Are some slots 1x and other's 4x?

There are no 1x slots in a 5,1. I believe slots 1-2 are 16x and 3-4 are 4x. I doubt any of these Orico/Fresco Logic cards can take advantage of 16x, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[crjackson2134]

There are no 1x slots in a 5,1. I believe slots 1-2 are 16x and 3-4 are 4x. I doubt any of these Orico/Fresco Logic cards can take advantage of 16x, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Awesome, then it really doesn't matter about all the 1x talk and such. I see that Highpoint has released a new card where the model number ends with (M) for Mountain Lion. They are reporting full compatibility with this card. I'm eyeballing it, but still not loving the idea that it could mess up native drivers. I'm going to wait just a little more before I do this.

I've got both of my optical bays full (1 SuperDrive, 1 Blu-ray burner). I haven't really become comfortable with taping for additional power just yet.

It's too bad no one makes a replacement PSU upgrade that adds the needed power leads.

I'm guessing your solution works well with AV equipment and misc. devices too. The Highpoint solution seems to be for storage devices only. I wish it were a little more flexible. I'm sure if someone cared enough to support us MacPro users, a card that meets all the desired requirements without the need of additional power connectors could be constructed, but I'm sure it would probably be at a premium price.

I have no IMMEDIATE need, so I'll probably wait a little while before I decide. I'm pretty sure that in the end, I'll likely end up tapping power and putting in an ORIC card. It's the 4 dedicated controllers of the Highpoint (M) card, and the fact that I wouldn't have to tap power that tempt me.

I've also heard that USB 3.0 cards interfere with the sleep functions. I hate that... More thinking.... Thanks for all you help. I book marked your post with the parts list and instructions.

 

[ActionableMango]

I've also heard that USB 3.0 cards interfere with the sleep functions.

None of mine have a problem with sleeping or waking, but all of mine use native drivers.

 

[crjackson2134]

None of mine have a problem with sleeping or waking, but all of mine use native drivers.

Okay, that and the price, tips the scales. That's the route I'll go, thanks for all your help.

I also just read a review of the newer RocketU card causing problems with sleep function too. I love the concept, I just wish it didn't have these issues. I understand the core problem is the motherboard/chipset capabilities of this machine just can't natively support the latest USB spec., but I just don't understand WHY Apple couldn't see that at some point addition power connectors would be needed for some users irrespective of USB 3 or motherboard capabilities. I've been assembling PC desktops for 20 years (yes I'm old, I started with CP/M systems). I've never EVER ran across a situation where getting at more power/connectors was such a hassle. Seriously... If it wouldn't void my warranty, I'd modify the darned PSU and add a few connectors. I've even considered contacting PC Power & Cooling (They've done custom PSU's for me in the past), but I already know they aren't going to touch a Mac PSU. Apple could make some good bucks if they offered something like a "Power User" PSU as an upgrade. A person shouldn't have to pay extra for it, but I would. I'd also pay extra for decent 6 Chan. PCIe sound card that does THX / Dax.

.... Sighs.... Frustrated for no reason ... Self-Inflicted ... Coffee Break time ...