I didn't realise there were so many usb cards. I have been planning on just buying the sonnet technologies one.
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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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Honestly, the Sonnet cards are the highest quality and your safest bet. I have 2 Allegro Pros and they are excellent.
I just went off there site, they advertise them as being for mac pro's. My logic was less issues around it working.
Here's a nice deal for a Sonnet Allegro Pro usb 3.0, for buyers in Europe....€80 is a really good price. (shipping included!!)
https://www.musicstore.de/nl_NL/EUR/Sonnet-Allegro-USB3-0-PCIe-Card-4-ports-Macintosh-Windows/art-PCM0012160-000;pgid=yZrgudSyejxSRpC._7FySMTD0000UAvM38_J?gclid=CjwKCAjwlrnNBRBMEiwApKU4PMLhMVUmdL5OZvhIqT8Zdy04v1WdwS9hsTsaL1TineFgkRZdkuANkxoCULsQAvD_BwE&campaign=GBase/NL
https://www.musicstore.de/nl_NL/EUR/Sonnet-Allegro-USB3-0-PCIe-Card-4-ports-Macintosh-Windows/art-PCM0012160-000;pgid=yZrgudSyejxSRpC._7FySMTD0000UAvM38_J?gclid=CjwKCAjwlrnNBRBMEiwApKU4PMLhMVUmdL5OZvhIqT8Zdy04v1WdwS9hsTsaL1TineFgkRZdkuANkxoCULsQAvD_BwE&campaign=GBase/NL
Is it weird that I never really considered the sonnet cards to be that expensive to begin with?
I live in New Zealand, everything is expensive here. Maybe I'm just too used to paying higher pricing.
I live in New Zealand, everything is expensive here. Maybe I'm just too used to paying higher pricing.
The Sonnet card is about 4x more expensive than the KT4004. Even though it really can perform better, but for general use, it is considered very expensive. But if in your place, all these kind of stuff are expensive, and end up the price difference is small. Then of course go for the Sonnet card, that's really the best for cMP.
That is exactly why I'll do a little more to get a KT4004 working than spend several times more for a Sonnet. If all I'm doing is using USB 3 for faster backups and copying stuff to flash drives, it just isn't worth it.
Just reading up on this kt4004 why do they say not compatible with Yosemite or above?
[doublepost=1504642751][/doublepost]Is anyone running the caldigit USB-C/USB-3.1 card? I've been looking at that as well.
[doublepost=1504642751][/doublepost]Is anyone running the caldigit USB-C/USB-3.1 card? I've been looking at that as well.
Nobody knows, but it works fine with Yosemite and above.
The kt4004 uses the same chipset for USB3 as the 2013 Mac Pro, so it should continue to work with OS X for as long as the 2013 Mac Pro's USB3 does.
My guess would be they didn't want to test it (on every single OS update). So, better say incompatible officially. The user will find out if it can work properly anyway.
^^^^I believe they had a few reports from users that said they had problems. So, rather then testing it and seeing if there was an issue, they decided that the Mac market was small and they could afford to ignore it and simply say, not compatible. If a user received a defective card, and revealed it was being used on a Mac. What kind of support would he receive? I say, to heck with them!
Lou
Lou
That is not the Pro. It is the base card.
I bought a PCI-e USB 3.0 card from the French ebay seller Speedermac.
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCIFL1100
PCI Device ID: 0x1100
PCI Revision ID: 0x0010
PCI Vendor ID: 0x1b73 Fresco Logic Inc
The website mentions compatibility with Yosemite and Mavericks
However this isn't true. You get no Airport Wifi and there is a conflict with the Geforce 980 card.
The card is only compatible with El Capitan and MacOS Sierra.
I contacted Fresco Logic and although I told them I have a Mac they asked me for the Windows info (in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window).
However I found the solution by myself.
USB 3 interference with Wifi is a pretty common issue.
I used FL1100 based USB 3 card with a GTX 980 in my old Mac Pro for a long time without any issues.
Hi everyone, I hope this is not too dumb a question but what are the benefits of having dedicated controllers for each port in a usb card? I am trying to find it out by myself but no luck so far and I'd like to know whether it is worth to spend the extra cash between a sonnet allegro and a sonnet allegro pro.
Many thanks!
Many thanks!
e.g. Each controller can deliver up to 5Gbps data rate.
For a single controller card. If you connect 4x USB 3.0 SSD to all 4 ports, and demand read / write operation at the same time. Their total data rate will be limited to 5Gbps, which means each of them can only transfer at ~100-150MB/s, way below the max ~500MB/s.
For the Allegro Pro, because each port has their own controller. Therefore, all 4 ports can deliver ~500MB/s at the same time. None of the SSD will be throttled.
So, if the users rarely stress all ports at the same time, the base card should be good enough. But if the users constantly stress more than 1 port at the same time, then the pro card can do significantly better.
Understood, many thanks for your quick reply. It looks like the base card will be good enough for me then, thank you for your help!
Hi Everyone,
I'm running a Mac Pro 3.1 early 2008 on Sierra. I have a Microconnect USB-C Card installed. This card has a ASM1142 chip.
It works natively in sierra but i get a very low transfer speed of about 32MB/s read and write speed. I tested this both on the X16 and X4 slot but dat doesn't make a difference. I also tested multiple ssd's. The card is internally powered with the power cable of the optical bay.
The PCI tab in the System Information says:
There was an error while gathering PCI device information.
The USB Device Tree the following.
Any idea what this could be.
Thanks!
Mac Pro 3.1 Early 2008
Asus Radeon RX460 2gb
I'm running a Mac Pro 3.1 early 2008 on Sierra. I have a Microconnect USB-C Card installed. This card has a ASM1142 chip.
It works natively in sierra but i get a very low transfer speed of about 32MB/s read and write speed. I tested this both on the X16 and X4 slot but dat doesn't make a difference. I also tested multiple ssd's. The card is internally powered with the power cable of the optical bay.
The PCI tab in the System Information says:
There was an error while gathering PCI device information.
The USB Device Tree the following.
Any idea what this could be.
Thanks!
Mac Pro 3.1 Early 2008
Asus Radeon RX460 2gb
Last edited:
There are many indicators showing you are actually running USB 2.0:
- "Up to 480 Mb/sec" is USB 2.0
- A current of 500mA is USB 2.0
- 32MB/s is a typical real-world speed for USB 2.0.
I have a Sunix USB-C card in a 2009 Mac Pro. I saw the same issue, but swapped out the cable and resolved the issue.
The link was consistent with USB 2 speeds using an eBay sourced USB 3.0 cable ( longer ) that attached to a Seagate Backup+ drive. Once I swapped out the cable with the one provided by Seagate, it worked as expected. YMMV
This is the usb-c card I want to buy. I like the fact that it is being sold as fully mac compatible.
http://www.caldigit.com/Fasta-6GU3plus/
http://www.caldigit.com/Fasta-6GU3plus/
I bought a PCI-e USB 3.0 card from the French ebay seller Speedermac.
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCIFL1100
PCI Device ID: 0x1100
PCI Revision ID: 0x0010
PCI Vendor ID: 0x1b73 Fresco Logic Inc
The website promises excellent performance 10x faster than USB 2.0
No driver needed.
However the performance is only 2x as fast as USB 2.0. I checked it with XBench.
Details
Or did I something wrong?
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCIFL1100
PCI Device ID: 0x1100
PCI Revision ID: 0x0010
PCI Vendor ID: 0x1b73 Fresco Logic Inc
The website promises excellent performance 10x faster than USB 2.0
No driver needed.
However the performance is only 2x as fast as USB 2.0. I checked it with XBench.
Details
- OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface), EHCI (Enhanced Host Controller Interface)
- Support UASP
Or did I something wrong?
Did you use USB 3.0 cable with a SSD to run the speed test? Also, TRIM is not available via USB connection. You should only check the read speed, but not the write speed during the test.
Are you able to get video out via displayport or HDMI through the dock?
My MP is full and the only internal power point I have spare is a 6 pin mini pcie socket.
My options for USB 3.1 are:
a) A 6 pin mini pcie to SATA cable if one exists and the power requirements stack up.
b) Splitting the SATA power cable in the optical bay again. Both bays occupied at present.
c) Some add on card for a free pcie slot that can draw enough power from that to power the USB card.
Thoughts?
My options for USB 3.1 are:
a) A 6 pin mini pcie to SATA cable if one exists and the power requirements stack up.
b) Splitting the SATA power cable in the optical bay again. Both bays occupied at present.
c) Some add on card for a free pcie slot that can draw enough power from that to power the USB card.
Thoughts?