USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

[MIKX]

joevt

My USB solution currently is ..

1. A 7 port, powered USB 2.0 HUB for all of my printers & scanner etc .. they don't need UsB 3.0.

2. Inateck Inatek KTU3FR for my external USB 3.0 DOCK.

Q 1 : This Inatek KTU3FR card is connected vis SATA II port. How much power does this kind of card
consume at peak ?

Q2. If the power requirement ifor the Inatek KTU3FR is low. . are there any other ports on a 4, 1 cMP to safely draw power from with a suitable cable ?

 

[joevt]

Q 1 : This Inatek KTU3FR card is connected vis SATA II port. How much power does this kind of card
consume at peak ?

Q2. If the power requirement ifor the Inatek KTU3FR is low. . are there any other ports on a 4, 1 cMP to safely draw power from with a suitable cable ?

Four usb 3.0 ports at 4.5 W = 18 W (assuming no charging spec is implemented).

SATA should be able to do that easily. SATA has 3 pins for each 3.3 V, 5 V, and 12 V. Each pin should allow 1.5 A. So one 12 V pin is enough for 18 W. I got that from wikipedia. I haven't looked at the SATA spec.

The simplest choices are molex from the DVD drive bay (unless 4,1 cMP uses SATA?) and the four HD drive bays. See #11 to use the HD drive bay with an SSD and also extract power from it.

 

[s!ke]

Hi everyone,
I just picked up a 5,1 system, a1289, and I'd like to install a usb3.x card. My friend recommended this card: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I027GP...olid=2HHDQJURIP9NN&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

However I noticed that it says it is not compatible with Yosemite or above (I'm on High Sierra and planning on moving to Mojave with a new GPU). He claims it works fine with 3.0 speeds on Mojave, but I'm wondering if there is a new card that I should be looking at that is more plug and play? The OP seems outdated (from 2012). Is there an updated list ?

 

[krakman]

Hi everyone,
I just picked up a 5,1 system, a1289, and I'd like to install a usb3.x card. My friend recommended this card: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I027GP...olid=2HHDQJURIP9NN&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

However I noticed that it says it is not compatible with Yosemite or above (I'm on High Sierra and planning on moving to Mojave with a new GPU). He claims it works fine with 3.0 speeds on Mojave, but I'm wondering if there is a new card that I should be looking at that is more plug and play? The OP seems outdated (from 2012). Is there an updated list ?

That is the inateck kt4004 it will work fine in the Mac Pro.

Its is a cheap option that works. you can spend a bit more and get a card which has usb-c ports and supports faster transfer speeds.

Read the first page of this thread, there is lots of usefull info about usb-3 cards

 

[ActionableMango]

Hi everyone,
I just picked up a 5,1 system, a1289, and I'd like to install a usb3.x card. My friend recommended this card: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I027GP...olid=2HHDQJURIP9NN&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

However I noticed that it says it is not compatible with Yosemite or above (I'm on High Sierra and planning on moving to Mojave with a new GPU). He claims it works fine with 3.0 speeds on Mojave, but I'm wondering if there is a new card that I should be looking at that is more plug and play? The OP seems outdated (from 2012). Is there an updated list ?

KT4004 is fine for USB 3.0. If you want USB 3.1 then any ASM1142 chipped card should be fine. Just don't expect actual USB 3.1 speeds or charging levels to be anywhere near what is claimed.

Anyone can update the first post. I make little changes from time to time but I don't have a Mac Pro any more so my contributions aren't going to amount to much any more.

 

[startergo]

Has anybody tested this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07595W7TF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1C54F8LN6PEOV&psc=1

 

[mikas]

Four usb 3.0 ports at 4.5 W = 18 W (assuming no charging spec is implemented).

SATA should be able to do that easily. SATA has 3 pins for each 3.3 V, 5 V, and 12 V. Each pin should allow 1.5 A. So one 12 V pin is enough for 18 W. I got that from wikipedia. I haven't looked at the SATA spec.

The simplest choices are molex from the DVD drive bay (unless 4,1 cMP uses SATA?) and the four HD drive bays. See #11 to use the HD drive bay with an SSD and also extract power from it.

It should be enough, but I would have calculated it a little bit differently though.

I think USB 3 provides 5V voltage from it's ports, not 12V, unless there are any electronic voltage changing components in between.

Using all three of the 5V pins, it gives us a max. 22,5W of power (using parallel connections):
3x 5V*1,5A=22,5W

 

[MIKX]

USB 2/3/3.1 rationale.

I do not need USB speed for ( 1 ) my extra keyboard ( 2 ) my Bluetooth dongle ( 3) my extra mouse ( 4) my two printers.

. . all of the above I have regressed to a 7 port USB 2.0 powered hub.

I like having a 2 port USB 3.1 SuperSpeed PCIe card for my external USB 3.0 HDD dock.

It's nice to be up to date .. eg : to show in one's SIG " USB 3.1 " but that also depends on how often you actually NEED to use USB 3.0 / 3.1

PS : All you first time posters. . Q : How about creating a "SIG" for whenever you post ? That would really help us to help you.

 

[Zlobnick]

Finally got probably the cheapest USB 3.0 card ever to work in High Sierra. Never actually put some work into it until today.
I had one laying around, didn't work out of the box so I thought I give it a try. Actually macOS did recognize it, even said that "Driver installed: Yes" but anything connected to the card wouldn't mount.

So I search around for a bit and found a solution on one very popular hackintosh forum. You should know what it is Anyway, using KextBeast 2.0.2 I installed this RehabMan-Generic-USB3-2015-1215.zip kext into /Library/Extensions and damn thing actually does work It recognizes my drives and even the speeds are not too bad (for an external 2.5" WD Elements drive, which normally remounts after sleep). I haven't even connected Molex power cable.

The card has D720202 chip, this is it - EBAY LINK.

 

[joevt]

Finally got probably the cheapest USB 3.0 card ever to work in High Sierra. Never actually put some work into it until today.
I had one laying around, didn't work out of the box so I thought I give it a try. Actually macOS did recognize it, even said that "Driver installed: Yes" but anything connected to the card wouldn't mount.

So I search around for a bit and found a solution on one very popular hackintosh forum. You should know what it is Anyway, using KextBeast 2.0.2 I installed this RehabMan-Generic-USB3-2015-1215.zip kext into /Library/Extensions and damn thing actually does work It recognizes my drives and even the speeds are not too bad (for an external 2.5" WD Elements drive, which normally remounts after sleep). I haven't even connected Molex power cable.

The card has D720202 chip, this is it - EBAY LINK.

The notes for GenericUSBXHCI.kext say it's supposed to fail on 10.11+. It hasn't been updated since 2015. Are you sure it's working in High Sierra (10.12)? Your screen shot shows EHCI (USB 2.0) instead of XHCI (USB 3.0). Hard drives should be able to do 100 MB/s at least, up to 195 MB/s. SSDs can do 420 MB/s with USB 3.0. The speeds you obtained are limited by USB 2.0. You should probably remove GenericUSBXHCI.kext.

I wonder why Apple's generic XHCI driver doesn't work with your card? Check IORegistryExplorer.app to see if the driver matched the device. AppleUSBXHCIPCI.kext uses IOPCIClassMatch of 0x0c033000 (in the info.plist file) so it should work with any XHCI compliant USB controller. Check the class code for the card in IORegisteryExplorer.app. Maybe the card is not XHCI compliant. Or Maybe there's a bug or limitation in Apple's XHCI driver.

 

[joevt]

I was wrong about USB 2.0 speeds (I may have been thinking of FireWire 800). 75 MB/s is definitely greater than USB 2.0. Also, I think you clicked on the wrong USB bus in the last screenshot.

 

[Zlobnick]

Yeah, wrong screenshot. Actually, it looked way different before. I had 5 or 6 USB 2.0 items, and a USB 3.0 hub displaying, but non functional. It even displayed all the hard drive properties and volume name, just wouldn't mount properly. I don't know why it looks the way it looks now, but the important part is everything working nice. All USB 2.0 ports are functional as well as both ports on the card itself

 

[parisinvest]

About to buy this one. StarTech 5-Port USB 3.1 (PEXUSB312EIC)

For use with Pro Tools Ultimate 2018.4.1, Mac OS High Sierra & Lynx Aurora 8 Audio Interface for audio streaming I/O

/QUOTE]

hello i've bought the same card, but seems doesn't work well on my macpro5.1, except it charge my mb via usbc, i've connected with sata power cable, my usb key shows in finder, but need to wait 5 minutes to show up the conponents, it cant be the design speed, so where i was wrong please?

 

[zedsdeadbaby]

So I guess the card we were all waiting for is finally here. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet the Sonnet Allegro USB-C PCIe card. Only US$56 and compatible with 10.10.5, 10..12.6 and High Sierra - but strangely NOT 10.11

How are these holding up for those that have one?

And, anyone test to see if these interfere with the cMPs internal bluetooth?

 

[kings79]

Works for me

 

[zedsdeadbaby]

Works for me

Thanks. Seeing any Buetooth interference? (I still have the factory BT installed...)

 

[kings79]

Thanks. Seeing any Buetooth interference? (I still have the factory BT installed...)

TBH I don't use Bluetooth in my Studio and try to avoid it at all costs on my other machines. Another crap tech Apple has left us with.

SOrry I can't be more helpful with this question

 

[PianoPro]

Works for me

Any issue with plugging in USB-C cables? There's reports that the connectors are too close to the metal separation strips between the PCI cage slots in the Mac Pro.

And how is the BT interference? I have my BT dongle in the end of my keyboard always within a foot of my Magic Mouse so I don't expect a problem there. But interference with other BT devices?

Sorry - just saw your answer to the 2nd question after I replied.

 

[kings79]

Any issue with plugging in USB-C cables? There's reports that the connectors are too close to the metal separation strips between the PCI cage slots in the Mac Pro.

no they fit.

BUT, all gear you plug into the cMP via the PCI cards is a tight fit because of these cage slots. You could cut them out easily though..

 

[zedsdeadbaby]

No worries...Thanks for the reply. Yeah the built in BT is bad, no handoff, weak performance, and the interference is a mess. Unfortunately I haven't had much luck with BT dongles either. Even if I set one as the default eventually macOS stops recognizing it and have to reset it... Anyway, sent an email to osxwifi to see if their BT 4.0 kit fixes the interference problem, hoping they come back with a yes... Would love to add one of these cards to my machine.

 

[VaZ]

If you want USB 3.1 then any ASM1142 chipped card should be fine. Just don't expect actual USB 3.1 speeds or charging levels to be anywhere near what is claimed.

Why is this?? Is it because of the Link Width?
I have this card but no 3.1 devices to test with..

USB 3.1 Bus:

Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCIPCI

PCI Device ID: 0x1242

PCI Revision ID: 0x0000

PCI Vendor ID: 0x1b21

PXS3:

Type: USB eXtensible Host Controller

Driver Installed: Yes

MSI: Yes

Bus: PCI

Slot: Slot-3

Vendor ID: 0x1b21

Device ID: 0x1242

Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1b21

Subsystem ID: 0x1242

Revision ID: 0x0000

Link Width: x2

Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

 

[kings79]

Yeah the built in BT is bad, no handoff, weak performance, and the interference is a mess. Unfortunately I haven't had much luck with BT dongles either. Even if I set one as the default eventually macOS stops recognizing it and have to reset it... Anyway, sent an email to osxwifi to see if their BT 4.0 kit fixes the interference problem, hoping they come back with a yes...

Can I ask what you are using BT for?

 

[ActionableMango]

Why is this?? I have this card but no 3.1 devices to test with..

There are generally two reasons. First, for many products, "USB 3.1" can mean "USB 3.1 gen 1", which is limited to USB 3.0 speed anyway (5Gbps).

Second, even for products specifically stating something like "10Gbps", that's just theoretical and nobody can hit it. Most can't even hit the 5Gbps speed. There are bottlenecks in one or more components throughout the chain, for example cheap junk that starts overheating.

Slash-2CPU did a bunch of testing which I tried to summarize in the first post. I think he found a few very specific components that exceeded 5.0Gbps. IIRC, a lot of components he tried that were marketed for USB 3.1 weren't really up to the task at all.

On the other hand, I wrote that summary a long time ago. Maybe things have improved since then. If it is different now, I encourage people to update the first post wiki.

 

[zedsdeadbaby]

Can I ask what you are using BT for?

Tracdkpad 2 as a midi controller.
Magic mouse as my main mouse.
Occasionally use my iPad to control Logic/Studio one.

 

[kings79]

Tracdkpad 2 as a midi controller.
Magic mouse as my main mouse.
Occasionally use my iPad to control Logic/Studio one.

Hmmmm. I used Logic for about 10 years in my home studio and Pro Tools at work and now in my home studio and all I can say is wires are better.

Get a wired mouse. One of those $10 logitech ones. You CANNOT beat a wired mouse for accuracy and reliability!

Get a USB midi controller. AND wrangle it (MIDI data) with some iConnectivity gear. Or better get yourself some analog gear

BT is just not a reliable Tech IMO and ESPECIALLY when its critical. Its just something we have been left with by Apple. And now it's like a 'feature'. At best it works 'Most Of The Time'...

As you probably know. Vibe Killers are... The KILLER when your making tunes.

Get wires and tactile gear for your vibes. Can't beat it