XP941 or SM951 on MacPro 1,1?

[Mastropiero]

Hi everyone, good to be here.

I am looking to upgrade my 2007 MacPro, already have taken the first step and ordered a Radeon 5770. I also started toying with the idea of getting an SSD for OS and apps. That was before beginning to learn and finding out I could go beyond Lion on my old machine. Now, of course, I have been bitten by the bug and all I can think is about running Mavericks or Yosemite on it.....

In any case, after reading tons of info I was pretty much set on getting an XP941 but it is getting quite hard to get one of theses outside of the US (I live in Spain). The newer SM951, however, are much easier to get but I haven't managed to find out whether it will work on a 1,1.

Many thanks.

 

[Draeconis]

Hi everyone, good to be here.

I am looking to upgrade my 2007 MacPro, already have taken the first step and ordered a Radeon 5770. I also started toying with the idea of getting an SSD for OS and apps. That was before beginning to learn and finding out I could go beyond Lion on my old machine. Now, of course, I have been bitten by the bug and all I can think is about running Mavericks or Yosemite on it.....

In any case, after reading tons of info I was pretty much set on getting an XP941 but it is getting quite hard to get one of theses outside of the US (I live in Spain). The newer SM951, however, are much easier to get but I haven't managed to find out whether it will work on a 1,1.

Many thanks.

If you have a free x16 slot, SM951 AHCI.

 

[Mastropiero]

If you have a free x16 slot, SM951 AHCI.

Thank you for that, well, I only have one occupied slot, I have the original graphics card there. I will replace it with the 5770 when it arrives so I guess that should be no problem....

 

[owbp]

If you have a free x16 slot, SM951 AHCI.

Only x16 (1.1) slot in 2006-2007 cMP is first slot, usually GPU reserved.

How much of the performance is lost if used in x8 or x4 slots?

@Mastropiero , AFAIK it'll work. Yet to try SSD (PCIe or SATA) in my 1,1.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

The only useful reasons for having a PCIE SSD with that much bandwidth would be for handling very large files and huge projects. Even if you buy the fastest SSD for that, your CPU won't be good enough for such big data.

For general purpose use there's no need for so much bandwidth. Just get a Samsung 850 with lots of space for that kind of use.

 

[scott.n]

The only useful reasons for having a PCIE SSD with that much bandwidth would be for handling very large files and huge projects. Even if you buy the fastest SSD for that, your CPU won't be good enough for such big data.

For general purpose use there's no need for so much bandwidth. Just get a Samsung 850 with lots of space for that kind of use.

I have to agree, especially with the PCIe 1.0 slot limitation. According to the main thread on these SSDs (discussion on page 61), the best performance isn't all that much better than SATA 3.

I would just buy a regular SATA SSD (Samsung EVO recommended) and connect it to your SATA 2 ports. You'll be amazed at how much quicker it seems coming from a spinning disk. If you want more speed later, you can look at PCIe SATA 3 adapter cards.

 

[owbp]

Don't know about the OP but i was considering PCIe solution as a space saver, to fill all four slots with 3,5" HDDs.
Agree that SATA PCIe adapter is much cheaper and more reasonable way to go.

 

[redheeler]

Don't know about the OP but i was considering PCIe solution as a space saver, to fill all four slots with 3,5" HDDs.

I have an SSD stuffed in below the ODDs and connected using one of the ODD SATA ports. Works just fine there and it doesn't take up any of the 3.5" drive bays.

 

[owbp]

I have an SSD stuffed in below the ODDs and connected using one of the ODD SATA ports. Works just fine there and it doesn't take up any of the 3.5" drive bays.

But ODDs are connected through IDE ports on 1,1?
SATA to IDE adapter is 3-4 euros, no problem there, but what is the connection on motherboard? Any speed degradation?

P.S. I have to buy two adapters, Superdrive is dying - can't write a thing and reads loud as hell.

 

[redheeler]

But ODDs are connected through IDE ports on 1,1?
SATA to IDE adapter is 3-4 euros, no problem there, but what is the connection on motherboard? Any speed degradation?

Apple anticipated the popularity of SATA optical drives and added dual SATA II ports behind the fan assembly which by default go unused. No speed difference compared to using one of the drive bays.

 

[owbp]

Apple anticipated the popularity of SATA optical drives and added dual SATA II ports behind the fan assembly which by default go unused. No speed difference compared to using one of the drive bays.

I saw those while cleaning MP, but always assumed people are talking about connections in ODD area/cage.
Good to know i can use those too, thank you!

 

[flowrider]

In a 1,1 Mac Pro you wouldn't realize the performance potential of an XP941 or SM951. As has been suggested go with an Apricorn Velocity Solo x1 and a Samsung 850 EVO. A Times 1 slot will work fine on a 1,1 Mac Pro.

Lou

 

[Mastropiero]

Many many thanks for all your replies.

Indeed, my main reason dor going the PCIe route was not having to use one of the 3,5" bays. Also it is worth noting I took a very layman's approach and was not aware that the potential of such a fast drive would be wasted due to other hardware limitations. So I'll follow your advice and get a regular SSD.

I have an SSD stuffed in below the ODDs and connected using one of the ODD SATA ports. Works just fine there and it doesn't take up any of the 3.5" drive bays.

I can't exactly picture how or where did you stuff your SSD, care to elaborate?


edited: Never mind that, figured it out by myself. I remembered that long time ago I replaced my optical drive with a SATA one so had get in way over my head trying to find the two SATA ports, ended up clipping the temp sensor cable, had to take it to repair...... Bottom line is, upper tray for optical, lower tray for SSD, correct?

 

[Draeconis]

Only x16 (1.1) slot in 2006-2007 cMP is first slot, usually GPU reserved.

How much of the performance is lost if used in x8 or x4 slots?
View attachment 633108
@Mastropiero , AFAIK it'll work. Yet to try SSD (PCIe or SATA) in my 1,1.

Oh wow, I did not know you could do this! In that case choose option 1 and slot 4, or option 2 and slot 3 or 4. You only need a 4x slot, but assumed the other slots in a 1,1 were all 1x.

Nice!

 

[666sheep]

XP941 won't be a big waste, if you'd use it for your data as well. It isn't that much throttled as SM951 would be. I'm getting ~700MB/s R/W even when it's 50% full.

 

[redheeler]

I can't exactly picture how or where did you stuff your SSD, care to elaborate?


edited: Never mind that, figured it out by myself. I remembered that long time ago I replaced my optical drive with a SATA one so had get in way over my head trying to find the two SATA ports, ended up clipping the temp sensor cable, had to take it to repair...... Bottom line is, upper tray for optical, lower tray for SSD, correct?

There's actually a little space at the bottom of the ODD cage, just enough for a slim 2.5" SSD (Samsung 850 EVO in my case). I have both optical drive bays in use as well (upper has the stock Superdrive using IDE and lower has a Blu-Ray drive using SATA) so this turned out to be very convenient for me.

 

[Mastropiero]

So, I have managed to run another SATA cable to the remaining port behind the fan assembly. I have a quick question: do I need to upgrade my firmware to 2,1? I aim to run El Capitan on a Samsung EVO 850 due to arrive shortly but at the moment I don't plan on upgrading the CPU. I do know that in order to do so I'd have to upgrade the firmware but considering I am not doing that right now, do I still need to go 2,1 in order to run El Capitan?

Many thanks!

 

[redheeler]

So, I have managed to run another SATA cable to the remaining port behind the fan assembly. I have a quick question: do I need to upgrade my firmware to 2,1? I aim to run El Capitan on a Samsung EVO 850 due to arrive shortly but at the moment I don't plan on upgrading the CPU. I do know that in order to do so I'd have to upgrade the firmware but considering I am not doing that right now, do I still need to go 2,1 in order to run El Capitan?

No, the firmware update is not necessary to run El Capitan using the modified boot.efi.

 

[Mastropiero]

Great, many thanks!