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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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No, the pictures clearly show that the x4 slot connector only has two of the lanes connected.
Also, the amazon specs say it uses the ASMedia ASM2806A which is a PCIe switch with only two upstream lanes.
https://www.asmedia.com.tw/product/788Yqe9SPAqi5XG0/7c5YQ79xz8urEGr1
So in a PCIe 2.0 slot with at least two lanes, this card will only do up to 800 MB/s instead of 1050 MB/s. Some PCIe slots such as the x4 slots in a MacPro3,1 will only be able to use one lane because they don't support x2 (and those slots are PCIe 1.0, so the speed is only like 200 MB/s). Some PCIe 2.0 slots connected to certain CPUs (Sandy Bridge - 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Desktop CPU’s) also don't support x2 so they'll probably get something like 400 MB/s.
I've found I get kernel panics if I leave a USB mass storage device connected to my USB 3 hub (via a KT4004 USB card) when the Mac goes to sleep. I had constant issues with this after upgrading to Catalina last year, before realising it was being caused by an SD card reader built into my old USB hub (with no SD card inserted). The panic logs always mentioned "com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver", which gave me a clue as I had no USB drives attached. I replaced the hub with one that had no reader, and it's been fine ever since.
I forgot about this until I got a KP today. I had left a USB drive in the hub whilst away from my computer for a while. The Mac went to sleep, and when I came back it appeared to wake up, but with blank screens - as if it KP'd on wake.
I'm pretty sure this doesn't happen with HDDs.
Edit: It does. In this case, I generally come back to find the machine has restarted.
Is this a common experience? I guess this is related to Apple drivers, but just out of interest, would a different brand of USB card make any difference? E.g. a Sonnet? The Inateck card I have is a cheap model but is otherwise fine.
I forgot about this until I got a KP today. I had left a USB drive in the hub whilst away from my computer for a while. The Mac went to sleep, and when I came back it appeared to wake up, but with blank screens - as if it KP'd on wake.
I'm pretty sure this doesn't happen with HDDs.
Edit: It does. In this case, I generally come back to find the machine has restarted.
Is this a common experience? I guess this is related to Apple drivers, but just out of interest, would a different brand of USB card make any difference? E.g. a Sonnet? The Inateck card I have is a cheap model but is otherwise fine.
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I’ve had the same card in several mac pros and I changed all machines to sonnet / caldigit / highpoint cards.
Too much trouble with this card i.e. sleep mode, insufficient power for some drives, problems with transferring larger amounts of data etc.
Hi all. I've looked at this card and I really like the idea of having USB 3.2 (and more USB ports in general, since my front USB went kaput). I want to get this and use it in my 5,1 Mac Pro, mostly on Windows. Are there any know issues? The speed doesn't matter all that much, I'll be happy with anything faster than USB 2.0 ;-;
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I have KT4004 for years now, started with Sierra and all through the Big Sur now and never had problems. I have a bunch of stuff connected to it, 2 USB hubs, pretty cheap and about 10 USB drives. All working fine and I use sleep almost every day. Maybe your is somehow broken? Have you tried another one?
A reason why my Mac Pro is not allowed to sleep. I haven't tried in forever though. I have a USB 3.1 gen 2 drive connected and I don't want sleep to disconnect it.
Only the Thunderbolt 3/4 add-in cards support DisplayPort Alt Mode. And cards like the Sunix UPD2018 (but the Sunix is limited to 4 Gbps in a Mac Pro's PCIe 2.0 slot). There are external methods to do DisplayPort Alt Mode but most only support four lanes of DisplayPort 1.2 with USB 2.x.
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This card (or similar) has been mentioned before. It should be fine. 8 Gbps shared by all 5 ports unless you have a PCIe 3.0 slot - then 4 of the ports share a 9.7 Gbps port, the 5th has a separate 9.7 Gbps port, both ports share 15.75 Gbps.
Highpoint RocketU 1344D
Anyone testing this? I read that it supports Mac Pro 5,1 and 7,1 and Mac OS 10.12.6+. Does require additional power. I made the PIXLAS mod so I have the internal connectors available. The estore states Big Sur support. No mention of the type of controller?
Anyone testing this? I read that it supports Mac Pro 5,1 and 7,1 and Mac OS 10.12.6+. Does require additional power. I made the PIXLAS mod so I have the internal connectors available. The estore states Big Sur support. No mention of the type of controller?
HighPoint RocketU 1344D PCIe 3.0 x4 & Four 10G USB 3.2 10Gb/s Type-C Ports
Industry's Fastest 4-Port USB Host Controller RocketU 1344D’s features four, fully independent USB Type-C ports, each of which is powered by a dedicated 1000MB/s USB 3.2 controller chip, backed by a robust PCIe 3.0 x4 host interface. This unique host controller architecture ensures each hosted...
estore-highpoint-tech.com
^^^^From reading the specs I see no reason it should not work. I run a RocketU 1144C on my 7,1 NcMP and ran the same card when I had my 5,1 cMP. A well made card with independent ports?
Lou
Lou
The Highpoint RocketU 1344D is similar to other cards we've seen.
The datasheet you posted says it uses the ASMedia ASM3142. The pictures show two controllers. Each controller is responsible for two USB ports, so they are not exactly independent - two ports (USB 3.1 gen 2: 9.7 Gbps each) of the same controller must share a 15.75 Gbps connection (PCIe 3.0 x2).
USB 3.1 gen 2 can usually do 1000 MB/s (after USB overhead). Two of those is 2000 MB/s which is 16 Gbps which is more the the PCIe connection even without considering PCIe overhead. This won't be a problem if you read simultaneously from no more than two devices (each connected to a separate controller).
On the other hand, The Highpoint RocketU 1244A actually has fully independent USB ports. Each port gets its own ASM3142 controller and the upstream is increased to x8 to match.
https://highpoint-tech.com/USA_new/series-ru1244a-overview.html
The Highpoint RocketU 1388C seems to be double the 1344D except the upstream PCIe connection is x16. I'm not sure why they did x16 if there's only four ASM3142 (each is x2). x16 would make more sense if they wanted to do a double 1244A (with eight ASM3142).
Is Highpoint out of business? I ordered a 1344D directly from them on 9/14. The Fedex tracking number shows it is still in CA. All of the direct numbers I have via email are disconnected. There 800 number is now a juice company? No response from the chat? Any clues?
Thanks, sent email to that address the morning of 9/24 and today, nothing. That 833 number is a health juice company!
The company is called HELP juice and they handle outsourced tech support for many companies.
@joevt @flowrider for the 1388C, does this mean I won't be able to use it in slot 3 or 4? And if I can, how would this affect speed per ports? (cMP 5,1). How does this affect a x8 card like the RocketU 1244A in comparison?
I'm between getting this one / different highpoint, or the Sonnet Allegro Pro, but the latest Allegro Pros seem to share two controllers instead of a dedicated one per port
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^^^^Don't know the answer, but HighPoint says a X16 slot, which, on the 5,1, means slot 2. It may work on the other slots, but at a reduced speed?
Lou
Lou