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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

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kschendel

kschendel

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Dec 9, 2014
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I don't see where the KT4001 says PCIe 2.0 only, on the Inateck site. Anyway, I don't know why it wouldn't work, perhaps at limited speeds, unless there's some weird timing dependent stuff on the card or in the driver.

For the price, I'd be tempted to give it a try to see if it will work.

BTW I checked ebay for a KT4004; there's one listed at the moment, except that the listing is wrong, it's a KT4006.
 
chris-snd

chris-snd

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Feb 26, 2021
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kschendel said:
I don't see where the KT4001 says PCIe 2.0 only, on the Inateck site. Anyway, I don't know why it wouldn't work, perhaps at limited speeds, unless there's some weird timing dependent stuff on the card or in the driver.

For the price, I'd be tempted to give it a try to see if it will work.

BTW I checked ebay for a KT4004; there's one listed at the moment, except that the listing is wrong, it's a KT4006.
Click to expand...
Can't find it on ebay, only actual kt4006 cards with 2 usb ports.

Care to share a link? thanks.
 
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joevt

Contributor
Jun 21, 2012
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chris-snd said:
But now this, on the original inateck.com website as well as on amazon, it is advertised that the inateck KTU3FR-4P can only work on a pcie 2.0 slot (or higher).
As far as i can tell this card uses the same fresco fl1100 chip as found on the widely used kt4004 so what's the deal?
Click to expand...
I don't think I've ever heard of a card that can't work at PCIe 1.0 link rate.
 
VaZ

VaZ

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chris-snd

chris-snd

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Feb 26, 2021
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chris-snd said:
I think 200 MB/s will be enough for my usecase, and if not then i have to use the 2.0 slot if needed.

But, unfortunately it seems that the inateck kt4004 card is sold out everywhere, even on the inateck.com website itself and i think it is discontinued.

As it appears the redcomets u25/21 is not that great for a mac, so that leaves the inateck KTU3FR-4P (kt4001) as the only reachable option.

But now this, on the original inateck.com website as well as on amazon, it is advertised that the inateck KTU3FR-4P can only work on a pcie 2.0 slot (or higher).
As far as i can tell this card uses the same fresco fl1100 chip as found on the widely used kt4004 so what's the deal?
Click to expand...

Well i have tested the KTU3FR-4P yesterday in my mac pro 3.1, el capitan.

Tried it in slot 3, and, slot 4. Power connected with a molex to sata 15 pin cable from the dvd slot to the usb card and unfortunately it doesn't work.

I have a second spare mac pro 3.1, running high sierra, will try the card in that system also and if not working i will return the card.

I just don't get it, i see multiple reports of the card working fine when power is conencted. Maybe it is because the card i have is a revision version 4?
 
chris-snd

chris-snd

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Feb 26, 2021
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Update,

Have tested the card in my spare mac 3.1

Tried pcie 2.0 slot 2 and pci 1.0 slot 3 and slot 4. It doesn't matter, the card does not work in my mac, nor does it reconize any usb device.

Also i can't find any info about the card in the hardware tab at pci or usb in "system report info" in "about this mac"

I tried with it power from the superdrive bay molex connector and from the 4th harddrive bay sata power with the 15 pin connector. A green light on the card itselfs comes up, thats all.

Maybe i have a faulty card?
 
chris-snd

chris-snd

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Feb 26, 2021
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Macschrauber said:
Seems so, it is a Fresco FL1100 chip, can you make a high resolution photo?
Click to expand...
I did,

IMG_20230113_014837.jpg



Screenshot_20230113_040657_com.vivaldi.browser.jpg


Anyway, the "official" chat guy said that the kt4001 or the ktu3fr-4p as i know it, isn't supported for mac.

I said him that it has the fl1100 chipset wich is native supported since 10.8, well according to him that's not true, so i sended him screenshots of his own website and other reviews where the kt4001 is advertised as a mac pro card.

He thanked me for pointing him to wrong discriptions on the inateck website, and that was all. A standard reply i think.

Anyway, ive seen reviews and youtube video's of the kt4001 card working in mac pro's, and since it is a Fresco FL1100 chipset i'm not done with this.

I think i have a dead card, i have a old self build 2004 pentium 4 with lying somewhere, so i can check if the card is really a win only card, or it is dead. If it doesn't come alive in the device manager on windows then i know for sure.

Anyway, I'm a little irritated at this, why wouldn't a pcie card with a fl1100 chipset not work in a mac pro? It just doesn't make sence.
Is there something else that sets the kt4001 apart from the kt4004? Both pcie cards have the same fresco fl1100 chip.


Anyway, here i miss interpretated the website

Screenshot_20230113_113831_com.vivaldi.browser.jpg



Oke and then after this when I'm point him out to the specs on the inateck website:

Screenshot_20230113_113328_com.vivaldi.browser.jpg


So, i have two options, i return the kt4001 and order a new kt4001 one, since I've seen video reviews with the card working.

Option two, i return the kt4001 and forget about inateck.
 
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Dochartaigh

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Feb 3, 2023
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Hope I didn't miss this info, but just looking for confirmation to get the best performance out of my Inateck PCIe to USB 3.2 Gen 2 Card (RedComets U21, KU5211-R) on my 2009 Mac Pro (did the hack so it thinks it's a 2010 MacPro5,1 so I could run High Sierra).

My question is: does it matter which port/lane (whatever it's called) on the back of my computer the card gets plugged into? I have 2x video cards in it now (Radeon HD 5770, and stock? GeForce GT 120), so if one of those slots is better to use (i.e. faster bandwidth) I can take out one. This machine is only used as a data server, headless most of the time. Otherwise everything else is stock with nothing else plugged in.

Hoping this new card will treat me better than the current Inateck PCIe USB 3.0 Card KT4006, which besides being slow likes to disconnect drives on occasion, and won't read some random USB sticks (which work in literally 5 other Mac's...).

P.S. The RedComets U21 says the USB-A port can do 10GBPS... I can't access the rear of this computer easily so need a ~3' extension cable to run to the front... the thing is I can't for my life find a USB-A to USB-A extension cable that does 10GBPS - does such a thing exist, if so, where?
 
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TheShortTimer

TheShortTimer

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The RocketU 1144B card uses the ASMedia 1042 chipset, which from what I've read in earlier posts is supported by macOS...

Sw3tvVA.jpg


Yet I'm unable to get it to work in El Capitan.

YB7biOx.png

As you can see there's no driver installed. Which one would I need for the ASMedia 1042 chipset under El Capitan? Any information or tips would really be appreciated.
 
mrkapqa

mrkapqa

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Jan 7, 2012
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tommy chen

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Oct 1, 2018
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TheShortTimer said:
The RocketU 1144B card uses the ASMedia 1042 chipset, which from what I've read in earlier posts is supported by macOS...



Yet I'm unable to get it to work in El Capitan.


As you can see there's no driver installed. Which one would I need for the ASMedia 1042 chipset under El Capitan? Any information or tips would really be appreciated.
Click to expand...


el capitan has a fail in USB driver and apple has never fixed this.

most of the USB cards will not work in el capitan!
 
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drolson

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Sep 17, 2015
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TheShortTimer said:
The RocketU 1144B card uses the ASMedia 1042 chipset, which from what I've read in earlier posts is supported by macOS...

Sw3tvVA.jpg


Yet I'm unable to get it to work in El Capitan.

YB7biOx.png

As you can see there's no driver installed. Which one would I need for the ASMedia 1042 chipset under El Capitan? Any information or tips would really be appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
D

drolson

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2015
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If you want a USB 3.0 Card to work on your mac there is only one to be sure of and that is a Sonnet, all of the rest will also, 3.1, 3.2, and thunderbolt, you don't need a driver with any of them, they work perfect because of the FRESCO USB chip, the only one that works like it dos on a mac and even windows, the only other Card with a FRESCO USB chip is NANO TECH, they only make a USB 2.0 or 3.0 that i know of though, SONNET, they are going pretty reasonable these days, Have used SONNET and NAN TECH USB cards on El Capitan to Ventura and the always work perfect, just instal it and you are done, shows upt in the system and works every time
 
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kschendel

kschendel

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Dec 9, 2014
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Dochartaigh said:
Hope I didn't miss this info, but just looking for confirmation to get the best performance out of my Inateck PCIe to USB 3.2 Gen 2 Card (RedComets U21, KU5211-R) on my 2009 Mac Pro (did the hack so it thinks it's a 2010 MacPro5,1 so I could run High Sierra).

My question is: does it matter which port/lane (whatever it's called) on the back of my computer the card gets plugged into?
Click to expand...

No. The cMP has three x16 slots and one x4. The card appears to be an x4. It should work in any slot.

Dochartaigh said:
P.S. The RedComets U21 says the USB-A port can do 10GBPS... I can't access the rear of this computer easily so need a ~3' extension cable to run to the front... the thing is I can't for my life find a USB-A to USB-A extension cable that does 10GBPS - does such a thing exist, if so, where?
Click to expand...

A good cable listed for USB 3.0 / Superspeed might work. Or, try calling a cable-oriented vendor such as monoprice to see what they have to say.

I'm not sure you will get a true 10Gbps out of the card anyway, given that PCIe 2.0 x4 has a theoretical limit pretty close to that, and practice often doesn't match theory.
 
TheShortTimer

TheShortTimer

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Mar 27, 2017
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Thanks for all the replies. :)

tommy chen said:
el capitan has a fail in USB driver and apple has never fixed this.

most of the USB cards will not work in el capitan!
Click to expand...

No wonder!

I thought it strange that people in this thread had experienced success with the ASMedia 1042 chipset but yet the card wasn't working. This means that if I install Yosemite or Mavericks instead then I should be ok?
 
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drolson

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Sep 17, 2015
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The SONNET and NAO TECH cards were used in a Mac Pro 5,1 2009 and 2010, 11, and 12 are most likely equally the same, the slots are PCIe 2.0 4x and 16x and all of the USB cards that work ( SONNET and NAO TECH ) are 1x and they will work in any slot
 
D

drolson

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2015
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An Apple computer dose not need any drivers, as far as the mac Pro 5,1 goes if somebody is using El Capitan they are missing out, the Mac Pro will work with everything from El Capitan to Ventura, i am running Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura on my Mac Pro 5,1 right now, and i have found that the only USB cards that work perfectly every time are the SONNET and the NANO TECH with a FRESCO USB chip, in the 2 of my Mac Pro 5,1's i am using in both 2 Sonnet USB3-4PM-E Cards in each so i have 8 USB 3.0 ports in each, they are going cheap right now so i thought i might as well, have researched all the USB cards and for me myself this is what i have found out and for me it works perfect every time, even in my Mac Pro 3,1, the operating system that i find the best is Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura has a couple of problems but no big deal, somebody is coming up with a solution, in the mean time i am using mostly Big Sur everything works perfect in Big Sur in the Mac Pro 3,1 and the 5,1
 
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