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Old 02-23-2020, 05:38 AM
the.engineer the.engineer is offline
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Default Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Any of you cats have an idea how I can get USB 3 into my old Mac Pro 5,1?

Bearing in mind I have used all the PCIe slots.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-co.../dp/B000UZL1GC

Although I was hoping for a cheaper option.
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Old 02-23-2020, 05:55 AM
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crizdee crizdee is offline
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Quote:
Originally Posted by the.engineer View Post
Any of you cats have an idea how I can get USB 3 into my old Mac Pro 5,1?

Bearing in mind I have used all the PCIe slots.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-co.../dp/B000UZL1GC

Although I was hoping for a cheaper option.



Hi,


Yeah an expansion chassis is your only route. i don't know about that chassis but i use a Magma 6 slot chassis for PT and have 2 PCIe slots left in the computer (Which i use for UAD cards) all works great.




Chris
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Old 02-23-2020, 06:02 AM
the.engineer the.engineer is offline
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Thanks Chris,

Do you have this one https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F254473727618
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Old 02-23-2020, 06:58 AM
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

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Originally Posted by the.engineer View Post



Hi James,


Yes thats the one (Well actaully i have the MK1 but its the same chassis with just a different connection cable) been pretty much an industry standard for pro tools over the years.


Good price that, i paid nearly £2k but that was about 10+ years ago.







Chris
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Old 02-23-2020, 08:22 AM
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Bear in mind MP5,1 only has PCIe 2.0 so USB3 would require two lanes. If you have expansion chassis on x4 slot you have used half of your bandwidth for USB3 only. I would think twice if it is worth it or just replace some other card with USB3 if that is the thing for you right now. Or move somethine else to expansion chassis, which might either be great or cumbersome.
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Old 02-23-2020, 10:07 AM
lucienpalmer lucienpalmer is offline
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

I use two Netstor expansion chassis. Each one was about 700-800 USD. Very affordable expansion.

One of them has 4 slots of SSD built in, so in addition to hosting your USB card, you can add zippy storage.
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Old 02-23-2020, 10:15 AM
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Can add and can perform are two different things.

One PCIe 2.0 lane is 500MB/sec and you just cannot beat it. USB3 cannot fit in it so it needs two lanes. Also if you have SSD in there, you only have two lanes (1000MB/sec) left for them so you cannot have more throughput even if USB3 is doing nothing. Assuming the chassis is connecting to x4 slot

Sorry for being a nerd here.
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Old 02-23-2020, 11:06 AM
lucienpalmer lucienpalmer is offline
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

True, but my understanding is that each slot in the expansion chassis isn’t given a fixed shared amount of bandwidth. It should be variable depending on what is needed at any given moment with the 4x slot it’s attached to being the maximum.
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Old 02-23-2020, 11:23 AM
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

Haven't read specs of your chassis so I'll just ignore that, no idea how the "variable bandwidth" would work in that piece of gear.

Just saying -- even with variable bandwidth, or "dynamic lanes" or whatever -- if the host card is x4 then you can have x1 from USB3 card (500MB/sec) and x3 from SSD card (1500MB/sec) if you transfer from one to another. Or full power from USB3 (x2) and another x2 from SSD card, which means 1000MB/sec max transfer rate. The data goes to host computer and back, not from chassis slot to chassis slot. And while doing such transfer any other slots you may have in the chassis have zero bandwidth.

This is an imaginary situation though, because I don't have the specs.
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Old 02-23-2020, 11:28 AM
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Default Re: Mac Pro 5,1: I need USB 3 but no PCIe slots left

^^ even if you allocated fixed x1 for USB and fixed x1 for SSD you would be using x2 lanes when you copy from USB to SSD. This would probably be close to ideal if your chassis has more than two slots as it would leave x2 for other use. Again, assuming your host card is connected to x4 slot.
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