Mac Pro (2019) MacPro7,1

[stargazer]

Anybody runs a chassis with the MacPro7,1?
According to the Pro Tools Thunderbolt Chassis Compatibility list none is supported, not even the Pro Tools | HDX Thunderbolt 3 Chassis.

[tope d]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Anybody runs a chassis with the MacPro7,1?
According to the Pro Tools Thunderbolt Chassis Compatibility list none is supported, not even the Pro Tools | HDX Thunderbolt 3 Chassis.

Hi, yes. https://avidtech.my.salesforce-sites...-Compatibility

Let me check for cases with your current Mac setup and I'll get back to you if I see one.

[stargazer]

Thanks, but that was the list I was referring to, that says ”This model is not supported with any chassis”.

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Anybody runs a chassis with the MacPro7,1?
According to the Pro Tools Thunderbolt Chassis Compatibility list none is supported, not even the Pro Tools | HDX Thunderbolt 3 Chassis.

I guess it's because you put the cards into the machine, no?
Not sure why you'd run a chassis when you have a 7,1 or 14,8 Mac with all those PCI slots but maybe some people have tons of cards? Not sure...

[stargazer]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

I guess it's because you put the cards into the machine, no?
Not sure why you'd run a chassis when you have a 7,1 or 14,8 Mac with all those PCI slots but maybe some people have tons of cards? Not sure...

There’s other cards, like storage, graphics etc.
In my Mac the graphics card uses two slots. I have one card for extra USB ports and a few SSD/M.2 cards too, so it’s getting full.
Anyway it seems weird to make a machine incompatible with all TB3 expansions just because it has built-in PCIe slots.

[Delta Music Belgium]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Anybody runs a chassis with the MacPro7,1?
According to the Pro Tools Thunderbolt Chassis Compatibility list none is supported, not even the Pro Tools | HDX Thunderbolt 3 Chassis.

I recently migrated from a 5,1 to a 7,1.

I had 3 HDX cards in a 7-slot Digidesign EB7 PCIe Expansion Chassis and this worked flawlessly with my 5,1 (FYI: a Digidesign EB7 PCIe Expansion Chassis is identical to a Magma EB7 1st Gen PCIe Expansion Chassis)

I have migrated an old USB 3 card and an old Sonnet Tempo SSD card from the 5,1 to the 7,1 without any problem and you can put almost any standard PCIe video card in a 7,1 as long as the macOS has drivers for it. So purely theoretical I don't see why a Digidesign EB7 would not work with a 7,1 because it's just a little PCIe Host card that connects the EB7 to the 5,1 and no drivers are needed. But probably no one has ever tried it because the EB7 dates from the 4,1/5,1 era (2009-2012) but you can still buy them on eBay or Reverb.

I also didn't try it when I had the chance as I didn't see the need to try it because from the beginning it was my intention to put the 3 HDX cards in the 7,1. I actually wanted to get rid of the chassis in the first place to free up some rack space in the machine room.

Btw, I still have the EB7 and I'm planning to upgrade the RAM in my 7,1 from 96GB to 384GB next week (so I need to disconnect all cables anyway) so in theory I can test it out for you. But first I need to know I you see this route as a viable solution because moving the HDX cards around is not without risks...

[stargazer]

Originally Posted by Delta Music Belgium

I recently migrated from a 5,1 to a 7,1.

I had 3 HDX cards in a 7-slot Digidesign EB7 PCIe Expansion Chassis and this worked flawlessly with my 5,1 (FYI: a Digidesign EB7 PCIe Expansion Chassis is identical to a Magma EB7 1st Gen PCIe Expansion Chassis)

Is that TB2?

But first I need to know I you see this route as a viable solution because moving the HDX cards around is not without risks...

I have the opportunity to buy a Magma 3 slot Thunderbolt2 to PCIe Expansion (Full-length).
I think that would be a good solution for me if it works.
What do you mean by ”risks”?
Damaging the cards physically or putting them in a less efficient configuration/order?

[Delta Music Belgium]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Is that TB2?

No, a PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion chassis connects to a host PCIe card in the host computer with a special cable so this means you loose 1 PCIe slot in the host computer but you gain 7 PCIe slots inside the EB7 Expansion Chassis. This is technology that predates the TB (Thunderbolt) technology, you can see a Magma EB7 here. It is old rock solid PCIe technology that has proven itself a zillion times with a Mac Pro 5,1. Technically a Mac Pro 5,1 doesn't even know if there is a PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion Chassis present, no drivers are needed to make it work, it just sees 7 more usable PCIe slots. A lot of the bigger studio's back in the days used a PCIx-to-PCIx, PCIx-to-PCIe or PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion chassis to house multiple Pro Tools cards, Once I had a 7-slot PCIx-to-PCIe expansion chassis with 7 Pro Tools HD cards and a Mac Pro 5,1 and it worked flawlessly (actually it still works after more then 20 years of use). And before that I had a 13-slot PCIx-to-PCIx Expansion Chassis with 8 cards and a Power Mac G4 or G5.

Originally Posted by stargazer

I have the opportunity to buy a Magma 3 slot Thunderbolt2 to PCIe Expansion (Full-length).
I think that would be a good solution for me if it works.

According to Avid’s compatibility pages TB2 or TB3 PCIe Expansion chassis' are not supported with a Mac Pro 7,1 but this doesn't mean that it won't work, probably AVID just never tested it because there are 8 PCIe slots already available in a 7,1. And if indeed TB technology doesn't work with a 7,1, only then I suggest to consider to roll back to the older PCIe-to-PCIe technology that has proven itself a zillion times with 5,1 Macs, but wasn't tested with a 7,1 by AVID either. But essentially working with a PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion Chassis is simple: if it works it works and it is IMHO more reliable then a Thunderbolt-to-PCIe Expansion Chassis

Originally Posted by stargazer

What do you mean by ”risks”?
Damaging the cards physically or putting them in a less efficient configuration/order?

By risks I mean damaging my 3 HDX cards physically while moving them back to the EB7 for testing and back to the Mac Pro 7,1 afterwards.

Btw, I had an hour of unexpected free time today so I took the opportunity to upgrade my RAM from 96GB to 384GB and my system is up and running again. So testing the EB7 with my 7,1 is not possible anymore in the foreseeable future, I’m sorry. But my main goal was to provide a theoretical solution without using Thunderbolt in the first place.

Conclusion: you or someone else will need to test if the Magma 3 slot Thunderbolt2 to PCIe Expansion (Full-length) that you can buy will work with a Mac Pro 7,1. If it doesn’t work you can choose to go the PCIe-to-PCIe route but but that also needs to be tested first.

Btw, what are you planning to do that you need a PCIe Expansion Chassis with a Mac Pro 7,1 that already has 8 PCIe slots? Maybe you can share your configuration/plans, maybe there are other solutions for your problem.

[stargazer]

Originally Posted by Delta Music Belgium

Btw, what are you planning to do that you need a PCIe Expansion Chassis with a Mac Pro 7,1 that already has 8 PCIe slots? Maybe you can share your configuration/plans, maybe there are other solutions for your problem.

Many thanks!

My configuration at the moment:

Slot 1 & 2: Apple Radeon Pro Vega II
Slot 3: (Free)
Slot 4: SONNET Fusion SSD M.2 4x4 PCIe Card
Slot 5: HDX Card
Slot 6: USB Host Card
Slot 7: SAMSUNG 2TB M.2 NVMeTM SSD, 970 EVO

I have only one slot left and I’m planning to get more fast storage (OWC Accelsior 4M2) to read samples from.
Then I have no slots left for additional HDX cards.
(I’d like to buy at least one more card to get more voices. I don’t fancy the Hybrid Engine - use it only when I need more voices)
If I could sell the Radeon Pro Vega II and get a smaller graphics card that would free up one slot, but that card doesn’t seem very hot these days.
Other options are a PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion chassis for extra HDX cards or a TB enclosure/chassis for external storage.
I also could try removing the USB card, but my in my experience USB hubs are unreliable.

Your thoughts are welcome!

[Delta Music Belgium]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Many thanks!

My configuration at the moment:

Slot 1 & 2: Apple Radeon Pro Vega II
Slot 3: (Free)
Slot 4: SONNET Fusion SSD M.2 4x4 PCIe Card
Slot 5: HDX Card
Slot 6: USB Host Card
Slot 7: SAMSUNG 2TB M.2 NVMeTM SSD, 970 EVO

I have only one slot left and I’m planning to get more fast storage (OWC Accelsior 4M2) to read samples from.
Then I have no slots left for additional HDX cards.
(I’d like to buy at least one more card to get more voices. I don’t fancy the Hybrid Engine - use it only when I need more voices)
If I could sell the Radeon Pro Vega II and get a smaller graphics card that would free up one slot, but that card doesn’t seem very hot these days.
Other options are a PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion chassis for extra HDX cards or a TB enclosure/chassis for external storage.
I also could try removing the USB card, but my in my experience USB hubs are unreliable.

Your thoughts are welcome!

Let me start by sharing my configuration:

Slot 1: Apple Radeon Pro W6600X MPX module (2 x HDMI)
Slot 2: OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe card with 4 x 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Slot 3: Apple Radeon Pro W6600X MPX module (2 x HDMI)
Slot 4: Sonnet Tempo SSD PCIe card with 2 x 4 TB SATA6 2.5" SSD
Slot 5: HDX 1
Slot 6: HDX 2
Slot 7: HDX 3
Slot 8: standard Apple I/O card

+ a Sonnet Fusion Flex J3i bracket mounted containing 2 x 20 TB SATA 3.5" HDDs (for Time Machine back-ups) and a 2 TB SATA6 2.5" SDD, but there are much cheaper solutions then a Sonnet Sonnet Fusion Flex J3i bracket

+ a CalDigit - TS3 Plus TB3 docking station

When looking at your configuration at first sight, the Apple Radeon Pro Vega II could be swapped by an Apple Radeon Pro W6600X with just 2 HDMI ports but you will loose 4 TB3 ports. But by using a CalDigit - TS3 Plus TB3 docking station (or a 'CalDigit TS4' TB4 docking station) you get the TB3 ports back and a lot of USB ports, so you can also ditch the USB card.

I chose the CalDigit - TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 docking station because it has an S/P DIF Optical Output for an easy digital output of Core Audio. Those CalDigit docking stations are meant for laptops so they have a strong external power supply and are built like a tank but they are not cheap by any means.

So now you have 2 spare PCIe slots for a HDX2 or if you ditch the SAMSUNG 2TB M.2 NVMeTM SSD, 970 EVO and put some drives in the drive bay with a bracket like the Sonnet Fusion Flex J3i (you can fit 3 drives in that, 2 are SATA6 and one is USB 3) you can fit a HDX3.

Btw, since you have 384 GB of RAM you could load samples in RAM as much as possible so there is no need for a superfast OWC Accelsior 4M2 to read samples from, SATA6 SSD's in the drive bay will be sufficient.

Conclusion: you can easily fit a HDX3 if you are willing to use up to 3 SSDs in the drive bay and use a Caldigit docking station for all external TB3 and USB connections. And actually you keep using your Apple Radeon Pro Vega II, the final configuration would look like this:

Slot 1 & 2: Apple Radeon Pro Vega II
Slot 3: (Free)
Slot 4: (Free)
Slot 5: HDX 1
Slot 6: HDX 2
Slot 7: HDX 3
Slot 8: standard Apple I/O card

+ up to 2 SATA6 SSDs + 1 USB 3 SSD in the drive bay (with a SATA6 to USB converter cable)

+ a Caldigit docking station, but as you get to keep the Apple Radeon Pro Vega II you keep the 4 TB3 ports

There are still 2 slots free that you can use for the SAMSUNG 2TB M.2 NVMeTM SSD, 970 EVO and a SONNET Fusion SSD M.2 4x4 PCIe Card. And I would ditch the USB Host Card anyway and use a Caldigit docking station connected to a TB3 Port on standard Apple I/O card in Slot 8, it works flawlessly and Caldigit has a very good reputation anyway.

So I guess there is definitely no need for a TB3-to-PCIe or PCIe-to-PCIe Expansion chassis at all. Btw, as the Caldigit docking station works fine by TB3 I don't see why a TB3-to-PCIe Expansion Chassis would't work, it just never has been tested.

Btw, I also don't like the Hybrid Engine so I only use the HDX Engine with as much AAX-DSP plug-ins as possible (of course it helps to have a HDX3 then ;-)