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relbbircs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 26, 2007
103
0
For a 2012 hexcore. Something simple but reliable. All suggestions most welcome.
 

relbbircs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 26, 2007
103
0
Looks good, but I don't need the extra ports. I wonder whether their two port plain vanilla USB 3.0 card is in stock anywhere?
 

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I contacted Caldigit about that card...

The FASTA-6GU3 maximum performance is around 250MB/s (regardless USB3.0 or eSATA, RAID 0 or Single drive)
- Our FASTA-6GU3 has two controller chips (Marvell for eSATA, NEC for USB3.0), and there's a PLX chipset to serve as the 'middle man' (there's no controller that can deliver both USB3.0 and SATA6 yet). While the Marvell and NEC can reach a higher performance, the PLX is the limited factor.
- For example: if you have two 3G or 6G SSD eSATA drives, the RAID 0 performance is about the same as one of those single SSD drives (around 250MB/s). However, if you have two standard 3.5" SATA drives (like WD MyBook's performance is about 110MB/s), then the RAID 0 (combining two MyBook together) will provide its full performance with the FASTA-6GU3.

What a joke! :rolleyes:

If you just need USB 3, buy any generic card (they all use the NEC chip) and install the drivers of your choice (Caldigit, Lacie, etc.) (EDIT: Here's an old thread that outlines what I did... you can search for others on this forum)
 

numbersyx

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2006
1,155
100
Yeah, it's great, just backordered till the end of July everywhere.

Yep. really annoyed me as it was advertised as being available in mid June when I purchased it. Now I have to wait another month (on the best case scenario!!!!)
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
I installed the CalDigit USB3 card and drivers in my Mac Pro 5,1 (Lion) without difficulty. But I had no USB 3 device for testing.

I got in a Macally USB3 housing, and today I popped in a 2 TB Hitachi drive and was not pleased.

As soon as the drive came up, my Magic Mouse went all wonky, but calmed down when the drive wasn't busy. Then when I started copying files to the drive, that was pretty much it for the MM, until the writes were complete.

Google led me to Apple support and then to an Intel White Paper -- it seems that there can be serious BT interference problems from USB 3 drives. Shielding.

Anybody else experienced this? I moved the drive around as much as I could, with the short cable I had. I could get it positioned where it wasn't too bad, but the effect was always there. I haven't tried the second cable I have, in case the first one was low-spec in some way. I ordered a longer cable, which might help.

It's just a backup drive I use occasionally, so it's not a killer. But it's annoying.
 

bax2003

Cancelled
Dec 25, 2011
947
203
I installed the CalDigit USB3 card and drivers in my Mac Pro 5,1 (Lion) without difficulty. But I had no USB 3 device for testing.

I got in a Macally USB3 housing, and today I popped in a 2 TB Hitachi drive and was not pleased.

As soon as the drive came up, my Magic Mouse went all wonky, but calmed down when the drive wasn't busy. Then when I started copying files to the drive, that was pretty much it for the MM, until the writes were complete.

Google led me to Apple support and then to an Intel White Paper -- it seems that there can be serious BT interference problems from USB 3 drives. Shielding.

Anybody else experienced this? I moved the drive around as much as I could, with the short cable I had. I could get it positioned where it wasn't too bad, but the effect was always there. I haven't tried the second cable I have, in case the first one was low-spec in some way. I ordered a longer cable, which might help.

It's just a backup drive I use occasionally, so it's not a killer. But it's annoying.

I had exactly the same problem with Asus U3S6 PCIe X4 in my Mac Pro and Magic Mouse behavior. When its idleing, all is well. I borrowed ASUS card from a friend, and with that experience I bought the cheapest PCIe X1 USB 3 card with Nec controller. In OS X 10.6 and 10.7 it pretty much performs as USB 2. I should a least try that CallDigit card...
 
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TacticalDesire

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2012
2,286
23
Michigan
Since OSX doesn't seem to support a lot of USB 3 cards, mainly their drivers, wouldn't it be possible to install a copy of Windows 7 or 8 and then use that when you need USB3? I haven't tried this myself but I was just curious if that was a possible work around.
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
Don't bother trying it. USB 3.0 drivers are KPing my Mac Pro 5,1.

Nikon D800 + CalDigit (latest Lion drivers) = KP. Every time.

Very annoying. That's why I got the CalDigit, and now I find that it's unusable. I should have googled more thoroughly than I did, because there are people out there saying that the D800/CalDigit combo doesn't work. I missed that.

I hope a USB3 card reader will work. I ordered a Lexar.
 

DonMega

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2007
119
0
Nikon D800 + CalDigit (latest Lion drivers) = KP. Every time.

Very annoying. That's why I got the CalDigit, and now I find that it's unusable. I should have googled more thoroughly than I did, because there are people out there saying that the D800/CalDigit combo doesn't work. I missed that.

I hope a USB3 card reader will work. I ordered a Lexar.

CalDigit support help me get past my KPs by de-installing the CalDigit drivers, re-installing the Lion 10.7.4 combo update and then re-installing the CalDigit USB 3.0 drivers. I haven't had a KP since. I did that yesterday and have imported about 20GB worth of files. Hope this helps you.
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
I'll give it a try. It's the weekend, so CalDigit hasn't replied to my support query.

I hope I've got the 10.7.4 combo update around somewhere, but I can always get it from Apple.

Thanks!
 

xgman

macrumors 603
Aug 6, 2007
5,672
1,378
2010 mac pro and 2008 mac pro with the caldigit 2 port usb 3 card and mountain lion beta drivers work 100%with no side effects. Same with the Lion installs. At least on all my flash drives and usb 3 enclosures.
 

DonMega

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2007
119
0
Mountain Lion Drivers

Could you email me the drivers? I contacted CalDigit and they said they wouldn't send them to me and they would be available until the release of the "real" 10.8.
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
I wouldn't mind having those drivers myself.

I heard from CalDigit who said "get a Lexar reader," which I already had ordered, and which came today. First transfer was OK, second one resulted in a KP.

I heard from OWC who suggested I return it, and I guess I will unless the ML drivers fix it.

xgman -- what you report is encouraging. My 5,1 is a vanilla box really, and I don't have any odd software running either. But it's true that my USB 3 enclosure works without KP. It's just the D800 and now the Lexar that won't work.
 

CIA

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2003
657
460
We've been using the Highpoint 1144AM in our 2009 Mac Pro with no real issues so far. Just using it with spinning HD's (Seagate usb3 externals) and it's limited by that and not the connection. (No SSD's or USB3 Thumb drives to test) We run the llatest 10.7, haven't tried ML. Using driver off the high point site for the card.

My only problem so far has been it's apparent lack of support for USB3 Hubs. Got a cheap one from Newegg (Rosewill) and it can't see it. Same hub works fine running in USB2 off USB 2 ports.
Anyone have this card and having luck with USB3 hubs?
 
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xav8tor

macrumors 6502a
Mar 30, 2011
533
36
Have any of you in this thread been successful in getting the High Point dual port USB 3.0 PCI-e card for the Mac (1022AM) working in ML? Tried the Caldigit drivers to no avail and no one anywhere seems to have a working solution yet. The High Point dual driver for Lion doesn't work for me either.
 

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
Well, after my Mountain Lion install on the Mac Pro, the CalDigit card stopped working entirely.

I used CalDigit's driver removal tool, then installed drivers from their latest distribution. System Info shows the device and that the CalDigit drivers are being used, but nothing happens.

OWC's very understanding and will let me RMA the card if there's no progress this week, and I probably will.

There's a new MBA arriving today or tomorrow and I'll test the D800, the Lexar card reader, and the external drive with it, just to exclude the possibility that the devices are at fault. It seems unlikely to me, but I might as well test.
 

peabo

macrumors regular
Feb 14, 2008
201
0
Well, after my Mountain Lion install on the Mac Pro, the CalDigit card stopped working entirely.

I used CalDigit's driver removal tool, then installed drivers from their latest distribution. System Info shows the device and that the CalDigit drivers are being used, but nothing happens.

OWC's very understanding and will let me RMA the card if there's no progress this week, and I probably will.

There's a new MBA arriving today or tomorrow and I'll test the D800, the Lexar card reader, and the external drive with it, just to exclude the possibility that the devices are at fault. It seems unlikely to me, but I might as well test.
Don't worry, this is normal. Contact Caldigit and they will send you a beta driver that works with ML.
 
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