Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

USB card for a Mac Pro - Any Suggestions?

M

Muttster

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 28, 2007
36
0
I want to get a USB card as I am running out of inputs. Will any USB 2 card work or do I have to get an PCI express card?

Thanks
 
It will need to be PCI-e in order to work. Strangely enough I havent seen PCI-e USB cards in stores, but I'm sure Newegg or Tiger Direct would have them.
 
They lost a lot of manufacturers, and are down to like one vendor supporting SCSI on leopard and the Mac Pro.

They really need that consumer model again to bring back the vendors. :(

www.barefeats.com may have some of the cards tested.
 
I just added two StarTech 4 port PCI-E USB cards to my pro- Microcenter was the only place local I could find any PCI-E USB cards. With both cards in, I had to do a lot of port swapping to get everything to work... Neither the iPod or iPhone docks would work unless they were plugged into an internal port instead of the card, and some things wouldn't work in some ports on some cards. (Griffin Powermate, Keyspan USB-Serial, Huey). I took one of the cards out and got everything to work, but I lose the USB card after the machine wakes from sleep. They come back after a re-boot. My Macalley USB Hub/Card Reader won't work at all with them. FWIW, the cards weren't marked as "Mac Compatible". I'm not keen on a hub, as the only place I'll have to plug it in would be a front port.
 
termina3 said:
I take it you've considered USB hubs but don't want to use one?
Click to expand...

If I had a Mac Pro, I'd certainly prefer an internal solution. A hub takes up not only space but uses another adaptor. My Belkin hub (conveniently :rolleyes:) has the power brick on the plug too, which takes up two spaces on my power strip. :mad:
 
jnc said:
If I had a Mac Pro, I'd certainly prefer an internal solution. A hub takes up not only space but uses another adaptor. My Belkin hub (conveniently :rolleyes:) has the power brick on the plug too, which takes up two spaces on my power strip. :mad:
Click to expand...

Look at bare feats they test out some of the USB/FW combo cards under Leopard (or they use at least one for the drive testing.)

At least this way, you know if the card is going to work on a Mac Pro under Leopard, though xlr8yourmac likely has some comments hidden on their site. Since it doesn't seem the upgrade card database is up-to-date.
 
I use Sonnet Allegro Express USB 2.0 cards in my Mac Pro and can recommend them. The Sonnet has 4 external ports, 1 internal.
 
awmazz said:
I use Sonnet Allegro Express USB 2.0 cards in my Mac Pro and can recommend them. The Sonnet has 4 external ports, 1 internal.
Click to expand...

From the website:

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegro_express_usb.html said:
Technical Notes:
(1) Deep Sleep not supported under Mac OS X Version 10.3 or 10.4.
Click to expand...

That's what I call a tradeoff.
 
My Mac slept in 10.4. Does in 10.5 as well. Not sure what 'Deep Sleep' is though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back