Best SATA III solution for cMP?

[darkgoob]

After a lot of research here, where people said for most things I would not notice a difference between SM951 and 850 EVO, and after seeing how fast 850 PRO is on my 2012 MBP (very happy with it), I decided to just get a 1TB 850 EVO for $360 since that way I could fit a lot more files onto the SSD compared to what I'd get if I bought SM951 and for cheaper than a $500 960GB Kensington HyperX Predator. I also figured that if this aging Mac Pro ever dies, then if my SSD is SATA, I can more easily hook it up to any computer to get files off of it.

However now I kinda need a SATA 3 card. I saw Fry's has some SIIG options but they don't list OS X as compatible. There's a cheap 2-port Syba option there, but it got bad reviews, and I figure if I'm getting one, I might as well go for something that has both SATA and eSATA. The only threads I could find on here were from awhile back, so hey, what's the best option nowadays? Should any old card work?

Is there one that supports RAID via the Mac Pro's "RAID" slot at all?

 

[h9826790]

1) You don't "need" SATA III card. You can simply install the 850 Evo in any native SATA port. The one in optical bay work best (assume you have 4,1 or 5,1). But you can also simply plug the SSD into any port without extra support. The connector itself is strong enough to support a SSD. If you really worry about it. You can remove the case of the SSD to further reduce weight. Or simply use a tap to secure it into position.

2) If you can't feel the difference between SM951 and 850 Evo, then you should not able to feel the difference between SATA II and SATA III. Because the main difference is just the sequential speed, SM951 is 3x faster than 850 Evo, but SATA III is only 2x faster than SATA II. If you can't feel the difference from SM951, which means your work flow doesn't benefit from high sequential speed a lot. Which also mean SATA III may be very meaningless to you.

3) If you really want SATA III card, Apricorn Velocity, Sonnet Tempo SSD, OWC Accelsior S, etc are the known working card in cMP.

4) If you mean software RAID, all of them support it.

 

[bax2003]

There are quite a few 4-port SATA 3 Marvell 9230/9235 controllers around $30-50 which are working very well.
For example, I am using this one in Mac Pro (4.1->5.1). Its bootable.
http://www.iocrest.com/en/product_details277.html

 

[darkgoob]

There are quite a few 4-port SATA 3 Marvell 9230/9235 controllers around $30-50 which are working very well.
For example, I am using this one in Mac Pro (4.1->5.1). Its bootable.
http://www.iocrest.com/en/product_details277.html

Thanks. I'm doing some heavier lifting with this SSD than my other one, so the extra throughput will come in handy.