Do ASM1061 based PCIe cards work in a Late 2005 PowerMac G5?

[netsrot39]

Hello guys,
I have 3 more or less gutted PowerMac G5s at home (gutted because of deep cleaning). I'm already looking forward to rebuild them in the next few months but would like to add more functionality to them. I was looking at some ASM1061 cards (eSATA expansion and mSATA to PCIe adapter). I know the possibility to expand the PowerMac G5 is scarce due to the fact that Leopard is the limit. However I'd like to know if the cards based on the chip in question will theoretically work in a PowerMac G5 (also if SSDs or HDDs are bootable with those cards).

Please let me know if you know more. Thanks!

 

[LightBulbFun]

if the card/chipset your using supports AHCI then it will work in Late 05 PowerMac G5 in Leopard

but it wont be bootable (unless someone can write an AHCI driver for OpenFirmware)

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

What are you trying to achieve? There is at least 1 card, which works natively with Leopard & Tiger Server and it allows you to add 4 internal sas\sata drives, lsi3041e-r. For more details, look at my topic here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sas-card-for-g5quad.2259020/

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

SAS card for G5Quad

Got another one SAS card, now it's PCI-X based. It has FCode rom onboard, so I suppose OF have to detect card itself. (I don't know about macos 9, but in my Quad Tiger didn't got friver for this card, only Tiger Server & Leopard have them). This is some info to prove existence of FCode ROM :D...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[netsrot39]

Thanks for your replies and sorry that I haven't responded in a long time but I was so busy with university that I barely had any time off.

if the card/chipset your using supports AHCI then it will work in Late 05 PowerMac G5 in Leopard

but it wont be bootable (unless someone can write an AHCI driver for OpenFirmware)

I think the card I was looking at does support AHCI but it would be a bummer if it isn't bootable.

What are you trying to achieve? There is at least 1 card, which works natively with Leopard & Tiger Server and it allows you to add 4 internal sas\sata drives, lsi3041e-r. For more details, look at my topic here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sas-card-for-g5quad.2259020/

I want to run OS X on a mSATA SSD because many 2.5" SSDs do not play nicely with the PowerMac G5. I know 2.5" Crucial SSDs work great with a PowerMac G5 but I've experienced issues with drives larger than 240 GB – once I wanted to upgrade from my reliably working 240 GB drive to a 512 GB drive (also Crucial) and it would simply not work. I guess what I'm trying to achieve besides mSATA as a main drive is to have more and faster I/O capability. In other words, I want my PowerMac G5 to have eSATA support which the expansion card I was looking at does also provide if I combine it with a SATA to eSATA adapter bracket. Here is a link to the card I've been refering to: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32910645970.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7b884c4dRm8eFU

Do you guys think I have too high expectations when it comes to upgrading the G5? 😅

 

[repairedCheese]

I want to run OS X on a mSATA SSD because many 2.5" SSDs do not play nicely with the PowerMac G5. I know 2.5" Crucial SSDs work great with a PowerMac G5 but I've experienced issues with drives larger than 240 GB – once I wanted to upgrade from my reliably working 240 GB drive to a 512 GB drive (also Crucial) and it would simply not work. I guess what I'm trying to achieve besides mSATA as a main drive is to have more and faster I/O capability. In other words, I want my PowerMac G5 to have eSATA support which the expansion card I was looking at does also provide if I combine it with a SATA to eSATA adapter bracket. Here is a link to the card I've been refering to: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32910645970.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7b884c4dRm8eFU

I happen to have a 4tb hard drive in the 2nd bay of my G5, so I can tell you that size is not the issue. What I have gathered is that ssds have issues with SATA 2 hardware, as newer ones have dropped support for the old standard. If your MSATA drive is compatible with SATA 2, all you need is an adaptor.

 

[netsrot39]

I happen to have a 4tb hard drive in the 2nd bay of my G5, so I can tell you that size is not the issue. What I have gathered is that ssds have issues with SATA 2 hardware, as newer ones have dropped support for the old standard. If your MSATA drive is compatible with SATA 2, all you need is an adaptor.

I was also kind of suspecting that it has to do with lack of backwards compability for older SATA revisions but the thing was that the Crucial SSDs were the same model (but different capacity). The reason why I'd like to use a PCI Express card for my OS drive is that it doesn't really take away space and I could fit another 3.5" HDDs for storage in the bay area. Since I've already ordered the card from AliExpress there isn't anything to lose anymore. Once I have rebuilt my G5, I'll try and see what works and what not. Of course I'll post my results here but it would be really nice if the PowerMac G5 could boot from a PCI Express card. If in the end it turns out not to work, I guess I have another spare PCI Express card that I can use for my Mac Pro

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

but it would be really nice if the PowerMac G5 could boot from a PCI Express card.

It wouldn't. Only if it has onboard FCode ROM. What's wrong with LSI? All you'll need - cage for SATA (& even SAS) SSDs . AFAIK LSI3041 is compatible at least with SATA2 devices.