Mac Pro 1,1 OWC Accelsior & ATI 5770

[michael_aos]

I e-mailed them 6/13, but I haven't heard anything back. SSD is scheduled to arrive today.

There's a note on the bottom of the OWC page:

2007 & 2006: Mac Pros utilize four PCIe 1.0 slots. By utilizing the Expansion Utility in OS X, you can configure these slots for your needs. Installing Accelsior in Slot 2 can deliver up to 380MB/s data rate performance, but will reduce video graphics card speed. Installing Accelsior in Slot 3 or 4 will deliver 190-200MB/s data rates, but will not affect video graphics card speed. Slot 1 should only be used for video graphics cards.

When I pull up the Expansion Slot Utility, I see the video card "Running at maximum speed" in slot-1. x16.

The default configuration is 8x for slot-4, and 16x for slot-1.

The OWC guidance implies that only slot-2 (@ 8x) can deliver acceptable performance.

Does anyone happen to know why this might be the case?

 

[nycaleksey]

The OWC guidance implies that only slot-2 (@ 8x) can deliver acceptable performance.

Does anyone happen to know why this might be the case?

According to https://discussions.apple.com/message/18497562#18497562 :

"Slots 3 and 4 of the Mac Pro 2006, 2007, and 2008 are PCIe 1.0 slots. However, when you put an x2 card in slot 3 or 4, only 1 lane will be used because the ESB2 south bridge chip that controls those slots will not negotiate 2 lanes. According to the PCI Express specifications, slots are not required to negotiate a link width of 2 lanes. The Accelsior in slots 3 and 4 only does 195 MB/s (PCIe 1.0 x1)."

 

[michael_aos]

Thank you very much for the pointer.

It appears my OWC Mercury Accelsior PCI Express SSD is defective.

The card shows up fine, but not the SSD drive.

Talked to Morgan via their online chat. They generated me a replacement RMA.

I'm kind of thinking I may just return it though. Starting to think this just isn't the right solution for a Mac Pro 1,1.

I don't know what I'm looking at as far as a restocking fee.

 

[Neodym]

Starting to think this just isn't the right solution for a Mac Pro 1,1.

Not that many options. An alternative may be the Apricorn Velocity Solo. However - they state that MP 1,1 and 2,1 won't boot from it and that 3,1 only boots unreliably, hence it would only be a fast data drive.

Though you can still try to trick the 1,1 into booting the 64bit kernel (as it would be necessary for Mountain Lion on the 1,1) and see if your mileage may differ with regard to (reliable) booting...

 

[xgman]

Thank you very much for the pointer.

It appears my OWC Mercury Accelsior PCI Express SSD is defective.

The card shows up fine, but not the SSD drive.

Talked to Morgan via their online chat. They generated me a replacement RMA.

I'm kind of thinking I may just return it though. Starting to think this just isn't the right solution for a Mac Pro 1,1.

I don't know what I'm looking at as far as a restocking fee.

I agree, save for something new.

 

[michael_aos]

Bootable isn't absolutely necessary. Just would have been nice.

I do have a Newertechnology MAXPower eSATA 6G PCIe controller. I've never installed it in this Mac Pro. There is a little "**" caveat next to the PCIe 1.0 support, but no explanation as to what it means.

I'm about out of space on my OWC 240GB SSD. I could stick a couple Parallels VM's and maybe my iPhoto or iTunes library on an external 6Gbit SSD.

I just don't know if the OWC Mercury Electra 6G or the Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G makes more sense in this particular case. I tend to think the EXTREME version might make sense to house the VM's (incompressible?), but I'm not really sure.

----------

I agree, save for something new.

My thinking was maybe I could get acceptable performance from the Accelsior in the short-term, and then migrate it to the 2013 Mac Pro.

I've also been poking around on eBay a little and might consider a 2008, 2009, or 2010 Mac Pro if the price is right.
--

 

[michael_aos]

I haven't really noticed any slowdown with the 5770 running at 8x.

I assume the 380MBytes/sec for the Accelsior is reads & writes.

My primary drive is a 3G / SATA-II 240GB Mercury Extreme Pro (not the current 6G) from December 2010. I don't recall if it's rated for RAID 0.

I understand there are some caveats booting Lion from RAID, but I'm starting to think SATA-II (3Gbit) RAID-0 might actually be faster than the Accelsior in my case.

An OWC Mercury Electra 3G runs ~$240 and is qualified for RAID-0.
Or even 2x 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G @ ~$360. Still less-expensive than the Accelsior, and potentially faster in the 2006 Mac Pro 1,1.

Which option kind of depends whether my existing drive is qualified for RAID-0, and if it really matters what it's RAID'd with.

 

[ssgbryan]

I haven't really noticed any slowdown with the 5770 running at 8x.

I assume the 380MBytes/sec for the Accelsior is reads & writes.

My primary drive is a 3G / SATA-II 240GB Mercury Extreme Pro (not the current 6G) from December 2010. I don't recall if it's rated for RAID 0.

I understand there are some caveats booting Lion from RAID, but I'm starting to think SATA-II (3Gbit) RAID-0 might actually be faster than the Accelsior in my case.

An OWC Mercury Electra 3G runs ~$240 and is qualified for RAID-0.
Or even 2x 120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G @ ~$360. Still less-expensive than the Accelsior, and potentially faster in the 2006 Mac Pro 1,1.

Which option kind of depends whether my existing drive is qualified for RAID-0, and if it really matters what it's RAID'd with.

I am running with a pair of OWC Mercury Electra 3Gs (2x240Gb) in a Raid 0. I have been very pleased with the results.

 

[michael_aos]

OWC replied there is a 15% restocking fee, plus reimbursing the "free" shipping, so they would give me $411 to return this defective Accelsior.

I guess I'll just take the free replacement.

There is only a 5% restocking fee for unopened products. I might ask them about that before I open the replacement when it arrives.