Mac Pro 3.1 Upgrade

[stenrasmussen]

Hi, first posting here. I use my MP for photo work (Photoshop, NX-D, etc. No video editing).
I am in the process of upgrading my MP 3.1 after the stock Radeon 2600 said goodnight.
- I've installed a new graphics card (ASUS Nvidia GT 610) which when installed with the latest driver works like a charm with dual display (two 24" Dells). No boot screen, but as I don't want to risk anything by flashing an EFI to it I can live with that.
- I added a NANOtech USB 3 PCIe unit which works as promised.
- I got a PCIe Accelsior S adapter from OWC and a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB to complete the set.

Now to the issue: After using Disk Utility to format the SSD (OS X Extended Journal, GUID), my MP only recognizes the 850 as an external drive. Is it a firmware issue or is there a trick I don't know about?

 

[dblairw]

Sten - I run a similar setup in my own cMP 3,1 with a Samsung 850 Pro SSD mounted in an OWC Accelsior S PCIe adapter.

I run Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite on the S 850 Pro, and get > 500 MBps throughput with the Accelsior in the PCIe slot #2 to capitalize on the 16 lane bandwidth. Like you, Yosemite shows the 850 Pro in the Accelsior as an "external" drive.

This SSD setup works absolute wonders for the cMP 3,1 so I don't spend much time on the external drive reference.

 

[stenrasmussen]

Sten - I run a similar setup in my own cMP 3,1 with a Samsung 850 Pro SSD mounted in an OWC Accelsior S PCIe adapter.

I run Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite on the S 850 Pro, and get > 500 MBps throughput with the Accelsior in the PCIe slot #2 to capitalize on the 16 lane bandwidth. Like you, Yosemite shows the 850 Pro in the Accelsior as an "external" drive.

This SSD setup works absolute wonders for the cMP 3,1 so I don't spend much time on the external drive reference.

Thanks for your reply. What I don't get is how the MP can start up when the SSD is not recognised as an internal (bootable) drive..?

 

[r6mile]

A Mac Pro, like all modern Macs, can boot-up from an external drive so that's no problem. I've done the same in a 3,1 with a 850 EVO and a OWC Accelsior S and it works perfectly - showing up as an external is just something the Accelsior does but has no impact on functionality.

 

[MikeymikeT5]

A Mac Pro, like all modern Macs, can boot-up from an external drive so that's no problem. I've done the same in a 3,1 with a 850 EVO and a OWC Accelsior S and it works perfectly - showing up as an external is just something the Accelsior does but has no impact on functionality.

Good eve. I'm in a similar situation, and registered an account so I could ask advice here. Just found this thread, so rather than starting a new one, here goes...

I also have a Mac 3,1, 2.8 dual quad core. I'm looking at the same Accelsior card, or Apricorn X Duo, but inclined towards the former, with a single SSD (Samsung Pro 500 or 512GB, or Crucial MX200 500GB). I'm not planning on running Dual Boot, so am guessing the Accelsior might be best, especially as there seem to be one or two people having glitches with the Aprocorn? Any opinions would be greatly received. (at the moment, I'm just running a normal 7200rpm 500GB HDD).

Many thanks,

Mike.

 

[Squuiid]

Folks, surely an XP941/Lycom combo would be a far better bet?
The Accelsior and Apricorn are very much the old way of doing things I would say.

 

[nigelbb]

Folks, surely an XP941/Lycom combo would be a far better bet?
The Accelsior and Apricorn are very much the old way of doing things I would say.

It does depend on your budget & how much SSD storage your require. I am using 2 x 1TB Samsung Evo 850 in RAID 0 on an Apricorn Velocity Duo i.e. it appears as a single 2TB disk with a performance on Black Magic of 6-700MBps read & write. An XP941/Lycom combo wouldn't be much faster & would only give 512GB of storage. An Amfeltec Squid plus 4 x 512GB XP951s would give the same capacity in total with double the performance but would be considerably more expensive.

 

[dblairw]

Good eve. I'm in a similar situation, and registered an account so I could ask advice here. Just found this thread, so rather than starting a new one, here goes...

I also have a Mac 3,1, 2.8 dual quad core. I'm looking at the same Accelsior card, or Apricorn X Duo, but inclined towards the former, with a single SSD (Samsung Pro 500 or 512GB, or Crucial MX200 500GB). I'm not planning on running Dual Boot, so am guessing the Accelsior might be best, especially as there seem to be one or two people having glitches with the Aprocorn? Any opinions would be greatly received. (at the moment, I'm just running a normal 7200rpm 500GB HDD).

Many thanks,

Mike.

Mikeymike - Welcome to MacRumors Forums!

Sharing SSD throughput rates from my own cMP 3,1 setup:

Baseline = SanDisk X400 512GB SSD in a NewerTech Adapt-A-Drive in hard drive bay #1
* Write sustained rate = 260MBps
* Read sustained rate = 270MBps
* This looks slow, but OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is lightning fast on the X400

PCIe Solution for me = Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD in OWC Accelsior S in 16 lane PCIe 2.0 slot #2
* Write sustained rate = 430MBps
* Read sustained rate = 540MBps
* OS X 10.10 Yosemite runs very sweet on the 850 Pro (what's a spinning beachball ? I never see one )

There are numerous good options for an SSD taking advantage of the cMP PCIe bandwidth. The Accelsior adapter can typically be yours for < $USD 60 from OWC. The 850 Pro SSD format was right for me since it can be readily used in a Mac Pro hard drive bay, or just as easily dropped into one of my handcrafted Intel PC machines. Your own needs and preferences will dictate which option is right for you.