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

new PCIe SSD from OWC up to 2.0 TB

Refer to "Driver required for OS X" its not AHCI, so NOT bootable on cMP.
Also overprised.
 
Yep was just looking at this too. They've had this one in the works for a while. Not sure why they didn't make it bootable. The Accelsior E2 is bootable. Why not this one I wonder?
 
macuser453787 said:
Yep was just looking at this too. They've had this one in the works for a while. Not sure why they didn't make it bootable. The Accelsior E2 is bootable. Why not this one I wonder?
Click to expand...

The E2 is x2 based which is essentially only available on AHCI, this is M.2 x4 which is pretty much by now a sole NVMe market.

This things are, after all, just a pre-made circuit design and custom logos plus some changes, not new controller/NAND.

However as even normal AHCI x4/M.2 supply is severely limited (Kingston, Plextor - both Marvell 88SS9293 and Samsung w/ own) and none of these does OEM anymore as far as i know...
 
Do you know where we could find the SATA cable there are using to power the card?

Perhaps instead of pulling down the power from the DVD bay to the graphic card we could use the power from on of those source.
 
Thanks for the info. However, seems another over price + under perform product from OWC. No TRIM, No SMART, not bootable, Sandforce controller.... TBH, I doubt if it's a NVMe SSD. It looks like just some SATA SSD in RAID 0. And due to the hardware RAID, it require driver and not bootable (that's why it stated that not even bootable on PC). The spec (performance) also doesn't looks like NVMe SSD at all.

For that price, I will buy 4x SM951 (512GB) and an Amfeltec card.

I just check on Taobao.com. I can get 4x SM951 512GB AHCI from China ($187 each), and I don't think the card will cost me $550. Even it does, this 4x SM951 setup is ~6000MB/s, and bootable.

Even unable to get the AHCI version, get 4x mSATA 512GB 850Evo, make them in RAID 0. Still a cheaper and more useful setup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MRxROBOT
superparati said:
Do you know where we could find the SATA cable there are using to power the card?

Perhaps instead of pulling down the power from the DVD bay to the graphic card we could use the power from on of those source.
Click to expand...

Is that a standard 4pin or mini 4pin? That looks small.
[doublepost=1488810296][/doublepost]
macuser453787 said:
According to OWC's installation video, that cable comes with the card.
Click to expand...

I think he mean only get the cable, but not the card. Therefore, we can use that cable in our own way.
 
h9826790 said:
Thanks for the info. However, seems another over price + under perform product from OWC. No TRIM, No SMART, not bootable, Sandforce controller.... TBH, I doubt if it's a NVMe SSD. It looks like just some SATA SSD in RAID 0. And due to the hardware RAID, it require driver and not bootable (that's why it stated that not even bootable on PC). The spec (performance) also doesn't looks like NVMe SSD at all.

For that price, I will buy 4x SM951 (512GB) and an Amfeltec card.

I just check on Taobao.com. I can get 4x SM951 512GB AHCI from China ($187 each), and I don't think the card will cost me $550. Even it does, this 4x SM951 setup is ~6000MB/s, and bootable.

Even unable to get the AHCI version, get 4x mSATA 512GB 850Evo, make them in RAID 0. Still a cheaper and more useful setup.
Click to expand...
Hit the nail on the head. OWC is what people buy when they don't know any better. Great marketing though...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 0134168
William_si said:
The E2 is x2 based which is essentially only available on AHCI, this is M.2 x4 which is pretty much by now a sole NVMe market.

This things are, after all, just a pre-made circuit design and custom logos plus some changes, not new controller/NAND.

However as even normal AHCI x4/M.2 supply is severely limited (Kingston, Plextor - both Marvell 88SS9293 and Samsung w/ own) and none of these does OEM anymore as far as i know...
Click to expand...

Not sure why x2 vs. x4 would contribute to a lack of bootability. Yes the E2 is x2, but it uses only two blades that are striped on the card. So for the Pro Q, why not use same/similar blades as the E2, but 4 blades instead of 2 blades, to yield higher MB/s and retain bootability?
[doublepost=1488811062][/doublepost]
h9826790 said:
I think he mean only get the cable, but not the card. Therefore, we can use that cable in our own way.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see. Seemed like he was looking to get the card but thought he needed to get he cable separately. :)
 
h9826790 said:
Thanks for the info. However, seems another over price + under perform product from OWC. No TRIM, No SMART, not bootable, Sandforce controller.... TBH, I doubt if it's a NVMe SSD. It looks like just some SATA SSD in RAID 0. And due to the hardware RAID, it require driver and not bootable (that's why it stated that not even bootable on PC). The spec (performance) also doesn't looks like NVMe SSD at all.

For that price, I will buy 4x SM951 (512GB) and an Amfeltec card.

I just check on Taobao.com. I can get 4x SM951 512GB AHCI from China ($187 each), and I don't think the card will cost me $550. Even it does, this 4x SM951 setup is ~6000MB/s, and bootable.

Even unable to get the AHCI version, get 4x mSATA 512GB 850Evo, make them in RAID 0. Still a cheaper and more useful setup.
Click to expand...

To be fair its getting increasingly difficult to make a case for investing in product dev for the ancient Mac Pro platforms. Hats off to them for bringing anything out at all.
 
Intersting, when I search a bit more about the Sandforce 2281 Flash controller and LSI SAS2308 RAID controller. The very 1st I found is this.

The SAS 2308 opens the door to low-cost, agile IO connectivity solutions for external storage, blades, or low- to mid-range servers. (From here)

And the following SF2281 + SAS2308 review shows some strange behaviours of this setup. e.g. The performance may drop when RAIDing more drives together. Or the boot time will be increased by 50s if config this controller to boot (this option won't be avail on the cMP anyway)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6228/...-pcie-30-x16x16x16x16-and-lsi-8way-sassata/10

Anyway, very clear that this Pro Q is just a hardware RAID 0 SATA SSD array, not NVMe SSD. And it's a low cost, low end product (even in 2012).
[doublepost=1488813924][/doublepost]
beaker7 said:
To be fair its getting increasingly difficult to make a case for investing in product dev for the ancient Mac Pro platforms. Hats off to them for bringing anything out at all.
Click to expand...

Agree, but for storage, it's not really that hard, especially for that kind of price. But luckily, some of the PC product can be use directly on the cMP, so even no manufacture produce any Mac Edition storage product. We can still pick the correct parts and upgrade on our own.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 0134168
macuser453787 said:
Not sure why x2 vs. x4 would contribute to a lack of bootability. Yes the E2 is x2, but it uses only two blades that are striped on the card. So for the Pro Q, why not use same/similar blades as the E2, but 4 blades instead of 2 blades, to yield higher MB/s and retain bootability?
[doublepost=1488811062][/doublepost]
Ah, I see. Seemed like he was looking to get the card but thought he needed to get he cable separately. :)
Click to expand...

Just the cable yes - not the card :)
 
Do you know guys any card similar to the Amfeltec, even only two blades, but cheaper? Thnx.
 
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