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PCI SATA Cards - What is the state of compatibility?

Swampus said:
(...) Unlike the the 2TB versions of the same model, the 1.5TB will spin up to 7200rpm if needed. It performs surprisingly well.
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That's interesting, I always thought "intelli power" was a marketing hoax and actually the speed was fix at 5900rpm or so.
 
 
Look at this HP Smart Array P600 SAS PCI-X RAID that has a PowerPC chip. Just thinking about having a third processor on a G4 :p . Are PCI-X cards PCI-64 (long PCI) compatible? Manifacturers talk about better performance on PCI-X, and some says its compatible PCI but slower than in full slot
 
All PCI-X cards are by nature 64bit/"long", there was never a "long" PCI slot.

You can install a PCI-X (64bit) card into a PCI (32bit) slot as long as the card supports the slower bus speed (66MHz, most do), has the same voltage/universal voltage, and the "overhang" of the card has enough "headroom", i.e. no capacitors/chips in the way.

PCI cards are able to be installed in a PCI-X slot (again, if the voltage is the same or universal) but the whole bus will default to the slowest card. i.e. if you have a normal 66MHz 32bit PCI card and another PCI-X 133MHz card the PCI-X card will only run at 66MHz (unless the mobo has more than one PCI bus, but Mac's have one.)
 
I think PCI was 33Mhz and the Ati Rage 128 gl on B&W G3 was 66Mhz (before AGP)
Laters G4 had the "long PCI" in other places called 64 bit still at 33Mhz
The speed take-off on G5 pci-x, finally getting more than 33Mhz.
I can be completely wrong :p
Wikipedia PCI
 
The PCI-X card 64bit gets 62MB/s max in my PowerMac G4 (real speed maesured, not with a benchmark tool, they will give you 80MB/s and more).
I get stuttering from time to time with this, when watching a part in iMovie or a DV file in Quicktime. I am not sure, if it is the driver or the poor FSB of the G4 of 100MHz. I guess MDD G4s are better for these cards, since Sonnet sold PCI-X cards for the MDD.
I keep the card in my AGP G4, though, because of the transfer speed.

The PCI 32bit only gives me around 35MB/s in this G4.

Regarding the card with the Chip "PowerPC" on it. I saw this on LSI 3ware 9650SE (and some other) cards. Is has nothing to do with bootability on Macs, but this manufacturer has drivers for these cards, that allow you to use the card for Drives, as long as you do not boot from them.


The whole PCI capabilities of the PowerMacs can be seen at everymac.com
 
I have a PCI-X Sil3124 (pci1095,3124) which has 2x eSATA and 2x internal SATA. It has been in use in a G5 '03 Tower, but I'd like to install it in a Sawtooth G4 in a PCI slot. It should be compatible using the Sil kext/driver, however the card is not bootable.

I have been searching and have come up with no clear answer on this; Does anybody know if it is possible to flash the Sil3124 with a Seritek ROM without using a PC? I only have PCI / PCI-X Macs, the only PC I have is PCIe. The G4 could boot into OS9 if any tools exist which are not OSX compatible.

Alternatively, has anyone cracked the Firmtek/Seritek Flasher to see a generic card? This card looks like the SeriTek 1V2E2.

Thanks in advance.
 
I "think" it's possible but quite involved.

1 A PMC PM39LV040 EPROM chip is required. It's supported by both the WiebeTech flasher and SeriTek's firmware.

2 An Sil3112 or Sil3512 PCI card is required.

3 Install the PM39LV040 chip onto the Sil3112 or Sil3512 card.

4 Flash it with the WiebeTech's flasher on the Mac.

5 Move the flashed chip to the Sil3124 card.

*Some Sil3124 card, such as PB3124, comes equipped with a PM39LV040 in a 32 pin PLCC adapter. This will make things easier.
 
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for this said:
I "think" it's possible but quite involved.

1 A PMC PM39LV040 EPROM chip is required. It's supported by both the WiebeTech flasher and SeriTek's firmware.

2 An Sil3112 or Sil3512 PCI card is required.

3 Install the PM39LV040 chip onto the Sil3112 or Sil3512 card.

4 Flash it with the WiebeTech's flasher on the Mac.

5 Move the flashed chip to the Sil3124 card.

*Some Sil3124 card, such as PB3124, comes equipped with a PM39LV040 in a 32 pin PLCC adapter. This will make things easier.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.

I spotted the removable ROM chip on some of them, that would make it easier. I just pulled up a photo of my card and it turns out to be 1x eSATA, 3x Internal SATA and looks nothing like the Seritek model (recollection can be funny like that!).


IMG_1167.jpg


I have a feeling that booting may not be an option with this one.
 
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Just a heads up for anyone in the UK that these cheap PCI SATA II cards that Maplin are getting rid of (collect in store only now) with a Silicon Image 3512 controller chip

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/serial-ata-raid-pci-card-a47bb

can be very easily flashed in a Mac with this Wiebetech firmware:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110107124934/http://www.wiebetech.com/download.php?id=119

following the instructions in this thread:

http://www.applefritter.com/content/sil3512-flashing

giving two internal SATA channels. Disks are bootable and iStat even passes through temperature readings. This opens up opportunities for those without access to a PC, which is normally required to flash the more common SiI3112 chipped cards.

You might find something like this cable

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sata-ii-ra-datapower-to-molex-sata-ii-cable-n67hq

useful for hooking up and powering the SATA hard drive. Bear in mind that the SATA connection in this cable is right angled and depending upon your set up probably not the right way around to make fitting as neat as possible. I found it so in my MDD so it added a little awkwardness to proceedings but there was sufficient room for it not to make things too difficult. I would suggest mounting the SATA hard drive in the cage under the optical drives so that trailing cables do not impede cooling of the processor heatsink.

SATA speeds will not be much faster than using the ATA100 connectors in something like a PowerMac MDD but for those with older PowerMacs using SATA bypasses the 128GB limit on bootable volumes. Just bear in mind that Quicksilvers do not like flashed SATA cards and will not start with one installed.

Total cost: Just under £5 and a few minutes of your time.
 
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I picked on of these pci cards up from my local Maplins today, it was the last one in stock, I guess they are going to be discontinued. I'll probably move it over to my powermac G4 at some point and add an ssd although I want to get some use out of my raid ide disks first.
 
A couple of additions I needed to have made: The card is SATA1 rather than 2 as I said so that may impact sustained SSD transfer speeds but you probably won’t notice the difference otherwise. Additionally, this card is bootable from both SATA ports, just checked that this morning. I think the 3112 based cards only boot from one of the ports after flashing although I won’t swear to that.
 
for this said:
The link leads me to an IDE/SATA adapter, not a PCI card. May be that's because it's now for walk-in purchase only.

BTW, my 3112 based card flashed with SeriTek 1S2 firmware is bootable from both ports.
Click to expand...

I have fixed the link. Note that the card sold is different in appearance from the one depicted online.

BTW, I was referring to cheaper 3112 cards flashed with the Wiebetech firmware. If your 3112 card has one of the three approved EEPROMs then you can flash it with the better SeriTek firmware and it should also boot OS9.
 
It looks like your card had an EEPROM socket. Most cheap cards have a small 128k chip soldered on. Did you get yours recently and if so, from where?
 
It didn't have the socket. Removing the old chip was harder than soldering in the new one. I had to entwine all the old chip's legs with a copper wire before applying large amount of solder, so that the heat would be transferred to all the contact points.

closer-up.jpg


I bought the card from eBay around 2014 when they were ubiquitous and costed only about $8. The EPROM chip was bought from aliexpress.

I think you can do the same with the current version with the red board such as this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-to-2-S...3112-3112-Card-Adapter-Converter/331677428152

It has a similar layout as mine, especially the R24 and R25 where you have to remove the R25 and bridge the R24 to supply 3.3V to the new EPROM chip instead of the default 5V.
 
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That looks way beyond my cackhanded soldering capabilities. Your work looks very neat indeed.

I only found one seller for the EEPROM chips online selling 5 for $40. Might just as well get a used Sonnet or SeriTek card.
 
Thanks, it's a fluke. My other projects don't look as good. :)

Yes, with that pricing, buying the real thing seems a better choice.
 
This is a really old thread -- but I'll jump on!
PM G4 MDD 1GHz
I bought a Syba-SD-xx-150R sata PCI card with SiI 3512 chip. Got the 3512 WiebeTech flasher. It says flash successful.
Card is recognized as SATA controller on PCI bus but says "no driver" on 10.5; but not even recognized on 10.4 (my preferred because of Classic).
I think I need a .kext right? Anyone have a ppc kext for this?
 
gsahli said:
This is a really old thread -- but I'll jump on!
PM G4 MDD 1GHz
I bought a Syba-SD-xx-150R sata PCI card with SiI 3512 chip. Got the 3512 WiebeTech flasher. It says flash successful.
Card is recognized as SATA controller on PCI bus but says "no driver" on 10.5; but not even recognized on 10.4 (my preferred because of Classic).
I think I need a .kext right? Anyone have a ppc kext for this?
Click to expand...

Dunno about this. Mine worked fine and booted both Tiger and Leopard. I didn't have to add any kexts or edit any IDs within Info.plist files. SATA I support should be baked into Tiger onwards as G5 Macs came with SATA I drives.
 
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