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USB 3.x PCIe Cards for Classic Mac Pro

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
I think I messed up my USB-setup because I experimented with different USB-cards and drivers. I have a Inateck card now but it doesn't work anymore. Which files and settings should I check or replace by original ones?
Thanks!
 
CaptnJB said:
Hey first post, but I used the resources here to make a decision and thought I would share the results.

Add the Inateck KTU3FR-502U (5 + 2 PCI USB3.0) card to the list of boards that work out of the box with El Capitan. This is on a Mac Pro (Early 2008; MacPro3,1, El Capitan 10.11.1)

I had to replace an Anker 4 port board (was getting USB 2.0 after a long delay). I was using the GenericXHCD....drivers can't remember the rest of the acronym. However, SIP killed the GenericDrivers and I'm tired of messing around with KEXT's and crap. That's why I bought a Mac...tired of PC work-arounds. So, if you need a lot of USB ports, 5 external, 2 internal, the KTU3FR-5O2U PCI-E USB 3.0 card from Amazon works great OOB on Mac with El Capitan.

Here's the simple URL: http://amzn.com/B00FPIMICA $25.99 Prime Shipping

CaptnJB
Click to expand...

I see this needs a SATA connection to power USB devices. Will it work without the the SATA connection if my USB devices are already powered?
 
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Nadster said:
At this point I think I will just sit tight and see if anyone introduces a dual/quad ASM1142-based expansion card.

A 4 port/dual ASM1142-based expansion card might be ideal for the PCIe 1.1 x4 slots found in my 2008 Mac Pro. It would potentially allow up to 5 Gb/s USB 3.0 speed per port on each controller. And while I would be unable to tap the 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 rate, I suspect it will be a few years before that standard becomes widespread.

Thanks again for contacting HighPoint!
Click to expand...

I installed a Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe card in my early 2008 Mac Pro in slot 4 sometime last year and just ran across this forum tonight. What has been driving me insane is that System Profiler reports 4 separate devices (1 for each Fresco USB 3.0 controller) running at 5.0 GT/s each. That should be impossible since slots 3 and 4 in a 2008 cMP are PCIe 1.1 (2.5 GT/s) and actually share the same 4 lanes. I don't have a card in slot 3 and I'm currently running 10.11.3.

I can verify that I am getting around 400 MB/s on a 256 GB Corsair Voyager SSD USB 3.0 thumb drive. The maximum throughput of a 2.5 GT/s PCIe lane is roughly 250 MB/s after factoring in 20% overhead. So, the card is either aggregating traffic across 2 or more lanes or System Profiler is telling the truth about the link speed being 5.0 GT/s.

I haven't had a chance to connect more than one high speed device to definitively state which case is correct, but my intuition is that the link speed is actually 2.5 GT/s and the card is aggregating traffic across 2 or more lanes. I say this because Intel's ESB2 (Enterprise Southbridge 2) documentation makes it clear that slots 3 and 4 in the 2008 cMP share a 4x 2.5 GT/s link to the Northbridge chip.

Since the card establishes 4 separate 1 lanes devices, maybe it uses the 4 Fresco USB 3.0 controllers in a round robin fashion when less than 4 USB devices are plugged into it. If that's true, then one should be able to get close to 5 Gb/s when 1 or 2 devices are plugged in.

Has anyone else experienced something similar on a 2008 cMP with other manufacturers' USB 3.0 cards?
 
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I'm not sure how you are bench making this but COULD it be that you are seeing 400 megabits/sec as opposed to 400 MegaBytes/sec? USB 2.0 is a 480 megabits/sec device, and with overhead removed 400 megabits/sec sounds about right.

The device has 4 controllers and does dedicate 1x lane per controller. It does not aggregate or pull bandwidth from other controllers. They are isolated.

I can't answer why it's reporting 5.0 GT/s. Perhaps it's supposed to, perhaps it's a software reporting bug or something else. I don't know much about the 2008 machine.

Just my worthless 2¢ worth.
 
crjackson2134 said:
I'm not sure how you are bench making this but COULD it be that you are seeing 400 megabits/sec as opposed to 400 MegaBytes/sec? USB 2.0 is a 480 megabits/sec device, and with overhead removed 400 megabits/sec sounds about right.

The device has 4 controllers and does dedicate 1x lane per controller. It does not aggregate or pull bandwidth from other controllers. They are isolated.

I can't answer why it's reporting 5.0 GT/s. Perhaps it's supposed to, perhaps it's a software reporting bug or something else. I don't know much about the 2008 machine.

Just my worthless 2¢ worth.
Click to expand...

It's 400 MB/s as I watch transfers in Activity Monitor or run benchmarks such as AJA System Test/Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. I keep using the same 6 GB file to copy from my internal Areca 1225 RAID0 using 4x 300 GB 15K Cheetahs to the USB 3.0 Corsair Voyager SSD and vice versa. The Corsair's write speed tops out at around 300 MB/s or less while its read speeds average around 400 MB/s.
 
I made a little video showing power cable routing for the Inateck card.


It's the KT5002 aka KTU3FR-5O2U

I had a little problem with a USB Webcam lag but after replugging it, that seems fine. Drobo Gen 3 on it has had no problems.

I may get another longer power cable, I'm wondering what the orange bulge is on mine. I used different cables vs. the ones in the box which are way too short of course.

So far appears to work fine. Will revise comments / etc on video if anything changes.
 
Now that I know we can change thread titles, I've changed the title to more accurately describe the first post summary.

When I originally made this thread "What is the state of USB 3.0 on Mac Pro?" it was a throwaway question.
 
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HAL2010 said:
I think I messed up my USB-setup because I experimented with different USB-cards and drivers. I have a Inateck card now but it doesn't work anymore. Which files and settings should I check or replace by original ones?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

pastrychef said:
I say avoid all the trouble and just get a card the doesn't require a power cable.
Click to expand...


The newer KT 4004 doesn´t need power cable - just install the card - and work with it.

12CoreMP said:
I use the Inateck 4 port PCIE card and it works perfectly, speeds with it are excellent.
Click to expand...


So do I.
installed, immediately worked with it. NO problem. took not even 5 min.
It´s the KT4004.
But I work still with OSX 10.8.5.

This card does´t work with Yosemite and El Capitan (Perhaps apple hates that classic MP are still in use and is cutting step by step 3rd party solutions? One more reason not to upgrade too OSX 10.10 or 10.11) Card should work without special firmware with the former OSX.

In case of problems they propose to disconnect all usb device that are not necessary and then restart after also dissemble and reassemble their PCI-card.

http://www.inateck.com/pci-e-card-usb-expansion-for-mac-pro-kt4004/

download the instruction manual here (must scroll completely down the page) :
http://www.inateck.com/de/download/...-pci-e-express-card-without-power-connection/


Features
Each SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port on the PCI express card supports transfer rates of up to 5Gbps - The actual transmission speed is limited by the setting of the device connected.
No Additional Power Connection Needed for the PCI express card: It can be powered through the PCIE port which keeps your chassis neat and tidy.
The PCI Expansion card is applicable to the MAC Pro ( 2008 to 2012 Version) - Incompatible with Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or above ; supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7(with included CD drivers)
Mac OS 10.8.2 - 10.9.5 & Windows 8 - No additional drivers are needed for Mac Pro/ Win8, it has built-in support for the FL1100 chipset
 
MrAverigeUser said:
This card does´t work with Yosemite and El Capitan (Perhaps apple hates that classic MP are still in use and is cutting step by step 3rd party solutions? One more reason not to upgrade too OSX 10.10 or 10.11) Card should work without special firmware with the former OSX.
Click to expand...

Why doesn't it work? As long as a card uses the FL1100 chipset, there should be no problems in Yosemite or El Capitan.
 
pastrychef said:
I say avoid all the trouble and just get a card the doesn't require a power cable.
Click to expand...
pastrychef said:
Why doesn't it work? As long as a card uses the FL1100 chipset, there should be no problems in Yosemite or El Capitan.
Click to expand...


Inatek themselves say it would not.

But I read also about Users who were confirming that they are using
the KT 4004 with el Cap without any problem. Look at the commentaries on Amazon for example…
(BTW: the card got 4,6 Ratings.)
 
MrAverigeUser said:
Inatek themselves say it would not.

But I read also about Users who were confirming that they are using
the KT 4004 with el Cap without any problem. Look at the commentaries on Amazon for example…
(BTW: the card got 4,6 Ratings.)
Click to expand...

When I read that it works in Yosemite but not El Cap, I though it was due to SIP. So I went and checked the website and there doesn't appear to be any drivers to download except for Win XP, and Win 7. It's likely that those drivers continued to work through to Win 10 though.
Still, curious why El Cap would break the card, beyond the implementation of SIP.
 
MrAverigeUser said:
Inatek themselves say it would not.

But I read also about Users who were confirming that they are using
the KT 4004 with el Cap without any problem.
Click to expand...

The card works in Yosemite and El Cap, but it doesn't work on SOME specific rigs/configurations. I have explained this many times. Every few months a new person comes along and starts the controversy all over again. Either read the thread, or just get something else. I like and use the

Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0
HAL2010 said:
Many users have reported that the Inatek card works in El Capitan. It doesn't break the card.
Click to expand...

Correct.

howiest said:
When I read that it works in Yosemite but not El Cap, I though it was due to SIP. So I went and checked the website and there doesn't appear to be any drivers to download except for Win XP, and Win 7. It's likely that those drivers continued to work through to Win 10 though.
Still, curious why El Cap would break the card, beyond the implementation of SIP.
Click to expand...

Since drivers are already included in the OS, SIP isn't a problem.
 
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crjackson2134 said:
The card works in Yosemite and El Cap, but it doesn't work on SOME specific rigs/configurations. I have explained this many times. Every few months a new person comes along and starts the controversy all over again. Either read the thread, or just get something else.
Click to expand...

Whoa, wait just one second... I have a working card, a NewerTech MAXPower USB/eSATA 2x2 Host Adapter. Furthermore I was responding to MrAverigeUser saying it didn't work, and trying to figure out why Inatek themselves had told him that it didn't. 🙄
 
MrAverigeUser said:
Inatek
Click to expand...
howiest said:
Whoa, wait just one second... I have a working card, a NewerTech MAXPower USB/eSATA 2x2 Host Adapter. Furthermore I was responding to MrAverigeUser saying it didn't work, and trying to figure out why Inatek themselves had told him that it didn't. 🙄
Click to expand...

Don't get twisted up, I wasn't directing this to you, I was including you in the conversation. 🙄

You mentioned SIP might be involved, and I was simply explaining otherwise and thought you might be interested. Sorry to offend you.

I was also responding to MrAverigUser, but included you in the quote since you were participating. I'll edit the post to make it clear.
 
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crjackson2134 said:
Don't get twisted up, I wasn't directing this to you, I was including you in the conversation. 🙄

I was also responding to MrAverigUser, but included you in the quote since you were participating. You thought SIP might be involved, and I was simply explaining otherwise and thought you might be interested.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up, I owe you a beer. 😎
 
crjackson2134 said:
The card works in Yosemite and El Cap, but it doesn't work on SOME specific rigs/configurations. I have explained this many times. Every few months a new person comes along and starts the controversy all over again. Either read the thread, or just get something else. I like and use the

Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0

(…)
Since drivers are already included in the OS, SIP isn't a problem.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your kind reminder. 1.060 posting ago, you explained in an perfect way ALL about the card indeed.
Sorry if I caused confusion, BUT:

I was just citing Inateks very own comment (!) on their very own website (!) about that, nothing else! Nevertheless I wrote though as well that there are users reporting full function under OSX 10.10 and 10.11…...

It might be possible though to understand that not everyone remembers one extremely informative posting about 1000 postings ago in this wonderful Thread of 67 pages and 1.672 postings… since for me (using still OSX 10.8.5) the Info about 10.10 and higher was not important at all - so possibly comprehensible that I even had no interest to memorize this info when reading this 1060 postings ago...
 
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HAL2010 said:
That was also mentioned in this thread...
Click to expand...

OMG… yes - 1060 postings ago…

Nevertheless I mentioned that the card might function though:

MrAverigeUser said:
Inatek themselves say it would not.

But I read also about Users who were confirming that they are using
the KT 4004 with el Cap without any problem. Look at the commentaries on Amazon for example…
(BTW: the card got 4,6 Ratings.)
Click to expand...

what do you want me to do? Committing suicide now?
I just tried to help.🙄
 
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