MP 1,1-5,1 Wi-Fi & BT4.0 & USB 3/C advice

[Zeke D]

Now that I have Big Sur running on my flashed 2010 4-1, I think that it's time to get better Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB 3/C.

Currently, I have a GTX680 in slot1 and an ASUS Hyper M.2 in slot4. My plan is to stick a Fenvi T919 BCM94360CD in slot3 so the antennas don't obscure anything, and a YEELIYA PCI-E Type C in slot 2. I plan to power the USB card with a SIENOC 22-pin SATA extender from HDD slot 4, and jumper the Bluetooth from the USB card to the Broadcom card with a Cablecc 9Pin to 20pin adapter. I'll use cable ties to keep all the excess cables between the two cards. Looks like I can get it all and be compatible with Big Sur as well as High Sierra and Windows7 for less than $120.

I could move the AHCI M.2 down to slot2--it might be faster in that slot, IDK. I'd swap out the ASUS for a simple M.2 to PCIe adapter (I already have one branded RiiTop). and of course shift everything up.

Does anyone see any issues with this plan?

Spoiler: Links

• Fenvi Wi-Fi: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VCCZS54/
• YEELIYA USB: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838XY4D2/
• SATA extender: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NURHUSU/
• USB pin adapter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0816C3ZV6/
• RiiTop M.2 to PCIE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GFDVXVJ/
• Windows7 driver: https://www.minihere.com/broadcom-bcm94360-802-11ac-wifi-adapter-driver-download.html

Spoiler: 2010 cMP specs

• 2010 4,1 flashed to 5,1
• 2x 2.93 hex-core Xeon X5670
• 32Gb 1066 ECC RAM (4x 8Gb—middle slots for each CPU)
• MSI TwinFrozr GTX 680 2Gb flashed to Mac
• PNY 240Gb CS900 SSD in slot one
• SM951 256G AHCI in ASUS Hyper M.2 in slot four
• Boot ROM Version: 140.0.0.0.0
• SMC Version (system/processor tray): 1.39f11

 

[joevt]

Fenvi Wi-Fi, USB pin adapter - isn't there a wireless card with the required features that fits in the MacPro4,1's existing WiFi slot? That would let you save a PCIe slot.
https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-wifi-bluetooth-upgrade

SATA extender - The 22 pin won't fit on a 15 pin. Plus you loose the ability to connect a SATA drive in the bay. You can get extensions that do 22 pin to dual 15 pin power + 7 pin data (6 inch and 2 inch lengths - I use both to put two SSDs in the same bay - I use a SATA data connector for the DVD for the second SSD).
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pcie-ssds-nvme-ahci.2146725/page-98?post=29613683#post-29613683

YEELIYA USB - lots of USB ports is nice but max speed is only 450 MB/s. A GC-TITAN RIDGE can give USB speed up to 1000 MB/s. It can connect USB-C displays and adapters and docks. It can also do Thunderbolt but that requires warm booting from Windows or flashing the firmware which might break USB support.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/usb-3-x-pcie-cards-for-classic-mac-pro.1501482/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/testing-tb3-aic-with-mp-5-1.2143042/

ASUS Hyper M.2 - although it has 4 slots, only one of them is usable because Macs don't support bifurcation.
RiiTop M.2 to PCIE - this will take less space than the ASUS but won't be faster.
All four slots will provide PCIe 2.0 x4 to the NVMe so they'll all be about the same speed. Slot 2 is closer to the CPU so maybe you should use that for the highest speed device (probably the NVMe) next to the GPU. If you want PCIe 3.0 x4 performance then you need an NVMe card with a PCIe 3.0 switch that has at least a x8 upstream connection.
If you want PCIe 4.0 x4 speed, then you need an NVMe card with a PCIe 4.0 switch that has at least a x16 upstream connection.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pcie-ssds-nvme-ahci.2146725/

 

[Zeke D]

Fenvi Wi-Fi, USB pin adapter - isn't there a wireless card with the required features that fits in the MacPro4,1's existing WiFi slot? That would let you save a PCIe slot.
https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-wifi-bluetooth-upgrade
[snip]
YEELIYA USB - lots of USB ports is nice but max speed is only 450 MB/s.
[snip]
All four slots will provide PCIe 2.0 x4 to the NVMe so they'll all be about the same speed. Slot 2 is closer to the CPU so maybe you should use that for the highest speed device (probably the NVMe) next to the GPU.

l‘m using the built-in USB 2.0, and with 3.0 thumb drives, it takes forever to copy partitions. if I won’t see a performance increase over the existing USB2, then I’ll probably hold off on it and get a more robust card in the future.

 

[joevt]

l‘m using the built-in USB 2.0, and with 3.0 thumb drives, it takes forever to copy partitions. if I won’t see a performance increase over the existing USB2, then I’ll probably hold off on it and get a more robust card in the future.

Have you tried benchmarking the thumb drives with a Mac or PC that already has USB 3.0?

Thumb drives usually aren't very fast. A USB 3.0 card is 11 times faster than USB 2.0 so it will be more than enough for most thumb drives.

read/write (AmorphousDiskMark SEQ1M QD8) using a USB to NVMe enclosure:
USB 3.1 gen 2: 1029/1014 MB/s
USB 3.0: 455/453 MB/s
USB 2.0: 40/30 MB/s

 

[Zeke D]

Have you tried benchmarking the thumb drives with a Mac or PC that already has USB 3.0?

Thumb drives usually aren't very fast. A USB 3.0 card is 11 times faster than USB 2.0 so it will be more than enough for most thumb drives.

read/write (AmorphousDiskMark SEQ1M QD8) using a USB to NVMe enclosure:
USB 3.1 gen 2: 1029/1014 MB/s
USB 3.0: 455/453 MB/s
USB 2.0: 40/30 MB/s

I’ll have to do that. It took 40 minutes to copy the 10gb Catalina installer from one USB3 drive to another.

What about this USB3 card? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GC6VFF2/

I went ahead and ordered the WiFi bt4 solution. Less than $90 after tax and shipping.

 

[joevt]

What about this USB3 card? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GC6VFF2/

The previous card used the same Fresco Logic FL1100 controller but added three ports using a Fresco Logic hub chip. 3 ports from controller, one port from controller is used for the hub, and 4 ports from hub. 2 of the seven ports are internal.

This new card uses the same FL1100 controller and is much simpler since it doesn't have a hub chip and the extra USB-C port and internal ports and the external power connector. 4 ports from controller total. If you don't need 7 ports then it's fine. You save $4 and the price of the SATA 22 pin to 15 pin power cable (or you can break off the tab that would block the included cable's 15 pin male connector from fitting into the 22 pin connector of the Mac Pro).

 

[Zeke D]

The previous card used the same Fresco Logic FL1100 controller but added three ports using a Fresco Logic hub chip. 3 ports from controller, one port from controller is used for the hub, and 4 ports from hub. 2 of the seven ports are internal.

This new card uses the same FL1100 controller and is much simpler since it doesn't have a hub chip and the extra USB-C port and internal ports and the external power connector. 4 ports from controller total. If you don't need 7 ports then it's fine. You save $4 and the price of the SATA 22 pin to 15 pin power cable (or you can break off the tab that would block the included cable's 15 pin male connector from fitting into the 22 pin connector of the Mac Pro).

Hey, thanks for the advise and breakdown. I really only *need* two USB3.0 type-A ports. Unless you have a suggestion for another USB card around $50, then it looks like this is the way to go.

 

[krakman]

I’ll have to do that. It took 40 minutes to copy the 10gb Catalina installer from one USB3 drive to another.

What about this USB3 card? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GC6VFF2/

I went ahead and ordered the WiFi bt4 solution. Less than $90 after tax and shipping.

could you share the Amazon link to the wifi card kit, please

 

[Zeke D]

could you share the Amazon link to the wifi card kit, please

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LH71BP3
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0762N451V
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YM0HN0

You can get the card for $5 less, but I wanted everything to be prime for what that’s worth.

You can also get a 16" IPX extension cable for an extra $1.29 for less cable clutter. I probably should've done that since I plan to solder the USB cable to the exact length.

 

[Zeke D]

There was some serious pain, but WiFi and Bluetooth are working. The issues with both protocols are vastly improved.

 

[laertemeira]

Now that I have Big Sur running on my flashed 2010 4-1, I think that it's time to get better Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB 3/C.

Currently, I have a GTX680 in slot1 and an ASUS Hyper M.2 in slot4. My plan is to stick a Fenvi T919 BCM94360CD in slot3 so the antennas don't obscure anything, and a YEELIYA PCI-E Type C in slot 2. I plan to power the USB card with a SIENOC 22-pin SATA extender from HDD slot 4, and jumper the Bluetooth from the USB card to the Broadcom card with a Cablecc 9Pin to 20pin adapter. I'll use cable ties to keep all the excess cables between the two cards. Looks like I can get it all and be compatible with Big Sur as well as High Sierra and Windows7 for less than $120.

I could move the AHCI M.2 down to slot2--it might be faster in that slot, IDK. I'd swap out the ASUS for a simple M.2 to PCIe adapter (I already have one branded RiiTop). and of course shift everything up.

Does anyone see any issues with this plan?

Spoiler: Links

• Fenvi Wi-Fi: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VCCZS54/
• YEELIYA USB: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838XY4D2/
• SATA extender: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NURHUSU/
• USB pin adapter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0816C3ZV6/
• RiiTop M.2 to PCIE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GFDVXVJ/
• Windows7 driver: https://www.minihere.com/broadcom-bcm94360-802-11ac-wifi-adapter-driver-download.html

Spoiler: 2010 cMP specs

• 2010 4,1 flashed to 5,1
• 2x 2.93 hex-core Xeon X5670
• 32Gb 1066 ECC RAM (4x 8Gb—middle slots for each CPU)
• MSI TwinFrozr GTX 680 2Gb flashed to Mac
• PNY 240Gb CS900 SSD in slot one
• SM951 256G AHCI in ASUS Hyper M.2 in slot four
• Boot ROM Version: 140.0.0.0.0
• SMC Version (system/processor tray): 1.39f11

Hi Zeke. Nice to see u have a ASUS Hyper M.2 on a MacPro. I want to use the same card, but I have some doubts. It boots? How many SSDs are you using? Any trick to make it work? Thanks for the help!

 

[Zeke D]

Hi Zeke. Nice to see u have a ASUS Hyper M.2 on a MacPro. I want to use the same card, but I have some doubts. It boots? How many SSDs are you using? Any trick to make it work? Thanks for the help!

I wouldn't recommend this card. it only supports one at a time in a mac pro. It is bootable though, but then again, so is a $10 PCIe adapter.