PCIe HD adapter

[waynestewart]

At the end of May I picked up a 2008 Mac Pro. I had a SSD from a dead Macbook Air that I didn’t have a use for so I was considering a local purchase of a PCIe adapter for $20 but the seller advertized it as non-bootable. Deal Extreme advertized one for $7 delivered and said nothing about bootability. So I thought I’d take a chance. I installed it last night and was able to boot off the OS that was on the drive.

Not sure  if it's faster than the Samsung SSD I have in it but it is fast

 

[omidimo]

Probably faster than internal, since those are restricted to SATAII speeds. 

Worth noting if the card is in PCI slot 2, you are getting awesome performance. slots 3 and 4 are 1.0 slots.

 

[waynestewart]

I got home pretty late last night so I didn't do too much. I'll try comparing drives tonight

 

[waynestewart]

I tried Xbench on them. The first is the SSD on SATA, the second is the MacbookAir drive on the card. The MacbookAir drive is a 128gb. I'd installed a 256gb drive from a water damaged machine into my Macbook Air freeing up this 128gb. I may put it back and use the 256gb in the Mac Pro. I rarely use the MacbookAir anyways

Results            492.89           

            System Info                       

                        Xbench Version                        1.3

                        System Version                        10.11.5 (15F34)

                        Physical RAM                        8192 MB

                        Model                        MacPro3,1

                        Drive Type                        Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB

            Disk Test            492.89           

                        Sequential            311.71           

                                    Uncached Write            454.14               278.83 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            389.56               220.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            165.27               48.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            496.85               249.71 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                        Random            1177.06           

                                    Uncached Write            1031.57            109.20 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            711.35               227.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            4092.75            29.00 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            1284.05            238.27 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Results            594.11           

            System Info                       

                        Xbench Version                        1.3

                        System Version                        10.11.5 (15F34)

                        Physical RAM                        8192 MB

                        Model                        MacPro3,1

                        Drive Type                        MacAir HD

            Disk Test            594.11           

                        Sequential            410.78           

                                    Uncached Write            551.46              338.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            513.86              290.74 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            198.54              58.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            1062.28            533.89 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                        Random            1072.98           

                                    Uncached Write            928.37               98.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            617.92              197.82 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            3928.05            27.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            1285.59            238.55 MB/sec [256K blocks]

 

[waynestewart]

I decided to use the 256gb SSD from the MacbookAir and was surprised at the difference. Would have thought the two SSDs would have been about the same

Results            822.90           

            System Info                       

                        Xbench Version                        1.3

                        System Version                        10.11.5 (15F34)

                        Physical RAM                        12288 MB

                        Model                        MacPro3,1

                        Drive Type                        APPLE SSD SD0256F

            Disk Test            822.90           

                        Sequential            569.00           

                                    Uncached Write            1011.17            620.84 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            901.92                        510.31 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            248.83                        72.82 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            1094.80            550.24 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                        Random            1485.97           

                                    Uncached Write            1469.01            155.51 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Write            932.03                        298.38 MB/sec [256K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            4123.51            29.22 MB/sec [4K blocks]

                                    Uncached Read            1437.46            266.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]

 

[rsolberg]

It's not unusual to see 256GB-class SSDs offer significantly higher throughput over 128GB-class models, even of the same series due in part to a wider internal memory bus.