No matter what, all of these options are a far cry from the 40 Gb/s data path offered by modern Macs equipped with Thunderbolt III, but what about the cMP (known commonly as the classic Mac Pro)? Is there any black cauldron, dark magic wizardry add-in Thunderbolt 3 cards?? As a matter of fact there are!
Thunderbolt Card For Mac
The Alpine Ridge uses Intel chipset DSL6540, and the video links are negotiated at DisplayPort 1.2 speeds and sent down over either HDMI 1.4 or Thunderbolt 3. The manual states to officially allow for a maximum resolution of 4K 24Hz over the HDMI port, but the Thunderbolt ports allow for up to 4K 60Hz (a single 5K Thunderbolt display can allegedly work on the Alpine Ridge as well). Only bus power is provided with the Alpine Ridge unfortunately and the card is supplied with a total of 38W, which allows you to power typical USB devices, but does not provide enough power for device fast charging (such as a MacBook Pro).
Fellow LEM Staffer, Mark Sokolovsky also has the Titan Ridge installed in his Mac Pro 5,1 and the Alpine Ridge installed in two of his Mac Pro 3,1 units. These cards are awesome since they let you connect modern peripherals such as Thunderbolt 3 docks (like the Wavlink Thunderdock v2 I obtained shown below), eGPU solutions and much more, truly adding all sorts of new capabilities to the cMP. The manuals for the Alpine Ridge and Titan Ridge do state these cards as being PCIe v3 4x, so that should theoretically be the same as PCIe v2 8x. I need to run some further test to verify overall throughput in my Mac Pro 5,1, but will need a blazing fast NVMe solution to really put it to the test. Nonetheless, this thing works beautifully once you have it going.
These cards can currently be had for around $166 pre-flashed as of July 2020. Prices are always subject to change. Revision 1 and Revision 2 cards work the same, but it will be unknown if future versions of these cards change anything (if brought to market) in terms of functionality or ability to flash to a known working firmware for MacOS. Nontheless, the value is incredible for what it can add to a Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1. The cards also work in the Mac Pro 7,1.
Mac Pro includes one or two Radeon Pro MPX Modules that occupy slots 1-2 and slots 3-4. You can choose your MPX Modules when you order your Mac Pro or order them separately from Apple. Learn how to install PCI cards in your Mac Pro (2019).
You can install up to two Radeon Pro MPX Modules of any configuration in your Mac Pro. You can also use Radeon MPX Modules along with other third-party PCIe graphics cards. If you use Boot Camp, using a Radeon MPX Module and a third-party AMD graphics card isn't supported when your Mac is using Windows. Learn about using AMD graphics cards with Microsoft Windows on Mac Pro (2019).
Mac Pro comes with the Apple I/O card, which has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-A ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Apple I/O card comes preinstalled in slot 8 and can't be installed in another slot.
You can install many different PCIe cards in your Mac Pro, such as fibre channel cards, fibre networking cards, and pro video and audio interface cards. The PCIe bus on your Mac Pro provides up to 300W auxillary power. If your PCIe card requires additional power, such as a GPU, use the Belkin Aux Power Cable.
Mac Pro supports the same GPUs that are supported by external graphics processors (eGPUs). If you use Boot Camp and want to install a NVIDIA card to use in Windows on your Mac, don't install the card in slot 2. Learn about using AMD graphics cards with Microsoft Windows on Mac Pro (2019).
If you want to add additional storage, you can install a third-party RAID card, such as a SAS RAID card, or you can install the Promise Pegasus R4i 32TB RAID MPX Module in one of the two MPX bays. If you use Boot Camp on your Mac, Windows doesn't support Apple software RAID volumes.
The GPU drivers delivered with macOS are also designed to enable a high-quality and high-performance experience when using an eGPU, as described in the list of recommended eGPU chassis and graphics card configurations below. Because of this deep system integration, only graphics cards that use the same GPU architecture as those built into Mac products are supported in macOS.
It's important to use an eGPU with a recommended graphics card and Thunderbolt 3 chassis. If you use an eGPU to also charge your MacBook Pro, the eGPU's chassis needs to provide enough power to run the graphics card and charge the computer. Check with the manufacturer of the chassis to find out if it provides enough power for your MacBook Pro.
If you've installed macOS Big Sur 11.4 or later, you can use these graphics cards that are based on the AMD Navi RDNA2 architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the AMD Radeon RX 6800, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, and AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT7.
If you've installed macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later, you can use these graphics cards that are based on the AMD Navi RDNA architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the AMD Radeon RX 5700, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary.
A PCI-E enclosure is, as the name suggests, a box that houses the necessary connectivity to allow a Mac to communicate with the PCI-E card. Typically, this involves a Thunderbolt connection that goes between the Mac or MacBook and the enclosure.
Inside the enclosure is usually one or more PCI-E slots, mounting elements for cards, and a form of power supply. Depending on the enclosure, there may be other built-in elements, like USB or Ethernet ports, which can make the enclosure work as a form of dock.
This opens up the Mac to a world of upgrade options that it would not otherwise be able to use, depending on the capabilities of the enclosure itself. If it's a PCI-E card that's supported by macOS, you could put it in a PCI-E enclosure and feasibly use it with the Mac with minimal trouble.
The concept of these sorts of enclosures has taken off in recent years, with the introduction of eGPU enclosures. They are PCI-E enclosures in their own right, but are geared towards providing a way to add a graphics card to a Mac.
For example, you could add more SSD or NVMe storage via an adapter card, along with eSATA, FireWire, eSATA, video capturing hardware, and even simply adding standard ports such as USB 3.1. There's also the opportunity to use more task-specific or unusual cards that connect over PCI-E with the Mac, which could be the required way of connecting a specialist piece of machinery to a host computer.
For a start, it is imperative to check that the PCI-E card that you want to use with your Mac is actually supported by macOS and Apple Silicon, if appropriate. If there are no compatible drivers, then there's no chance of it working now, and drivers may never become available.
Another issue to remember is that there are data limitations at play, simply due to distances and the number of components between the card and the rest of the Mac system. While a card slot may be advertised as being PCI-E x16, it may certainly meet standards electrically, but in actual data speeds, it will end up being the equivalent of PCI-E x4. This doesn't always matter, especially if the card isn't generally saturated with data.
Best known as Apple's selected eGPU enclosure partner in the past, Sonnet's Echo III expansion system is a more extreme option for those who require lots of connectivity. Available in desktop hub and rack-mountable variations, the Echo III's main marketing point is its card capacity.
The chassis allows users to use up to three full-length PCI Express cards, including the ability to use a double-width card alongside a single-width. The PCI-E slots consist of one x8 mechanical and electrical slot, one 16x mechanical and x8 electrical, and one x8 mechanical and x4 electrical slot.
The OWC Mercury Helios lies flat rather than on its thin edge, giving its vented black aluminum chassis a wider yet shorter appearance. It is still able to hold a double-width, half-length, full height card in its PCI-E 3.0 x4 interface and x16 physical slot.
Power delivery is available at up to 85W, enabling the enclosure to provide enough power to recharge a MacBook Pro. However, if the PCIe card consumes more than 25W, the power delivery will be affected.
The compact aluminum Highpoint RocketStor 6661A measures a mere 7 inches tall, just over 10 inches long, and under 3 inches thick, but it is still capable of housing full-sized PCIe 3.0 cards with its open-ended slot. There's even room for a few small cooling fans.
StarTech's effort is similarly compact, at 11 inches long, 5.6 inches tall, and 3.2 inches thick, but instead uses black aluminum and steel in its construction. Inside is space for a half-length, dual-slot PCI-E 3.0 x16 card, cooled by a single 60mm fan.
If you need storage as well as expansion the OWC ThunderBay Flex 8 may be a good bet for you. This enclosure includes a PCI-E 3.0 x16 physical, x4 electrical slot that can accommodate one full-height, half-length, single-width card.
A pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports with daisy-chaining support is also accompanied by an extra USB-C port and two USB-A ports/ For fast media ingests, there are also CFexpress and SD 4.0 card readers on the front.
An unusual choice as it is from a gaming peripherals producer, the Razer Core X Chroma is an eGPU enclosure, which can support a 3-slot-wide full-length GPU with its single PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot. This could be used as an eGPU enclosure for Intel Macs, but you could also use it for PCIe cards as well.
The Echo III module is precisely the Echo III described above, with it able to accommodate three full-height, full-length PCIe cards. It has a 400W power supply and a 75W ancillary power connector, as well as a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports.
This is a great piece of gear for anyone with a Silver Face firewire Apollo. The Thunderbolt 3 card really improves the stability and allows for greater usage of plugins at the recording stage and when mixing. Highly recommended and easy to install and set up. It gives your firewire Apollo a great update. 2ff7e9595c
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