Mercury Accelsior SSD an impressive PCIe card upgrade for Mac Pro

#1 Macworld

Story Poster

Group: MW Bot
Posts: 31,686
Joined: 30-November 07

Posted 18 May 2012 - 03:31 AM

Post your comments for Mercury Accelsior SSD an impressive PCIe card upgrade for Mac Pro here

#2 DogHouseDub

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 165
Joined: 26-January 05

Posted 18 May 2012 - 04:37 AM

Just installed one of these yesterday - huge boost for my circa 2008 Mac Pro. Pricey, but cheaper than my time...

Previously read a detailed review from diglloyd: http://macperformanc...D_OWC_ACCELSIOR

#3 TeaEarleGreyHot

Veteran

Group: Macworld Insiders
Posts: 1,276
Joined: 29-September 05

Posted 18 May 2012 - 06:33 AM

Sounds great... I wonder if the low-end version could provide much benefit to our aging systems. There is no mention in the article or in the linked OWC page as to what the minimum system specifications are. Can I use it on my G4 PowerMacs with Tiger? Will it offer any benefit?

#4 rloyola

Advanced Member

Group: Macworld Editorial
Posts: 150
Joined: 20-February 08

Posted 18 May 2012 - 06:46 AM

TeaEarleGreyHot, on 18 May 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

Can I use it on my G4 PowerMacs with Tiger? Will it offer any benefit?

According to OWC's specs, the Accelsior requires Snow Leopard, and Snow Leopard runs only on Intel Macs.

------
Roman Loyola
Macworld Senior Editor

#5 Martian

Veteran

Group: Members
Posts: 2,382
Joined: 27-September 01

Posted 18 May 2012 - 07:17 AM

Is there a real world advantage to this over a "conventional" eSATA SSD? If my Pro dies tomorrow, I can pop any eSATA drive into an enclosure and access it or even boot a Macbook or Mini. But what could you do with a PCIe device if your Pro dies?

This post has been edited by Martian: 18 May 2012 - 07:19 AM

#6 anstormacworld

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 110
Joined: 06-June 08

Posted 18 May 2012 - 07:44 AM

TeaEarleGreyHot, on 18 May 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

Definitely no because there is no PCI-Express on its logic board

#7 anstormacworld

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 110
Joined: 06-June 08

Posted 18 May 2012 - 07:46 AM

TeaEarleGreyHot, on 18 May 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

Definitely no because PowerMac G4 lacks PCI Express.

#8 hmurchison

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 607
Joined: 29-April 04

Posted 18 May 2012 - 07:52 AM

Martian, on 18 May 2012 - 07:17 AM, said:

Put in your second one :-)

#9 jslewis

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 18-May 12

Posted 18 May 2012 - 08:02 AM

I just received my third PCIe SSD from OWC. Given the problems with RAID installation of LION, this card is the perfect high-performance answer. Also, if Apple upgrades the Mac Pro, they will be welcome in their new home.

#10 OWC

Newbie

Group: Members
Posts: 8
Joined: 15-March 10

Posted 18 May 2012 - 09:26 AM

Glad to see everyone is as excited about Accelsior as we are. Regarding compatibility, one key area of use missed is it can be used in PCIe expander boxes....like this Thunderbolt based one we announce at NAB:
http://blog.macsales...ttention-at-nab

And while maybe sacrilege here ;-), of course Accelsior is compatible with PCs with PCIe slots as well.

#11 GusMW

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 18-May 12

Posted 18 May 2012 - 01:31 PM

DogHouseDub, on 18 May 2012 - 04:37 AM, said:

Do you happen to know if the 2008 Mac Pro can take full advantage of the available speeds offered by the card? I thought it might be too old or too slow to get the same throughput as a newer Mac Pro. Thanks.

#12 LyndonBradish

Newbie

Group: New Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 18-May 12

Posted 18 May 2012 - 05:06 PM

I installed and Angelbird Wings PCIe SSD Raid0 card - essentially the same as the OWC card and am very pleased with the high performance on my 2009 Mac Pro...bootable and fast

#13 whitedog

Veteran

Group: Members
Posts: 3,701
Joined: 09-August 04

Posted 18 May 2012 - 05:24 PM

OWC, on 18 May 2012 - 09:26 AM, said:

While it's nice to see more Thunderbolt devices coming available, the primary obstacle remains for TB as it does for SSDs: Price. Combining an SSD and a TB device puts a very high premium on performance. Such performance is thus out of reach for all but those with the deepest of pockets. I can't help but wonder if either of these technologies will ever be affordable - and, hence, competitive. If I wanted to goose storage performance for my Mac Pro at an affordable price I would get a USB 3 PCIe card and an external USB 3 hard drive - or two or three.