1. A7n8x-e Deluxe Sata Driver For Macbook Pro

. A7N8X-E Deluxe User Guide. Product warranty or service will not be extended if: (1) the product is repaired, modified or altered, unless such repair, modification of alteration is authorized in writing by ASUS; or (2) the serial number of the product is defaced or missing. 1.2 Package contents.

I just got me an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe with BIOS 1009. I can't seem to install a non-RAID single SATA HDD. Windows XP Pro. Setup CD could not find any hard disk.

1-1 1.3 Special features. 1-2 1.3.1 Product Highlights. 1-2 1.3.2 Unique ASUS features. 1-3 Chapter 2: Hardware information 2.1 Before you proceed. 2-1 2.2 Motherboard overview. 2-2 2.2.1 Placement direction.

Hi everyone, I'm fairly new to this forum. I have been racking my brains to find a solution to my problem. I want to upgrade my PC, so I can put 2 operating systems on there and run Linux and Windows. Up the left side of the A7N8X-E Deluxe are the chassis intrusion connector and the 2 SATA ports. Just to their right is the SATA controller from Silicon Image and the CMOS battery.

3.2 Powering off the computer. 3-2 3.2.1 Using the OS shut down function.

3-2 3.2.2 Using the dual function power switch. 3-2 3.3 ASUS POST Reporter™. 3-3 3.3.1 Vocal POST messages. 3-3 3.3.2 Winbond Voice Editor. 3-5 Chapter 4: BIOS setup 4.1 Managing and updating your BIOS. 5.2.1 Running the support CD. 5-1 5.2.2 Drivers menu.

5-2 5.2.3 Utilities menu. 5-3 5.2.4 ASUS Contact Information.

5-4 5.2.5 Other information. 5-5 ® 5.3 NVIDIA nForce control panel. 5-7 5.3.1 Launching the NVIDIA 5.3.2. Notices Federal Communications Commission Statement This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:. This device may not cause harmful interference, and.

This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation. Safety information Electrical safety. To prevent electrical shock hazard, disconnect the power cable from the electrical outlet before relocating the system. When adding or removing devices to or from the system, ensure that the power cables for the devices are unplugged before the signal cables are connected. About this guide This user guide contains the information you need when installing and configuring the motherboard. How this guide is organized This manual contains the following parts:. Chapter 1: Product introduction This chapter describes the motherboard features of the and the new technologies it supports.

Where to find more information Refer to the following sources for additional information and for product and software updates. ASUS websites The ASUS websites worldwide provide updated information on ASUS hardware and software products. Refer to the ASUS contact information.

Optional documentation Your product package may include optional documentation, such as warranty flyers, that may have been added by your dealer. Supports PC3200/PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 unbuffered non-ECC DDR DIMMs 5 x PCI 1 x AGP Pro/8X (1.5V only) 1 x ASUS proprietary Wi-Fi slot 2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 2 x Serial ATA with RAID 0, 1 support MCP-T southbridge integrated Audio Processor Unit (APU) + Realtek ALC650 6-channel audio CODEC ®. 4Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, Green PCI 2.2, USB 1.1/2.0. DMI 2.0, WOL, WOR, Chassis Intrusion ATX form factor: 12 in x 9.6 in (30.5 cm x 24.5 cm) Device drivers ASUS PC Probe Anti-virus utility ASUS LiveUpdate Utility. Chapter 1 This chapter describes the motherboard features and the new technologies it supports. Product introduction. Chapter summary Welcome!

1-1 Package contents. 1-1 Special features. 1-2 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. Thank you for buying the ASUS The motherboard delivers a host of new features and latest technologies making it another standout in the long line of ASUS quality motherboards!

The motherboard supports the AMD Athlon™, AMD Athlon™ XP or AMD Duron™. Special features 1.3.1 Product Highlights Latest processor technology The motherboard supports the latest AMD Athlon™, Athlon™ XP and AMD Duron™ processors via a 462-pin surface mount ZIF socket.

The AMD Athlon™ and AMD Athlon™ XP processors features a 400Mhz front side bus and the QuantiSpeed™. 1.3.2 Unique ASUS features ASUS Wi-Fi slot The ASUS Wi-Fi slot is based on the 802.11b/g wireless standard that is specifically designed for the ASUS WiFi-b™ add-on card to set up a wireless LAN environment. The ASUS WiFi-b™ add-on card bundles the Software AP (Access Point) to save the extra cost of a stand-alone AP. ASUS POST Reporter™ The motherboard offers a new exciting feature called the ASUS POST Reporter™ to provide friendly voice messages and alerts during the Power-On Self-Tests (POST). Through an added external speaker, you will hear the messages informing you of the system boot status and causes of boot errors, if any. Chapter 2 This chapter lists the hardware setup procedures that you have to perform when installing system components. It includes description of the jumpers and connectors on the motherboard.

Hardware information. Chapter summary Before you proceed.

2-1 Motherboard overview. 2-2 Central Processing Unit (CPU). 2-6 System memory. 2-8 Expansion slots.

2-11 Jumpers. 2-15 Connectors. 2-18 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. The illustration below shows the location of the onboard LED. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E Onboard LED ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard PWRLED1 Standby Powered Power. Motherboard overview Before you install the motherboard, study the configuration of your chassis to ensure that the motherboard fits into it. Make sure to unplug the power cord before installing or removing the motherboard.

Failure to do so may cause you physical injury and damage motherboard components. IE13941 ® SPDIF1 GLANSW PCI 3 Realtek RTL8801 PCI 4 FPAUDIO1 SBPWR1 AUX1 PCI 5 Audio Codec MODEM1 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 24.5cm (9.6in) NVIDIA nForce2 MCP-T Chipset CLRTC1 CR2032 3V Lithium Cell CMOS Power SATAEN1 ASUS SATALInk ASIC Chipset.

2.2.4 Layout Contents Slots 1. Wi-Fi slot 4. DDR DIMM slots Jumpers 1. Keyboard wake-up (3-pin KBPWR1) 2. Central Processing Unit FSB Setting (3-pin CPUFSB) 3. USB device wake-up (3-pin USBPW12, USBPW34, USBPW56) p. System Warning Speaker Lead (Orange 4-pin SPKR) - Reset Switch (Blue 2-pin RESET) - ATX Power Switch (Yellow 2-pin PWRBTN) - Hard Disk Activity LED (Red 2-pin IDELED) ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard p.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) 2.3.1 Overview The motherboard comes with a surface mount 462-pin Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket designed for the AMD Athlon™, AMD Athlon™ XP and AMD Duron™ processors. Take note of the marked corner (with gold triangle) on the CPU. This mark should match a specific corner on the socket to ensure correct installation. When the CPU is in place, push down the socket lever to secure the CPU. The lever clicks on the side tab to indicate that it is locked.

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard Socket lever 90°-100° angle Gold triangle. System memory 2.4.1 Overview The motherboard comes with three (3) Double Data Rate (DDR) Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets. The following figure illustrates the location of the sockets.

A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E 184-Pin DDR DIMM Sockets 2.4.2 Memory configurations You may install 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB DDR DIMMs into the DIMM sockets using the memory configurations in this section. Recommended memory configurations Mode Single-channel (1) Populated Dual-channel. (1) Populated (3) Populated Obtain DDR400 DIMMs only from ASUS qualified vendors for better system performance. Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) for the latest qualified vendors list. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard Sockets DIMMA1 DIMMA2 DIMMB1 —. 2.4.3 Installing a DIMM Make sure to unplug the power supply before adding or removing DIMMs or other system components.

Failure to do so may cause severe damage to both the motherboard and the components. Unlock a DIMM socket by pressing the retaining clips outward.

Turn on the system and change the necessary BIOS settings, if any. See Chapter 4 for information on BIOS setup. Assign an IRQ to the card.

Refer to the tables on the next page. Install the software drivers for the expansion card. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 2-11.

2.5.3 Interrupt assignments Standard Interrupt Assignments Priority These IRQs are usually available for ISA or PCI devices. IRQ assignments for this motherboard PCI slot 1 PCI slot 2 PCI slot 3 PCI slot 4 PCI slot 5 AGP slot Serial ATA Gigabit LAN WiFi slot When using PCI cards on shared slots, ensure that the drivers support. Install only 1.5V AGP cards on this motherboard!

3.3V AGP cards are not supported in this motherboard. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP8X) ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard AGP Card without Retention Notch TOP VIEW 20-pin bay 28-pin bay Rib (inside slot).

2.5.6 Wi-Fi slot The Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) slot will support the ASUS WiFi-b™ module when available. Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) for product updates. The Wi-Fi slot conforms to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b/g standard for wireless devices operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

400MHz, 333MHz, or 266MHz Front Side Bus (FSB). Set to pins 2-3 to support 200 MHz FSB only. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E CPU FSB Jumper Setting When using an AMD Duron™ processor, change the CPUFSB jumper setting to pins 2-3. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard KBPWR1 +5VSB (Default) CPUFSB FSB400/333/266 FSB200. USB device wake-up (3-pin USBPW12, USBPW34, USBPW56) Set these jumpers to +5V to wake up the computer from S1 sleep mode (CPU stopped, DRAM refreshed, system running in low power mode) using the connected USB devices. Set to +5VSB to wake up from S3 and S4 sleep modes (no power to CPU, DRAM in slow refresh, power supply in reduced power mode). A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E Clear RTC RAM 6.

Serial ATA setting (3-pin SATAEN1) This jumper enables or disables the Serial ATA controllers. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E SATA Setting ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard CLRTC1 Normal Clear CMOS (Default) SATAEN1 Enable Disable (Default).

Connectors 2.7.1 Rear panel connectors 1. PS/2 mouse port. This green 6-pin connector is for a PS/2 mouse. Fast Ethernet port (RJ-45). This port allows up to 100 Mbps of data transfer rate to a Local Area Network (LAN).

The hole near the blue connector on the UltraATA cable is intentional. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E IDE Connectors ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard NOTE: Orient the red markings (usually zigzag) on the IDE ribbon cable to PIN 1. Floppy disk drive connector (34-1 pin FLOPPY1) This connector supports the provided floppy drive ribbon cable. After connecting one end to the motherboard, connect the other end to the floppy drive. (Pin 5 is removed to prevent incorrect insertion when using ribbon cables with pin 5 plug).

Important notes on Serial ATA solution:. Hot plug support for Serial ATA drive and connections are not available in this motherboard. Install Windows ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard SATARAID1 SATARAID2 ® XP™ Service Pack 1 when using Serial ATA. CPU, Power and Chassis Fan Connectors (3-pin CPUFAN1, PWRFAN1, CHAFAN1) The fan connectors support cooling fans of 350mA740mA (8.88W max.) or a total of 1A2.22A (26.64W max.) at +12V.

Connect the fan cables to the fan connectors on the motherboard, making sure that the black wire of each cable matches the ground pin of the connector. 300W, or 350W for a fully configured system. The system may become unstable or may not boot up if the power is inadequate. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E ATX Power Connector ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard ATXPWR1 +3.3VDC +3.3VDC -12.0VDC +3.3VDC PSON# +5.0VDC. USB header (10-1 pin USB56) If the USB ports on the rear panel are inadequate, a USB header is available for additional USB ports. The USB header complies with USB 2.0 specification that supports up to 480 Mbps connection speed and allows faster Internet connection, interactive gaming, and simultaneous running of high-speed peripherals.

1394-compliant internal hard disk to these connectors. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E IEEE-1394 Connectors NEVER connect a USB cable to any of the IEEE 1394 (orange) connectors. Doing so will damage the motherboard! ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard MODEM1 AUX1 (White) CD1 (Black) IE13942 IE13941. Front panel audio connector (10-1 pin FPAUDIO) This is an interface for the front panel audio cable that allow convenient connection and control of audio devices.

By default, the pins labeled LINEOUTR/BLINEOUTR and the pins LINEOUTL/BLINEOUTL are shorted with jumper caps. Remove the caps only when you are connecting the front panel audio cable. Make sure to configure the UART2 Use As parameter in the BIOS to set the UART2 to use with IR. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E Infrared Connector ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard GAME1 IRCON1 Standard Infrared (SIR) Front View IRTX.

System panel connector (20-pin CTRLPANEL1) This connector accommodates several system front panel functions. A7N8X-E ® A7N8X-E System Panel Connectors. System Power LED Lead (Green 3-1 pin PLED) This 3-1 pin connector connects to the system power LED. The LED lights up when you turn on the system power, and blinks when the system is in sleep mode.

Chapter 3 This chapter describes the power up sequence, the vocal POST messages and ways of shutting down the system. Chapter summary Starting up for the first time. 3-1 Powering off the computer. 3-2 ASUS POST Reporter™. 3-4 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. 30 seconds from the time you turned on the power, the system may have failed a power-on test.

Check the jumper settings and connections or call your retailer for assistance. At power on, hold down to enter BIOS Setup. Follow the instructions in Chapter 4. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. Powering off the computer 3.2.1 Using the OS shut down function If you are using Windows 98/98SE/ME/NT/2000, click the Start button, click Shut Down., make sure that the Shut down option button is selected, then the OK button to shut down the computer. The power supply should turn off after Windows shuts down. ASUS POST Reporter™ This motherboard includes the Winbond speech controller to support a special feature called the ASUS POST Reporter™.

This feature gives you vocal POST messages and alerts to inform you of system events and boot status. In case of a boot failure, you will hear the specific cause of the problem. System completed Power-On Self Test. No action required Computer now booting from operating. No action required system You may disable the ASUS POST Reporter™ in the BIOS setup. See section “4.4.6 Speech Configuration”.

Action. Check your keyboard if properly connected to the purple PS/2 connector on the rear panel. POST messages.

Install the software from the utilities menu of the support CD. See section “5.2.3 Utilities menu” for details. To avoid conflicts, do not run the Winbond Voice Editor while running the ASUS PC Probe. Follow these steps to use the Winbond Voice Editor. Launching the program. Changing the default language 1. Click on the Load button.

A window showing the available languages appears. Select your desired language then click Open. The event messages for the language you selected appear on the Voice Editor screen. For some languages, not all events have a corresponding message due to file size constraints. From the Voice Editor screen, click on the Add button to display the Add Wave File window.

Copy the wave files that you recorded to the database. Close the window when done. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard.

Click a POST event on the Voice Editor screen, then on the Edit button. The Event Sound Editor window appears. Locate and select your wave file for the event then click on the arrow opposite Voice1. The file you selected appears on the space next to it.

Chapter 4 This chapter tells how to change the system settings through the BIOS Setup menus. Detailed descriptions of the BIOS parameters are also provided.

Chapter summary Managing and updating your BIOS. 4-1 BIOS Setup program. 4-7 Main Menu. 4-10 Advanced Menu. 4-14 Security Menu.

4-27 Hardware Monitor Menu. 4-29 Exit Menu. 4-30 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard.

It is recommended that you save a copy of the original motherboard BIOS file to a bootable floppy disk in case you need to restore the BIOS in the future. Copy the original motherboard BIOS using the ASUS Update or AWDFLASH utilities. Write down the BIOS file name to a piece of paper. You need to type the exact BIOS file name at the prompt. Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) to download the latest BIOS file for your motherboard and rename it to A7N8X-E.ROM. Save the BIOS file to a floppy disk. The AWDFLASH program backs-up the file.

AWDFLASH proceeds to check the new BIOS file and asks the user to program (flash) the new BIOS file to the motherboard. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. Type and Press to flash the new Bios file. NOTE: Do not shut off system power or unplug the supply during the flash process. The BIOS flashes and displays the results. Press to restart.

Updating BIOS via Bootable Floppy Disk 1. 4.1.3 ASUS Update The ASUS Update is a utility that allows you to update the motherboard ® BIOS in Windows environment. This utility is available in the support CD that comes with the motherboard package.

ASUS Update requires an Internet connection either through a network or an Internet Service Provider (ISP). From the FTP site, select the BIOS version that you wish to download. Follow the instructions on the succeeding screens to complete the update process. If you selected the option to update the BIOS from a file, a window pops up prompting you to locate the file. The BIOS setup screens shown in this chapter are for reference purposes only, and may not exactly match what you see on your screen. Visit the ASUS website (www.asus.com) to download the latest product and BIOS information. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard.

4.2.1 BIOS menu screen Menu items Menu bar 4.2.2 Menu bar The menu bar on top of the screen has the following main items: Main For changing the basic system configuration Advanced For changing the advanced system settings Security Use this menu to set the Supervisor and User passwords. A scroll bar appears on the right side of a menu screen when there are items that do not fit on the screen. Press Up/Down arrow keys or PageUp/PageDown keys to display the other items on the screen. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. Main menu When you enter the BIOS Setup program, the Main menu screen appears giving you an overview of the basic system information. Refer to section “4.2.1 BIOS menu screen” for information on the menu screen items and how to navigate through them.

4.3.1 System Time xx:xx:xxxx This item allows you to set the system time. In these cases, select Manual to manually enter the IDE hard disk drive parameters. If no drive is installed or if you are removing a drive and not replacing it, select None. Configuration options: None Auto Manual ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-11. Access Mode Auto The default Auto automatically detects an IDE hard disk drive.

Select CHS in coordination with the Manual setting of the IDE Primary Master in order to enter the Hard Disk Drive values manually. Before attempting to configure a hard disk drive, make sure you have the correct configuration information supplied by the drive manufacturer. This field configures the number of sectors per track.

Refer to the drive documentation to determine the correct value. To make changes to this field, set the Type field to User Type HDD and the Translation Method field to Manual. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-13.

Advanced menu The Advanced menu items allow you to change the settings for the CPU and other system devices. Take caution when changing the settings of the Advanced menu items. Incorrect field values may cause the system to malfunction. 4-14 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup. CPU Level 2 Cache Enabled This field enables or disables the level 2 cache. Configuration options: Enabled Disabled Quick Power On Self Test Enabled This field enables or disables the power on test.

Configuration options: Enabled Disabled ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-15. First Boot Device Floppy This field sets the priority of the first boot device. By default, the system boots up on the floppy diskette drive.

Configuration options: Floppy LS120 HDD-0 SCSI CDROM HDD-1 HDD-2 HDD-3 ZIP USB- FDD USB-ZIP USB-CDROM USB-HDD LAN Disabled Second Boot Device HDD This field sets the priority of the second boot device. This field enables or disables display of the full screen logo for environmental protection. Configuration options: Enabled Disabled Speech POST Reporter Enabled This field enables or disables the ASUS POST Reporter feature. Configuration options: Enabled Disabled POST Complete Report Enabled This field enables or disables display of the Power On Self Test (POST) complete report.

4.4.2 Advanced Chipset Features The Chipset menu items allow you to change the advanced chipset settings. Select an item then press Enter to display the sub-menu. (Scroll down to view all items on the menu.) CPU External Frequency (MHz) 100MHz This field sets the external frequency ratio of the CPU. When set to User Defined, the next four fields can be set manually. Set to Aggressive for higher performance. Use default Optimal to use most stable settings.

Configuration options: Optimal Aggressive User Defined SDRAM Active Precharge Delay 7 Row-active delay. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-19. SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay 3 RAS-to-CAS. This item controls the latency between the SDRAM Active command to the SDRAM. SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay 3 This item controls the idle clocks after issuing a precharge command to the DDR SDRAM. SDRAM CAS Latency 2.5T This field sets the override clock cycle for the latency time between the SDRAM read command and the moment that the data actually becomes.

AGP 8X Support Enabled This field enables or disables the AGP 8X support. Configuration options: Disable Enable AGP Fast Write Capability Enabled This field enables or disables the AGP Fastwrite function. Configuration options: Disable Enable ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-21. 4.4.3 Integrated Peripherals Primary VGA BIOS PCI VGA Card This field sets the priority for the display of VGA signals. Change from the PCI VGA Cardt default to AGP VGA Card if using an AGP card. Configuration options: PCI VGA Card AGP VGA Card USB Controllers V1.1+V2.0 This field sets the protocols for OnChip processing of USB outputs.

This field sets the parallel port DMA channel for the selected ECP mode. The default setting is 3. This selection is available only if you select ECP or ECP+EPP in Parallel Port Mode above. Configuration options: 1 3 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-23. Onboard Game Port 201 This field sets the address of the game port t0 201 by default. Disabling the game port makes the port unavailable. Configuration options: Disabled 201 209 Onboard MIDI I/O 330 This field sets the address of the MIDI I/O port to 330 by default.

Configuration options: Disabled 330 300 Onboard MIDI IRQ 10 This field sets the IRQ address of the MIDI port to 10 by default. This parameter allows you to use specific keys on the keyboard to turn on the system. This feature requires an ATX power supply that provides at least 1A on the +5VSB lead. Configuration options: Disabled Any KEY Power Key ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-25. 4.4.5 PnP/PCI Configurations Resources Controlled By Auto(ESCD) This field sets control over the IRQ resources by the automatic (ESCD) system or manual assignment of IRQ channels. The default enables automatic (ESCD) control. Configuration options: Auto(ESCD) Manual Selecting Manual access the IRQ Resources sub-menu; see the next page.

Supervisor or User Password. Table 1: Supervisor/User Set Password Security Option System System Table 2: User Set Password only Security Option System System ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard Supervisor Password. A password is required when booting and to access the BIOS setup. Security Option Setup This field sets the security options. The default enables the setup option for security. Configuration options: Setup System Set Supervisor Password / Set User Password To set a password, highlight the appropriate field and press.

Type in a password then press. Q-Fan Control Disabled This field allows you to enable or disable the ASUS Q-Fan feature that smartly adjusts the fan speeds for more efficient system operation. When this field is set to Enabled, set the appropriate Fan Speed Ratio and Speed Up/Down Response Time.

Fan Speed Ratio 10/15 This item allows you to select the appropriate fan speed ratio for the system. The default 10/15 is the minimum fan speed ratio. Select a higher ratio if you installed additional devices and the system requires more ventilation. This option saves your selections without exiting the Setup program. You can then return to other menus and make further changes. After you select this option, a confirmation window appears. Select Yes to save any changes to the non-volatile RAM.

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 4-31. 4-32 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup. Chapter 5 This chapter describes the contents of the support CD that comes with the motherboard package. Software support.

5-3 ® NVIDIA NVSwap 1.0 Utility. 5-11 RAID 0 / RAID 1 configurations. 5-13 Onboard Marvell Gigabit LAN drivers for ® Windows 98SE/ME. 5-16 ® Marvell Virtual Cable Tester Technology.

5-17 ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. The contents of the support CD are subject to change at any time without notice. Visit the ASUS website for updates. 5.2.1 Running the support CD To begin using the support CD, simply insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive. 5.2.2 Drivers menu The drivers menu shows the available device drivers if the system detects installed devices.

Install the necessary drivers to activate the devices. NVIDIA nForce driver This item installs the NVIDIA Silicon Image Serial ATA driver This item displays the step-by-step installation information of the Silicon Image Serial ATA driver for various operating systems.

This program allows you to download the latest version of the BIOS from the ASUS website. See section “4.1.3 ASUS Update” on page 4-5. Before using the ASUS Update, make sure that you have an Internet connection so you can connect to the ASUS website.

Winbond Voice Editor This program is for recording and customizing wave files for the ASUS POST Reporter™. Use this program if you wish to change the default vocal POST messages.

See section “3.3 ASUS POST Reporter™”. Anti-virus utility The anti-virus application scans, identifies, and removes computer viruses.

Click an icon to display the specified information. Motherboard Info The window displays the general specifications of the A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. Browse this CD The window displays the support CD contents in graphical format. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard.

Technical Support Form The window displays the ASUS Technical Support Request Form that you have to fill up when requesting technical support. Filelist The window displays the contents of the support CD and a brief description of each in text format. (digital or analog), individual volume levels for each speaker (balancing), and a host of specialty features.

A wizard is also available to help guide you through the process. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard ® control panel ®. Here are some of the features on the Speaker Setup: ®.

Dolby Surround Encoding - enables audio to be encoded for playback on home theater receivers (using analog stereo outputs only) ®. Dolby Digital Encoding - enables audio to be encoded for playback on 5.1 home theater receivers (using digital SPDIF output only) This optional S/PDIF audio module allows digital instead of analog sound input and output. It is just a quick way to get at their favorite audio applications from within the Control Panel. Applications can be added or removed by using the buttons in the lower right hand corner of this page. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard. 5.3.7 Information The Information tab shows the details of the APU (optional), hardware and software revisions, driver revisions, currect DirectX version, and in “Advanced” mode the DSP and voice utilization. This is the first place to look when you are verifying what drivers you are running and the last place to look when you want to know what is going on at the lower levels of the APU.

For 6.1 audio channel setting, there is no need to perform the following tasks. Simply connect the Rear Speaker to the purple jack and the Center/Subwoofer to the orange jack. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard Line In and Rear Speaker toggle button. Line In and Rear Speaker Toggle Button The first button is for toggling between Line In and Rear Speaker settings. The default setting for the NVSwap application is for Line In to be active. If you are clicking this button, you disable the Line In and enable Rear Speakers.

For example, hard disk A with an 80 GB storage capacity and hard disk B with 60 GB storage capacity, the maximum storage capacity for your RAID 1 set will be 60 GB. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 5-13.

Follow these steps to install the hard disks for RAID configuration. Install the Serial ATA hard disks into the drive bays. Connect one Serial ATA HDD to each Serial ATA connector, using separate serial ATA cables. Connect the power cable to the power connector on each drive. To resolve this, select “Resolve Conflict” and the correct metadata, including the correct drive connection information, will be written to the replacement disk. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard 5-15.

Onboard Marvell Gigabit LAN drivers for Windows 98SE/ME Before you can use the onboard Gigabit LAN under Windows ® Windows ME operating systems, you need to install the onboard LAN drivers from the support CD. Installing onboard LAN drivers Follow these instructions to install the onboard LAN drivers for Windows 98SE/ME. The Virtual Cable Tester™ (VCT) feature works in Gigabit LAN only. The Run button on the VCT Tester dialogue box is disabled if no problem is detected on the network. ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard ® Virtual Cable Tester (VCT) ® 2000™ operating systems only. 5-18 Chapter 5: Software support.

Friday, October 14th, 2011 Author: Most of the time, your average xpc has a longer useful life than its PC counterpart. Unfortunately, the fast evolution of technology means that, after a while, that older Mac may seem a little slow and may not be able to take full advantage of current tech. Such is the case for earlier Mac Pros.

As they currently sit, they only move data at SATA 2.0 speeds, roughly three gigabits per second. If you wish to put the drives in to a RAID array, you are limited to either a mirrored RAID 1, losing half your capacity, or a RAID 0, which is faster, but increases the risk of data loss. On top of that, those RAID levels are all software-based, which can reduce overall performance. Fortunately, if you happen to have a 2006-2008 Mac Pro, you can improve the performance in those bays, with only one small thing to lookout for. How does it work? The backplane (where the drives in the bays are connected) consists of four pass-thru SATA connections which are, in turn, connected to the SATA controller on the logic board (located near the front of the Mac Pro) via a mini-SAS connector.

The great thing is that mini-SAS is a fairly common connector for PCIe SATA controller cards. The trick is to find one with that mini-SAS connector on the inside. This fits the bill. Not only does it feature six internal mini-SAS ports, it also has a built-in (hardware) RAID controller which supports RAID Level 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 along with individual drive support and disk spanning, as well as an external port for more expansion options. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves; let’s concentrate on upgrading those drive bays.

What’s involved in the process? Once you install the Highpoint card in your Mac, you’ll notice that the mini-SAS cable that connects to the logic board is located near the front of the Mac Pro and the internal port on the card is located near the rear – much too far away from each other to connect. This is easily remedied, however, by using to bridge the distance. Once connected, the four drive bays in the Mac Pro are now being controlled by the RAID card, making it capable of both high-speed data transfer and more advanced RAID options. At this point, we run into a bit of a problem; the Highpoint card isn’t bootable in a Mac. You will need to put your OS on a drive installed in one of the optical bays.

For the best performance, we suggest getting an and attaching it via one of the “extra” SATA 2.0 connectors on the logic board, located near the front of the Mac Pro. Just run a SATA cable from the drive to this connector on the logic board (you’ll probably have to remove the fan to do this) and use to adapt the power from the drive bay for your SATA drive. If you don’t want to go the SSD route, you also have the option of hooking up much the same way. You can install the system on this “fifth” drive, and use your upgraded hard drive bays to set up a RAID array for maximum data transfer. There’s only one situation where this won’t work: if you happen to use Boot Camp to run Windows on your Mac. Apple doesn’t support Boot Camp on these “extra” connectors.

In that instance, you’ll need to use hooked to the ATA connector in the drive bay. You’ll lose a lot of the speed advantage during booting and launching when you do it this way, but at least you still retain Boot Camp capability. Whichever drive type and size you choose to put your OS on, that include all the mounts and cables necessary to make installing it into the drive bay a simple process. Is it worth it?

With all the effort you need to put into this sort of setup, you almost begin to wonder whether or not the speed boost is worth it. The key benefit is in the ability to read/write large amounts of data. If you’re accessing a lot of information (like audio or video editing or possibly a local file server for a small company) this could be just what you’re looking for. We set up an Early 2008 Mac Pro (MacPro3,1) with four and booted from a standard SATA drive installed in the optical bay.

To test the built-in card, we set all 4 drives up as a RAID 0 array using Disk Utility, then tested it using a series of benchmarking utilities (including ones from Intech, BlackMagic and Aja) running off the boot drive. As you can see, we more than doubled the card’s output with transfer rates topping out around 1600MB/s. Obviously, if your workflow includes heavy-duty data transfer, this setup will work nicely. Are there other benefits? Though it’s a key component in getting the most out of your drives, RAID functionality this isn’t the only benefit to this kind of setup. If putting your drives in a RAID isn’t necessarily your “thing,” you’ll still benefit that the card converts the bays from 3.0Gb/s SATA 2.0 performance to the 6Gb/s performance of SATA 3.0, allowing you to take advantages in speed.

This card also adds SAS functionality, so you can now use SAS drives in the internal bays, which is a boon for more advanced users. In addition to the internal upgrade, the Highpoint card also has an external mini-SAS port, which can be used with external storage systems utilizing mini-SAS, such as the, giving you even more high-speed storage.

The Bottom Line If you have a 2006-2008 Mac Pro that you need to move a lot of data through, upgrading the built-in SATA ports with the Highpoint card may just be the performance boost your machine needs. In case you didn’t pick them out of the article, here’s a brief shopping list of what you’ll need. Controller Card:. Connection:.

Boot drive for optical bay (depending on needs). Maximum Speed:. More storage on boot drive:.

Boot Camp users:. Mounting Kits for optical bay.

I need help and not sure where to go for it. I purchased a new wifi card for my Mac Pro 5,1 12 core 3.33 that came with a Bluetooth 4.0 module but it requires a five pin connection for something but the user manual is in Asian I’m not sure which but exspect Chinese I ask if they had a English version but was told no. I got it off eBay I can give you more specific info if your willing to assist. I’m already adding a GeForce gtx680 4gb plus a USB 3.0 I’ve got a dual ssd pci card with dual esata ports and two wd 1tb ssd drives enroute to fill out the pci ports it has 4 2tb wd hdd and a DVD drive I’m going to add a blurry drive also to the internal optical bay that perty much should fill out the need to add stuff anytime soon.

From experience, Highpoint’s support and customer service are terrible. At least it was up to about 3 years ago, which still isn’t long enough for our satisfaction.

We even had one of their major, authorized resellers get involved with a support issue regarding several of their “high-end” RAID cards and that reseller’s General Mgr became frustrated (actually, he became outright angry). Since we purchased quite a lot from this vendor, the GM exchanged the device for another card, while he continued to fight with these people. At one point, we were almost tempted to drive 380 miles up the road and knock on their door just to show we were serious. The fact that their extremely poor Chinese-“English” might’ve been a factor had nothing to do with their lack of response, their rude and discourteous responses when we COULD get them to reply. Since that time, we have avoided Highpoint at any cost.

It just isn’t worth risking a productivity bottleneck and fighting with those people should something go wrong again. We suggest that prospective buyers first reach out to these people asking them simply what their procedures are for submitting an RMA (including all steps, time frames, etc). If they take longer than what is standard in the industry to respond (within 3 business days) or don’t respond at all, the solution should be obvious. Newer Technology on the other hand, was the exact opposite, for pre-sales feedback as well as after-sales support.

Customer service and support has been excellent. OWC you should really review your vendor relationships again. Dear NCarrion, I successfully used the the Newer Technology MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G-1e1i controller to upgrade my Late 2010 Mac Pro (MacPro5,1).

Because the motherboard connection to the 4 internal drive bays are different, you need to use different cables/mounts from the mini-SAS controller to your internal drives. Also, take note about the fact that you cannot boot from drives connected to this controller.

I removed both DVD/BD burners and hooked up an SSD and an internal drive to these two ports so I can boot on the SSD, have a backup system and user files on the internal drive, and use all four drives connected to the mini-SAS controller as a RAID 0 drive array. If you need details about my set up, let me know. I’ll have to go back and see exactly what I bought in addition to the mini-SAS controller.

Dear Russ, Okay, here are the details of what I purchased in order to install the NewerTech MaxPower RAID Mini-SAS 6G 1e1i card into a Late 2010 Mac Pro (MacPro5,1). I did this in the summer of 2014 and there may be better solutions available now. I also did most of my shopping at OWC (www.macsales.com) and only had to shop at another store because I could find an what I needed at OWC for connecting a Mini-SAS card to four 3.5” drives in the internal drive bay. All of the things I purchased are still available and I’ve included the links to them. Mini-SAS Card: Obviously, you will need the MAXPower card. There are probably other (better) choices available, but this is the one OWC promotes. NewerTech MAXPower RAID Mini-SAS 6G 1e1i: One external port/one internal port Mini-SAS 6Gb/s PCIe 2.0 RAID controller card.

3.5” Drive Backplane Trays: Because there is no connector on the motherboard that goes directly to the SATA connectors on the motherboard/backplane so you can use the original trays (as was the case with earlier models of the Mac Pro), you need to get special trays that will let you attach SATA connectors from the MAXPower card to the drives. The one I found is sold by MaxUpgrades (www.maxupgrades.com). These trays have an adapter that still gets power from the SATA connectors on the backplane, but mount the drive far enough away from the backplane so that there is enough room to attach a 90° SATA connector to the drive.

A7n8x-e Deluxe Sata Driver For Macbook Pro

The product comes with 4 trays and a fanout cable (or breakout cable) with a MiniSAS connector on one end and 90° SATA connectors on the other four ends. MaxConnect (4-Drives-MiniSAS Cabling) BackPlane RAID Attachment for Mac Pro 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 Model ID: 4,1 & 5,1 Models 3.5” to 5.25” Adapter: In order to be able to boot up on an internal hard drive (you cannot directly boot up from any drive connected to the MAXPower card), you will need to have your boot drive use one of the SATA connectors for the DVD drive (i.e. One of the 5.25” drive bays). Again, there are many out there, but I bought the OWC one. OWC Multi-Mount: 3.5″ to 5.25″ Hard Drive adapter bracket set.

Install any 3.5″ hard drive into a 5.25″ drive bay. 1 Year OWC Limited Warranty.

2.5” to 3.5” Adapter: Since I wanted to be able to boot off an SSD drive (but still also boot off of a regular 3.5” hard drive that has a backup of my boot drive on an HD drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, as well as another partition for user folders, i.e. I didn’t want user data to fill up my SSD drive), I needed this adapter so I can put a 2.5” drive into the 3.5” to 5.25” adapter above. The 3.5” to 5.25” adapter bracket set allows two 3.5” drives to be installed (though it takes up more space than a 5.25” drive) or a 3.5” drive and a 2.5” drive (within the same space as a 5.25” drive). OWC 2.5″ to 3.5″ Drive Adapter Bracket. Securely and easily install a 2.5″ form factor hard drive or SSD in a 3.5″ side mount drive bay. (Optional) OWC Multi-Mount: I already had the 2.5” to 3.5” adapters, so that is why I chose the 3.5” to 5.25” adapter brackets.

If you don’t have any adapters at this point, then you may want to consider the OWC Multi-Mount. I’m not sure what is the difference but they have a generic one and one that is specifically for the 2009/2010 Mac Pro. If I didn’t already have a 2.5” to 3.5” adapter, I would probably have bout the Multi-Mount. OWC Multi-Mount: 2.5 to 3.5 / 3.5 to 5.25 Hard Drive adapter bracket set for 2009/2010 Mac Pro. Install one 3.5″ and/or one 2.5″ HDD or SSD in a single 5.25″ bay. I believe there is enough detail above so you can do what I did.

Thx for your answerI understand the HDD’s Limitation. Do you have any idea about my unmounting probs?

Both the 2 Raids had some deconnection @ Carl Can you please precise your installation schedule? I did the following: 1-Initialiazed the HDDs with the Newertech webbrowser based software. 2-Made 2 Arrays of Raid 0 (2x1TB and 2x2TB) 3-Once done that, Mac OSX.8.5 told me the volume were unreadable. So I initialized them with Apple disk utility and then it seems OK. But I had some unmounting issues when doing fast use of “big” data (video editing) and when connecting external HDD on esata via SAS to esta cable. Will the card will be compatible with OSX.9 Maverick? Hard to say without looking at your specific setup, and can’t speak for Maverick.

I am using a Macpro 3.1 and Lion. However, I am not using Newertech’s browser utility for initializing or raiding, just the driver. Stick to one or the other; I used Apple’s Disk Utility for both functions. Try that and see if it makes any difference. Also, check to see your connections aren’t coming loose. Drives running at 5400 rpm’s and gobbling big chunks of data could be an issue. Experiment with SSDs for fast throughput on single files of your work, and use standard drives for storage.

Ok, now I am confused. Can you please clarify. I am using this card in a Mac Pro 1.1 in slot 2 at x8 speed (via expansion utility, PCIe 1.0) and getting about 900 MB/s read and write with 4 ssds in RAID 0. But I do not have the card connected directly to the motherboard. It doesn’t have to be connected directly to the motherboard to get the best performance does it? Also, if I connect 4 ssds internally and 4 ssds externally, one set for reading and one set for writing, will I be reducing the card’s performance with 8 drives?

Thanks for your consideration. I was glad to see the picture posted above depicting the cabling schematic. I am new to this, and so this all has been a tad difficult to picture. I purchased this controller, just wanted to make sure one thing concerning the routing of the internal SAS cable.

Is it correct that I am plugging this in place of an exciting cable on the logic board, which is NOT the Cale running to the back plate HDD connectors? This was almost confirmed from the picture, I just got lost when I saw ” maxconnect”. Is this just implying where to plug in the SAS cable from the controller to the logic board or is the “maxconnect” something additional I need?

I installed this mini-SAS puppy on my MacPro 1.1 which does not have any PCIe 2.0 slots as you know. Nevertheless, by connecting 4 SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration I managed to get 950 MB/s read, and 839 MB/s write speeds (w/HyperX 120GB disks).

Using 3 SSDs, Intel 520s/120GB in RAID 0: 820 MB/s read, and 782 write speeds. According to BlackMagic’s old speed tester, it’s somewhat sluggish for 12 Bit RGB 4:4:4: uncomp.

Frames rates of 105 read, and 92 write per second (HDTV 1080). But, it’s plenty fast for my Apple ProRes 4444 files. Remember, however, to set the Expansion Slot Utility at 8x lanes. Oddly, when I confined my Radeon 5770 to 8x as well, it seemed to boost the speed of the controller card a bit.

I made this comment before about the Newer Technology MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G 1e1i. I installed one in my Mac Pro 1.1 and it works just fine. Should work on the MP 5.0. The card comes with two mini SAS connectors: one internal and one external. You do not have to connect it to the existing drive bays in the Mac Pro to it.

I have used these Mac Pro’s internal bays to install 4 additional SSD drives and they run fast enough for most applications (including ProRes 4444). I used an internal mini SAS connector with a Sata fan out for 4 additional drives; and an external mini SAS with Sata fan out for 4 more SSDrives.

The additional Sata connector below the fan assembly can take a boot drive. I removed the CD drive and found plenty of room there to stash additional drives.

By removing the CD drive you will also have 2 additional Molex power connectors. I power the external drives with an external power source. Hope this helps. I recently purchased this for my 2010 Mac Pro (MacPro5,1) because I saw that it was compatible with this computer.

I was about ready to buy the mini-SAS Extender Cable but saw it was for the 2006-2008 Mac Pro so I didn’t purchase. I’m not sure why, but I thought maybe it was because the cable in the 2010 Mac Pro was long enough to reach the card. But as I went to install it, I realized that I still needed some kind of cable.

Coming back to this article and reading the other comments, I realized that the 2010 Mac Pro would need a special cable that you have not yet made back in February 2013. It is now July 2014. Has the necessary cable been made? Is it even possible if the SATA connectors are directly on the motherboard? If not, then I may have to just do what the reply from Carlo Tanne states and that is to simply give up trying to connect the internal drive bays to this card and just find other work arounds to use the internal SAS port. Hi guys, Tonite I finished to install the Max Power in my 2008. Little hard to pull out the old cable and secure the new one, but at the end all worked.

I writing because I tested RAID 0 with 4 6gbs transfer SAta 3 Drives, and the speed from the normal conection Esata, increased 50-60mbs, for a total of 600Mbs/s. Really not impresive. I was dreaming with a bigger number. Then I was curious about the RAID 5, and I testedbut problems came up. I was running the AJA and Blackmagic test ( I ‘m a filmmaker) and they went fine in RAID 0 showing those 600gbs/s but, with the same test, every time I ran it, the computer crashed. In the begining of the Read stage.So what’s going on with raid 5, I changed between Write back and WTand was the same. Also I want to understand how other fellow has the same benchmark of 600 Mbs/s with Esata as he mentioned in this forum?

I though Max Power would give me more speed than the Esata.original configuration. My last reading before Power max instalation was 550Mbs. Software Raid from Disk Utility. The card is now in the 2nd Slot X16 as the manual ask, And I need this Slot for My second Graphic card (for Davinci Resolve to take advantage of the CUDA and GPU). So for this last one, How is going to decrease the performance if I move out to a X4 Slot? (little tire of pulling and changing out things tonite.) anyways beyond the concern, I’m optimistic on taking some tasks from the 2 CPUs to the MAx Thanks in advance. Ryan: You do not have to cross your fingers; put them to work instead:) I am quite content with the Mini SAS Raid Card I got for my Mac Pro 1.1.

All you have to do is get a mini-SAS internal connector cable split into 4 independent SATA connectors, for example. I connected this mini-SAS cable internally and ran the cable outside to connect 4 SSDs (in Raid 0) powered externally. Getting 800+ MB/s read and write on PCI 1.0 and basic Kingston ssds. Plenty fast for ProRes 4444. If you take the Apple DVD drive box out you’ll find plenty of room to drop the SSDrives inside, if you prefer. Good luck:) Carlo. Hi guys from owc, I have a 2008 3,1, so here the questions: First: do you have some illustrated (photo) instructions on how to modify the mac and install the raid card with the sas cable?

At least a picture where to locate the sas connection in the logic board and to put the cable? I already put a SSD in the optical drive as a boot drive, so I need help with the Maxpower. Second: can I buy a Rack pro and use it with the external sas of the MaxPower card + the internal sas to build a RAID of 8 total drives? Does it work? Third: some people says SSDS are not quite good for build a raid, due to the decreasing performance to handle video for long period of playback. And HDs still are best for this. Do you have knowledge on this matter?

Fourth: is your raid card compatible with mountain lion? After your answer and help I will hit the button. Best regards and thanks for this wonderful solution. I sent an email, asking for a comment about a situation in wich the RAID 5 configuration with the Power Max crashed the machine when I performed an Aja test as well a Blackmagic test Speed in the read stage. The machine crash every test I did. Can you tell something about this error? I worry to build a raid 5 an have a crashed in the middle of a client session.

My Computer: MAc pro 2008 3,1 2x 2.8 16gb ram Mountain lion 1.8.2 4 Hdd sata 3 6gbs builded a raid 0 and worked fine, the Raid 5 is the issue. I have placed an order for your MiniSata, Raid Card.

1i1e Thanks again for your review and test. I am looking forward to putting it to work in my MacPro 1.1.

Don’t know if you might be able to help me with this question: I installed a couple of 4Gb Mushkin Simms (for a total of 8GB /pair) but my MP1.1 could only read them as 2 Gb ea. And sometime would ignore 1 or both of them. I have SMC 1.7f10 and EFI 32-bit.

I currently have 16 GB total. Any clues as to why my machine is not able to read the 4GB memory sticks? I understand although Mac supports only 16 GB max, some folks claim to have up to 32GB max. Thanks again, and happy holidays. Hi Chris, in October 2011 you said there was no solution for using this in a MacPro 4,1 (early 2009) yet.

In Dec 2012 you said: “However, for sake of measurement, we also tried it in a MacPro5,1 and got read speeds of 1287.506 MB/s and write speeds of 1551.706 MB/s, so Mac model (and, most likely underlying bus speeds) will also play into it.” Have you guys found a way to install the internal/external mini-SAS RAID card – MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G-1e1i – in the MacPro 4,1 (early 2009)? Or is there any other PCIe card that can at least upgrade my internal SATA ports to SATA 3.0, 6Gb/s? I really want to use something to upgrade the internal drive controllers of my workstation. Ideally the MAXPower RAID mini-SAS 6G-1e1i as I can also use external mini-SAS to share external RAID drives between my retina MacBookPro and my MacPro via external PCIe Thunderbolt enclosure connected to my laptop. I installed the NewerTech Sata III 6G mini-SAS 6G in my MacPro 1.1 and am quite happy with it.

I am getting write/read speeds of 800 MB/s; which is plenty good for ProRes4444. And that’s with slow Patriot 120GB ssds. I have 4 drives in Raid 0. I’ll expect better speeds once I get the SATA III 500Mb/s drives. I didn’t bother connecting it to the existing internal bays using OWC’s extender cable.

It’s really not necessary (plus the cable is pricey). I also keep 4 ssds in the internal slots. The 1e1i has 2 connectors. I used the internal connector with a mini SAS to SATA fan out x4. I decided to take out the DVD player and found plenty of room in there to nest 8 ssds; plus you have the two Molex connectors in there which connected to a couple of SATA/Molex adapters with 2 plugs each, you can power all 4 ssds. I powered another 4 regular drives externally to a second SATA II Raid controller. You can also run a SATA power cable from an external power supply into the MacPro.

Once I find an external mini SAS to SATA x4 fan out cable (6G rated) I can potentially have 8 ssds running on this card. Hope this helps. While the card itself could certainly handle it, the issue with the 2009-2010 units is getting the correct cabling. In the 2006-2008 models the drive connections are separated and we do have the to complete that connection.

In the 2009-2010 models Apple moved to an integrated backplane and we currently do not carry the correct cabling to connect the hard drive bays to the card. We are still working on sourcing or creating a solution and if/when available we will announce it here on the OWC Blog first, but at this time we do not have any type of ETA. This topic is quite timely considering some thoughts Ive been having lately I have a MacPro 3.1 with the Dual Quad Core 2.8 GHZ processors. (I also have 16GB of RAM installed, which is Kingston, and 6 Western Digital SATA2 HDD’s in various sizes). I run ProTools 9 for audio recording, an Apogee Duet as the audio interface on the firewire buss and an application called BFD for programming drums, as well as numerous other native plugins for EQ, compression, reverb and the like. Strangely I do find that the MacPro does struggle at times with what appears to be processor load (at least thats what the CPU meter in ProTools shows) when Im running even a fairly light session (say 8 audio tracks with a couple of plugins and an instance of BFD) and have been thinking lately that when the next MacPro comes out Ill bite the bullet and upgrade. However I was running into “similar” issues on my MacBookPro 4.1 (IntelCore2Duo 2.5 GHZ, 2GB RAM, aluminium body) with running multiple VMware virtual machines (in the realm of a Windows XP VM and Windows 7 VM simultaneously) where MacBookPro was becoming quite unresponsive, which all things considering in understandable.

However I went the way of installing an OWC 240GB Sata2 SSD and 6GB of OWC RAM and since then the MacBookPro has been incredible. To the point where I can run 3 or 4 virtual machines as well as my usual OSX tasks and it doesnt seem to break a sweat. The reason for detailing this MacBookPro success makes me wonder if I install a series of OWC SSD’s (Sata2 or even Sata3 and the controller as described in this article) and maybe even swap out the 16GB of Kingston RAM to 16GB or 32GB of OWC RAM in the MacPro whether or not I might achieve a similar level of success and get a reasonable performance boost for my audio work This also ties in with me being a little skeptical of installing Lion on the MacPro at the moment due to performance. Sorry for it being a bit long winded. Unfortunately, this not the best place to try and spec out individual machines. That said, adding more RAM and faster drives (esp. SSDs) do generally tend to improve performance.

Whether it would be “enough”, I couldn’t tell you for sure, as I generally don’t deal on that end of the spectrum. Fortunately, many of our sales staff interact with audio professionals on a daily basis and are quite familiar with the specific demands that various audio systems require, so a quick call to one of our phone reps should be able to help you make a decision. Yesterday I installed the OWC 480 gig Memory Extreme Pro SSD in my 2007 Mac Pro 2,1 dual quad core 3 GHz with 16 gigs RAM. I have 4 750 gig HD that were original with my machine, 2 are striped into a RAID. I installed the SSD in my second optical bay using OWC’s multi mount kit, cloned my boot-up drive and am using it as my bootup drive.

According to my AJA speed test, the SSD runs a read/write of 250/237 for 1920×1080 8-bit, my original boot drive is 48/50, my second internal drive is 70/69, and the Raid is 80/90. AN external 4 TB harddrive connected through an eSata port is 157/182. So the SSD helped and feels much faster. So I am looking at using the miniSAS controller card to see if it helps. BTW – the installation instructions that OWC provided were great!. Recent Posts.

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