Basic PCIe SSD question for MacPro 3.1

[Racer X]

So, I have seen some that look like memory on a board, with the 2 tabs that plug into the PCIe slots in a MacPro aluminum tower. Maybe several inches wide and 3 or 4 inches tall. Is that it? Just plug into slot and format? I do know about the full sized cards that take a 2.5" SSD.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I knew this once. A "5.1" should be able to use most of the NVMe models when running... El Crapitan (?) or later. I don't think a 3.1 will be bootable from a SSD except through a SATA controller (or some sophisticated kernel patches).

[Sarcany]

Like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CSSD-N400..._9?ie=UTF8&qid=1535682172&sr=8-9&keywords=pci-e+ssd
https://www.howtogeek.com/238253/what-is...-need-one/

Don't bother. Especially not for a 2008 that's maybe got a year left in it with a lot of prayer.

Too expensive for too little capacity and almost no advantage to it over cheaper options.

Either pick up a PCI card that has slots for SSDs or just swap std 2.50 inch SSDs in for your hard drives with a 2.5-inch-to-3.5-inch adapter like the Newer AdaptaDrive.

[Buzz]

Remember, at least that $50 PCIe 2.5" SSD adapter card will give you full SATA III speed.
==

[Filliam H. Muffman]

This seemed like a decent guide but I'm not sure how accurate it is.
https://blog.greggant.com/posts/2018/05/...geupgrades

[Racer X]

Buzz wrote:
Remember, at least that $50 PCIe 2.5" SSD adapter card will give you full SATA III speed.
==

Good point.

It is a dual quad 2.8 with 28? gigs of RAM. Just needs drives now. I have a bunch of 1.5 spinners in externals, but I want a FAST internal SSD for boot.

[AllGold]

This?

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDACL6G.S/

[bfd]

m.2 form factor has a SATAIII 6G interface. Would that work with a PCIe card made for a 2.5" SSD? (If the interface is SATA III?) This is something considered here recently, but a 2.5" SSD was already on the way.

Don't know if it makes sense or would work (given the Mac miasma when it comes to drivers and such), but the price for a 500GB (Crucial MX500 internal) is less than $100…

Something like this PCIe adapter is $25:

[MrNoBody]

Buzz wrote:
Remember, at least that $50 PCIe 2.5" SSD adapter card will give you full SATA III speed.==

:agree:

Here's what I used:
APRICORN Velocity Splo-X2 PCIe SSD card*. I chose this card over others as it provides 2x SATA 3 connections. 1TB boot SSD is mounted on the card & a 4TB SATA 3 HDD is plugged in via cable. It's mounted in the 2nd OD bay using a $5 Bytecc bracket & $2 15-pin Power cable adapter.
No drives except the SuperDrive on the SATA 2 bus.
* Sorry, I couldn't find a current vendor for the Solo X2 card.

[jdc]

Traditional SATA and m.2 and mSATA are 3 totally different connections.