PCI cards

[paulbaggott]

Looking to add about four USB ports to my 2019 Mac Pro for things like iLok, eLicenser, backup drives etc. PCi cards seem to be the way to go? I've seen them on Amazon at reasonable prices but I've never bought or fitted them before. Can anyone recommend compatible and reliable ones? Many thanks.

[ef37a]

I have always had good results with Star-Tech PCI and PCIe cards but that was in PCs. The mac peeps will no doubt wake up soon.

Dave.

[johnny h]

Surely thunderbolt / usb-c to multiple usb-a hub makes more sense. Loads of them available.

[resistorman]

I have an Anker card in my PC for your very reasons. It just popped in no fuss. I imagine any card will do, it's not cutting edge tech

[paulbaggott]

Surely thunderbolt / usb-c to multiple usb-a hub makes more sense. Loads of them available.

Thanks but my USB C ports are all in use unfortunately.

[paulbaggott]

I have always had good results with Star-Tech PCI and PCIe cards but that was in PCs. The mac peeps will no doubt wake up soon.

Dave.

Thanks for your suggestion. Hoping to get specific recommendations for my 2019 Mac Pro though.

[paulbaggott]

I have an Anker card in my PC for your very reasons. It just popped in no fuss. I imagine any card will do, it's not cutting edge tech

Is that likely to be compatible with a 2019 Mac Pro?

[ef37a]

Surely thunderbolt / usb-c to multiple usb-a hub makes more sense. Loads of them available.

Audio interfaces tend not to like hubs.

Dave.

[johnny h]

Surely thunderbolt / usb-c to multiple usb-a hub makes more sense. Loads of them available.

Audio interfaces tend not to like hubs.

Depends on the hub. If you have a thunderbolt sound card you need a thunderbolt hub. I have one from OWC and it works perfectly with the sound card, SSD and further usb-c hubs.

[ef37a]

Surely thunderbolt / usb-c to multiple usb-a hub makes more sense. Loads of them available.

Audio interfaces tend not to like hubs.

Depends on the hub. If you have a thunderbolt sound card you need a thunderbolt hub. I have one from OWC and it works perfectly with the sound card, SSD and further usb-c hubs.

Well yes, I suppose but then I should not be here! The chap was asking though about PCI (PCIe really?) cards to expand basic USB and I would assume any PCI device works in a PCI slot regardless of mac or PC? Else the two 'camps' would not use the same slots?

Dave.

[sonics]

Take a look at the SoNNeT Allegro range of cards. I believe they have several that are fully compatible.

[resistorman]

Take a look at the SoNNeT Allegro range of cards. I believe they have several that are fully compatible.

Yikes! 20x more expensive than a generic card Really, USB cards are mature technology and a commodity, I imagine any will do.

[sonics]

Yikes! 20x more expensive than a generic card Really, USB cards are mature technology and a commodity, I imagine any will do.

Maybe some cheap cards would work? The Allegro may be 2-3x more expensive, but SoNNeT have been producing Mac-specific hardware for decades. It will work.
Also, I've not seen a really cheap generic card that explicitly supports Mac OS. I've seen cards that say Mac OS is not supported, though!
(I would rather spend the money on something that will definitely work. This stuff is a job for me, hence my recommendation.)

[S.Crow]

PCI is too slow to use for USB 3.0, so I assume you mean PCIe.
There are still a few of the former floating around and they support USB 2.0.

[paulbaggott]

Looking to add about four USB ports to my 2019 Mac Pro for things like iLok, eLicenser, backup drives etc. PCi cards seem to be the way to go? I've seen them on Amazon at reasonable prices but I've never bought or fitted them before. Can anyone recommend compatible and reliable ones? Many thanks.

I should say I need four USB A ports on a Mac Pro. I also meant PCIe cards

[paulbaggott]

Take a look at the SoNNeT Allegro range of cards. I believe they have several that are fully compatible.

Thanks for that. A bit more than I want to pay, plus I'm in the UK.

[S.Crow]

Scan are a good source and you can ask them about compatibility:

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-ha ... s/usb31-io

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-ha ... ds/usb3-io#

Keep in mind the following:

1x PCIe 3.0 = 900MBs.
2x PCIe 3.0 = 1.8GBs.
4x PCIe 3.0 = 3.6GBs.

USB 3.0 = 400MBs.
USB 3.1 Gen 2 = 900MBs.

The above figures are rounded from memory.

[paulbaggott]

Scan are a good source and you can ask them about compatibility:

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-ha ... s/usb31-io

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-ha ... ds/usb3-io#

Keep in mind the following:

1x PCIe 3.0 = 900MBs.
2x PCIe 3.0 = 1.8GBs.
4x PCIe 3.0 = 3.6GBs.

USB 3.0 = 400MBs.
USB 3.1 Gen 2 = 900MBs.

The above figures are rounded from memory.

Many thanks for that. According to Scan Uk the StarTech PCIes are not Mac compatible, damn.

[Chromeman]

You could take a punt on the Inateck PCIe to USB 3.2 card which is on Amazon for £29. It gets power from the PCIe slot itelf which a lot of cards don't and may work. Easy to return if it doesn't.

[S.Crow]

You could take a punt on the Inateck PCIe to USB 3.2 card which is on Amazon for £29. It gets power from the PCIe slot itelf which a lot of cards don't and may work. Easy to return if it doesn't.

Three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports from a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, upward compatible with x4, x8 and x16 slot.

The total bandwidth of the PCIe card is 8Gbps. (1GB/s)
Each port can enjoy 8 Gbps bandwidth when used solely.
Wide Compatibility: Mac OS 10.8.2 and the versions above

Easy to Install: The product draws power from the PCIe slot.
Offers up to 25W power. Each USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port offers 15W power and each USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port offers 5W power.

Worth a punt and shows as £30 but with a 5% voucher bringing it down a bit.
I doubt you will get one with more bandwidth using PCIe 3.0.
Some bad reviews on Amazon but not an alarming amount.
Just make sure it has UASP support which shouldn't be an issue these days.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-PCIe-R ... 096ZK6C37/