can I add thunderbolt to my MacPro 5,1

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Level 1

12 points

can I add thunderbolt to my MacPro 5,1

I've been scouring the web looking for an update on whether TB will be accessible for MacPro any time soon. I'd love to add a card so that my video storage and performance needs can be increased dramatically.

I just recently purchased my MacPro and was very disappointed when I noticed there was no TB tech built into the system. I'm a intermediate level computer person so I didn't know to check on something that seems so commonplace the way Apple talks about it these days.

However, I"m fine with it as long as eventually there is some sort of option for me to upgrade my system to access it.

Finding information on the subject has been taxing, and most of what I find is a couple years old already. So,

Are there any new options for adding Thunderbolt technology to my system? Is there anything in the pipeline that people know about for something like this? And what would you recommend as a current 'up to date' alternative that won't break the bank?

Thanks for your time. Peace.

mid 2012 model 5,1

Quad-Core Intel Xeon

3.2ghz

12gb ram

If you need any other specs just reply to the message thanks.

Mac Pro (Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Jun 2, 2013 6:00 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 2, 2013 6:07 PM in response to scarymonkey

Are there any new options for adding Thunderbolt technology to my system?

No. At this writing, to have ThunderBolt a system must be born with it.

Is there anything in the pipeline that people know about for something like this?

No.

And what would you recommend as a current 'up to date' alternative that won't break the bank?

Thunderbolt is a mix of many different things. If you own a Mac Pro, you already have up to three free PCI slots that are more valuable than ThunderBolt, and a graphics card that can drive three displays.

What are you trying to accomplish that seems to need ThunderBolt?

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Answer 2

scarymonkey Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 2, 2013 6:53 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Right. Ok thanks for the info.

What I want is to update my storage for large amounts of high quality video that I edit on a constant basis. Some projects are roughly around 4-5 tb of information that I accumulate. Big projects.

Was hoping to increase my speed dramatically with my external drives which I purchase on a job per job basis. Investing in a super fast thunderbolt drive seemed like a great option for copying drives and informtation between drives on a constant basiss between myself and my coworkers. (I don't think I need to get into the specifics of how we do our work).

Firewire 800 works fine for editing, but as the footage is getting bigger and better quality all the time it's quickly looking like alternatives will be needed in the near future. Just wanted to do some research.

USB 3.0 seems good, but from what I've seen in test results isn't dramatically faster in actual application when I see side by side comparisons, however it is better. But then I read about a lot of problems of which specific card you purchase and not being compatible with certain things and support for Mac and so on and so forth.

All very daunting when all I need is a very simple speed solution 🙂 thanks

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Answer 3

Jun 2, 2013 7:08 PM in response to scarymonkey

How about a PCIe card that offers:

• eSATA

• FibreChannel

Or a Storage Area Network drive chassis that plugs into the second GigabIt Ethernet port?

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Answer 4

Jun 3, 2013 4:30 AM in response to scarymonkey

People forget that USB3 is a consumer level and lacks the concurrent I/O of command queueing for one thing while PCIe SATA/SAS has a proven history TB storage has been $$$ and proprietary and high over head, perfect for a laptop or iMac.

FW800 cripples today's storage to their slowest 72MB/sec (drives are capable of 120MB/sec) and SATA 6G has bandwidth to support a couple drives (Port Multiplier was okay, 10 yrs ago when it was developed and was outgrown a couple yrs later)

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Answer 5

Jun 3, 2013 7:37 AM in response to Community User

Not to mention that Apple is still tweaking the Thunderbolt firmware in Macs (issued an update less than a month ago).

Why do people want to use newer tech that hasn't had all the kinks worked out?

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Answer 6

scarymonkey Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 3, 2013 12:10 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Looking at the eSata and Fibre channel, although great solutions for speed are not very practical cost wise. I'll have to do more research before I speak on that too much though and it is food for thought.

The reason I was looking into TB tech was because the speed advantage and simplicity of it make it worth the bugs that are getting worked out, like everything that Mac does these days, very slowly. 😀

But it seems there are no real viable options out there right now. It's seems to be a strange time in which no one is taking the time to develop a system that is actually appropriate for the consumer needds. It's either very high end or very low end tech. I suppose I'll keep chugging with FW800 until something comes along that is actually worth the time and $$ to get into.

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Answer 7

Jun 3, 2013 12:50 PM in response to scarymonkey

your friends at http://www.barefeats.com

TB can cost upwards of $1,000 too.

16TB of storage can set you back that alone.

http://www.barefeats.com/hard167.html

http://www.barefeats.com/hard164.html

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Answer 8

Jun 4, 2013 5:28 AM in response to scarymonkey

Right now? There will never be a method of adding TB to any computer not made with it. Besides being physically impossible due to the lack of on-CPU graphics processor, Intel and Apple hold strict control over the technology and hardware required for it to operate.

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