Mac Pro 1.1 set up using RAID 0 (2 x SSDs SATA III) and PCIe card. Installed the two SSDs in RAID 0 via StarTech's StarTech ePCI SATA III RAID controller card with mini-SAS (PEXSAT34SFF). Slower than RAID without card. Different card need?

ARe you using an 8X slot? is the card supported in 10.6 on Mac Pro 1,1? 1x slot? 4x?

One of the best cards is the $300 Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD PCIe if you want to use two SSDs for a data array.

you cannot boot and no need to on PCIe SSD.

Booting from a single SSD on one of the six SATA II ports is fine for the system and apps, I know I use Samsung 840 128GB there. And some SSDs on Sonnet Tempo for graphic files.

Usually you would be fine on a couple 2TB WD Black drives for video work.

you should be running at least 10.6.8+ updates, or even Lion 10.7.5 (the last that is supported on 1,1 and 2,1 models)

Don't get discouraged yet... You can probably get all the transfer speed you need with a few SATA drives and maybe a RAID card. Please respond with details of your workflow. Pretty much everyone is using digital intermediates these days so with the right codecs HD will cut like DV,

I've been cutting with FCP for well over 10 years and cut a lot of footage on a client's 1,1 system. This can be done and if you can return the SSDs, maybe within your budget.

Awaiting your input

Yes, I think I grasp the problems you're experiencing. I believe that part of the problem is that the PCIe support for the Mac Pro 1,1 was limited, and more limited in certain models.

The good news is that through careful configuration you can extract enough speed to make your machine do a good job. So the first question is: what is your machine? Yes, it's a MacPro 1,1 but what speed? The original 2.66GHz quad had a total of 26 dynamically allocated PCIe lanes, with 16 going to the graphics board right off the top. The RAID controller you have requires a PCIe 2.0 x2 that isn't in your era Mac Pro. But not to worry, you really don't need it.

What I really need is to understand what sort of projects and what kind of footage you work with so I can assess the kind of bandwidth you will require. And depending on which Non-Linear Editor (NLE) you're using we should be able to figure out a workflow that will get you there without a lot of exotica. So what source (camera) format is "normal" for you? are you doing standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD)? If HD, what frame size? all these things bear on how to set up for best results.

p.s.: Don't lose those SSDs, you'll probably want them for System and Apps.

Over to you...

Top slot #4 under the drives will normally be your 2nd best 8x slot, close to a 4x PCIe 2.x slot.

SSDs would not they be too small for video? Aperture, VMs, scratch, yes.

PCIe is useful to free up your drive bays for some 4 x 2TB drives to use, and so you can get enough raw disk I/O to have 300-440MB/sec sustain writes/reads, if that matters.

Good move getting StarTech to take back the RAID controller. It only supported modes 0 and 1 anyway and you can do that with the Apple RAID software (if you must.)

You still haven't provided much detail, but here's basically what can be done:

As The Hatter mentions above, you can use the SSDs on PCIe for your OS and Apps. This will speed your system up noticeablly. Your User stuff and go on a different drive based on how you set up your storage.

I'm guessing you're on Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) so if you really need fast storage, you can stripe a couple of drives as RAID 0. THIS IS A DANGEROUS MOVE! A RAID 0 has to be treated with great care because it can crash at any time and is NOT recoverable. But, it will double or triple your data rate (my first SATA RAID 0 used 4 drives and would move data at 300MB/sec.on a dual 2.5GHz G5) I got away with it for a couple of years, but I was the only one who touched that machine. In the end it crashed without warning.

Before you go the RAID route, take a good look at what you're actually doing and what it requires. Your system supports SATA II drives that will transfer at 80-100MB/sec if properly maintained. This is fast enough to support several streams of SD or a stream (maybe 2) of HD depending on the size and codec. SATA III drives are everywhere and will work fine, you just won't see the higher speed because the MacPro has SATA II.

If you are using Final Cut Studio, there are lossless digital intermediates available that reduce the processor overhead (at the expense of data bandwidth) so that simple edits in HD are practical. Extensive effects work and heavy use of filters (like Magic Bullet) are no-nos as the render times are staggering.

iMovie is an option as well, but the K.I.S.S rule (Keep It Simple, Sir...) since the newer versions like to do everything in real time and depend heavily on a fast video board and high clockrate processors.

Hope this is helping

No Mac Pro 1,1 will boot from PCIe SSD as I have tried to say a couple times.

Never a good idea to have apps anywhere but with the OS (X-Plane and a few others being the exception to the rule).

RAID0 is not ideal or good for backups, and if you need 8TB for backups, then RAID5, preferably RAID6 (6 x 2TB in that case).

I am using Sonnet Tempo. They recommend the PRO and do not support the non-Pro version, even so IT IS NOT BOOTABLE. Which is why I point and keep mentioning data type uses.

A good SAS controller costs hundreds $$s.

First off, thank you hatter for the info about the 1,1 systems and PCI-based SSD. This is sad, but not a tragedy.

To London: If you mentioned the size of the SSDs, I missed it. If you have all (or even most) of Final Cut Studio 3 installed, you'll probably need single 250G for the OS & Apps. I'm planning a SSD in my 3,1 and feeling is that it would be wise to include the Library folder as well as because of all the App Support and Audio stuff FCS keeps there. My OS/Apps/Library runs about 130GB.

OK, so you're working with a Canon DSLR. I've done quite a bit with that camera and it's nice to work with. You'll be using ProRes 422 to transcode and in 1080/24 that's about 116Mbits/second so a couple of streams from a single SATA drive is do-able. If you can dedicate a couple of 2-4TB drives to the active project and and its scratch (with exterior storage for archiving) all should be good. I duplicate the H.264 source and store it in an exterior archive, then keep a copy in the Project Folder just in case the ProRes breaks. that saves a little disk space.

I'm with The Hatter on the RAID 0 issue (in case I wasn't clear in my last post. 😉) Fast is nice but not if it frequently ends badly. I like the RAID 5/6 but in your current situation it's probably out both technically and costwise. There are a few 2-port eSATA adapters for PCIe 1.0 out there if you need more drives.

good luck!

the 1x is for a single non-RAID.

Sonnet sells a non-Pro, it does work but not as well and not supported in a pre-2008.

If you plan to stripe two SSDs then the $99 Apricorn which you can find discussed on MacRumors.