Asus USB 3.1 PCI card in Mac Pro 4,1/5,1

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Level 1

9 points

Asus USB 3.1 PCI card in Mac Pro 4,1/5,1

Hi there,

As the proud owner of a Mac ro 4,1 (upgraded to 5,1 and with 2 X Xeon Hexa-Core X5670 CPU's) I "suffer" from one limitation.

And that is the now old and really slow USB 2.0.

I would like to add a PCI USB 3.1 card and I've spotted the ASUS USB 3.1 PCI Card.

Of course, that card is given as compatible only with Windows...

But I have seen some reports from people claiming to have inserted this card into their Mac and having successfully used it with several devices.

It seems that these reports are under "Yosemite".

I was wondering if they are still good with El Capitan...

I inserted the card into the Mac.

It seems to be recognized by the Mac Pro.

Indeed looking at the System Infos, under "PCI" give "USB Extension card".

BUT :

- no USB stick I insert mounts ;

- no USB drive I hook up mounts ;

- my mouse doesn't even power up ;

- the keyboard doesn't function...

So I was wondering if :

- El Capitan has got rid of the earlier USB 3.1 support in Yosemite ?

- Or if my card can be defect in any way ?

- If this behavior can be due to the upgrades I performed (Mac 4,1 => 5,1 + 8-Core CPU => 12 Core CPU) ?

If anyone would be able to help me out, I'd be eternally grateful :-)

If needed, card can be sent back to seller...

Regards.

FRED

Posted on Jan 20, 2016 10:18 PM

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Answer 1

pedro d

Community Specialist

Jan 22, 2016 8:15 AM in response to Penguiner

Hello there Penguiner.

It sounds like you've purchased the ASUS USB 3.1 PCI Card and have questions on its compatibility with your Mac Pro. The following Knowledge Base article speaks to the Apple-provided cards that have been tested and work with Mac Pros:

About graphics-card compatibility between Mac Pro models

Since the ASUS card isn't listed, the footnote of the article might be a good recommendation to follow:

This article applies only to video cards that originally shipped with a specified Mac Pro or were offered as an upgrade kit by Apple. Similar cards that were not provided by Apple may have compatibility issues and you should work with the vendor of that card to confirm compatibility.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Kind Regards.

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Answer 2

Penguiner Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 3, 2016 11:08 PM in response to pedro d

Hi Pedro D

Sorry, I've overlooked your answer.

You're a "community specialist" ?

How did you become one when you either :

- 1°) do not read post carefully ;

- 2°) do not make a difference between a GPU PCI card and a USB 3.1 PCI card ?

Because I report a problem with a USB 3.1 PCI card (a card to connect USB 3.0/3.1 devices like hard drives, mouse, keyboard...) and your answer points to links about GRAHICS CARD compatibility... so I guess either 1° or 2° applies... in the worst case both of them.

Anyways, I found a really handy solution to my problem : I kept the Mac Pro, but it's now "Apple Free" : it boots Linux and runs Windows in a VM. No more hardware compatibility problem !

Kind regards.

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Answer 3

Jul 11, 2016 11:01 AM in response to Penguiner

Hey Penguiner,

Have you found an answer to your question? I am curious what USB 3.1 controllers work in Mac OS X El Captains.

Regards,

J

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Answer 4

Jul 12, 2016 2:33 AM in response to Penguiner

Hi Penguiner,

i dont know the asus card. On my mac pro 5.1 / 2010 / 10.11.5 i made good experiences with the sonnet http://www.sonnettech.com/PRODUCT/allegrousb3pcie4port.html. Install card, reboot, works. No driver required. Fast. ➕

There is a four chip version too http://www.sonnettech.com/PRODUCT/allegroprousb3pcie.html, i cannot say anything about this one.

When u have bootcamp / windows, this will need a driver, can be found on the sonnet website. Works perfect too. ➕

Yes, it is more expensive than the asus card. ➖

added: It is a usb 3.0 card and not 3.1

greetings from germany

Chris

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Answer 5

Jul 12, 2016 11:03 AM in response to Penguiner

I'm using a CalDigit FASTA-6GU3 Pro in a Mac Pro 5,1 with Yosemite and El Capitan. It offers both USB 3.0 (not 3.1) and eSATA support and requires no added extensions to work.

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Answer 6

Jul 13, 2016 4:10 AM in response to Penguiner

Various USB 3.1 PCIe cards did originally work in Yosemite - at least in that they did support USB 3.0 devices, it was less certain USB 3.1 devices worked as USB 3.1.

As you mention El Capitan seems to have killed support for these USB 3.1 cards completely, they do not work at all not even as USB 3 cards in El Capitan. Because none of those USB 3.1 cards including the ASUS have official Mac drivers there is nothing one can do about this.

As an aside I have a Sonnet USB 3.0 card which is officially El Capitan compatible and which is working fine in El Capitan. See http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegrousb3pcie4port.html

With regards to USB 3.1 cards there is now a recently released and officially El Capitan compatible card available from CalDigit, I think at the moment this would be your only choice. See http://www.caldigit.com/FASTA%2D6GU3plus/

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