MOTUnation.com

The answer to a prayer for lots of fast SSD access on older Mac Pros?

One of These:
http://www.addonics.com/products/ad4mspx2.php

and Four of These:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 0ZX1BK3724

Equals 4TB of 6GB/sec SATA storage for your beefy sample sets in a single 4x PCIe slot.

Ouchee, that seems like a lotta money for each drive.

I just set up my Promise Pegasus R4 over the weekend, 8TB, (6TB after setting it up as RAID 5). ~$750 (Aus) for the enclosure, ~$420 (Aus) for the drives.

I know its Thunderbolt, and I know its not (almost though) as fast as SSD drives, but it is plenty fast enough for streaming audio, video, etc, and there is a lot more capacity too. I wonder how long it pays to hang onto legacy platforms before they start being uneconomical?

BKK-OZ wrote:Ouchee, that seems like a lotta money for each drive. I just set up my Promise Pegasus R4 over the weekend, 8TB, (6TB after setting it up as RAID 5). ~$750 (Aus) for the enclosure, ~$420 (Aus) for the drives. I know its Thunderbolt, and I know its not (almost though) as fast as SSD drives, but it is plenty fast enough for streaming audio, video, etc, and there is a lot more capacity too.

Apple and Oranges. The R4 is sweet, but it ain't SSDs unless you load it with SSDs. If you want SSD performance in the nMP, you'll pay the same amount for the drives. You'll pay more for the enclosure that allows you to connect them to the Mac. Just sayin'.

Yes, the nMP is sweet, but it ain't cheap. I think the linked $55 PCIe card and mSATA approach is quite elegant, and you cannot beat the bang for the buck it offers if you are looking for SSD performance in a legacy machine.

I know that they are different things - my point was that comparing ~$550/TB for an SSD drive in a PCIe slot, with ~$1,100 for 6TB (8TB w/o RAID) with all the speed that any contemporary application can use (and more), I just wondered about the value equation here.

When does it make sense to trade in your old station wagon for that new sports model? Or should you keep upgrading the station wagon with a new engine, tires, turbo-charger, etc.

~$3k to get the same storage that the R4 gives you for ~$1,100 leaves 2K to put towards a new MP, and while that doesn't get you a new MP, it goes at least part of the way there.

I understand the difference between SSD and my drives, I was just wondering aloud about the cost/value equation and asking about where the tipping point is. If you are happy with your solution, I too am happy, not being critical at all.

BKK-OZ wrote:I know that they are different things - my point was that comparing ~$550/TB for an SSD drive in a PCIe slot, with ~$1,100 for 6TB (8TB w/o RAID) with all the speed that any contemporary application can use (and more), I just wondered about the value equation here.

When does it make sense to trade in your old station wagon for that new sports model? Or should you keep upgrading the station wagon with a new engine, tires, turbo-charger, etc.

~$3k to get the same storage that the R4 gives you for ~$1,100 leaves 2K to put towards a new MP, and while that doesn't get you a new MP, it goes at least part of the way there.

I understand the difference between SSD and my drives, I was just wondering aloud about the cost/value equation and asking about where the tipping point is. If you are happy with your solution, I too am happy, not being critical at all.

I'm not being critical either, just bringing an interesting piece of tech to folks' attention.

In my initial post, I didn't intend to get into a comparison thing with the R4, because, as noted in my second post, the two devices are dissimilar. The R4 is cool but, in all honesty, you can accomplish the same thing using four spinning drives in the internal HD sleds in an oMP. With the nMP you need the $750 R4. With the nMP, if you want SSD speed there is no $55 four-drive solution, So your cost comparison doesn't hold up.

I don't have any intention of dumping the four SSDs currently running in my oMP. But if and when I need more space, the Additronics PCIe card will surely be considered as a replacement for my current two-port 1x PCIe SATA card.

As for the station wagon/sports model analogy, I can currently fit the whole band in my wagon... the sports car, not so much.

The nMP is an awesome machine. I'd love to have one in my studio. But the costs to transition from legacy are significant, and storage is one of them.

On SSD drives, the main appeal is with large sample libraries, loading time etc.
At least to me. The 2009 Mac Pro here still holds out well performance wise, and the only solution for SSDs that let's them operate at full speed is the PCI bus. No Thunderbolt, the HD bays are slower than SSDs can operate at, same with Firewire 800.
I'm definitely getting one of these for Kontakt, MachFive, and other libraries.

HCMarkus wrote:As for the station wagon/sports model analogy, I can currently fit the whole band in my wagon... the sports car, not so much.

...and the kids, and the dog, and grandma...
All good brother, if it ain't broke...

BKK-OZ wrote:

HCMarkus wrote:As for the station wagon/sports model analogy, I can currently fit the whole band in my wagon... the sports car, not so much.

...and the kids, and the dog, and grandma...
All good brother, if it ain't broke...

You da' man BK. Enjoy the day!

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1735908

Bootable, Supports Trim, Speedy... a user's test results on the quad mSATA PCIe card.