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Kona 3 and the NEW MacPros (Jan 2008)
OK…I have the new Jan 2008 MacPro, and found a puzzling thing. I could NOT open the Expansion slot utility…it said it does not work for the machine I have. Huh? So I looked into it and found this:
“Mac Pro (Early 2008)
The Mac Pro (Early 2008) computers implement PCI-E revision 2.0 which support twice the data rate per lane as the PCI Express revision 1. Slots 1 and 2 are both x16 revision 2.0 slots. Slots 3 and 4 are both x4 revision 1 slots. Placing a revision 1 card in a revision 2.0 slot, or visa-versa, is supported and results in a revision 1 link.
The number of lanes for each of these slots is permanently set for the Mac Pro (Early 2008). The Expansion Slot Utility doesn’t apply.”Slots 3 and 4 are x4 slots…hardwired as x4 slots. Slots 1 and 2 are the x16 slots. SO…my Fibre card in slot 4 is only running at 2Gb instead of 4Gb, and the Kona Card isn’t running at full speed.
With this new config, is it still advisable to run the Kona in slot 3?
Seeing what you all think. I e-mailed an AJA contact this same question.
Shane
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20 Replies
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Shane
Slots 3 and 4 are fixed at 4x as is the Kona-3. We have the Kona-3 in slot 4, but slot 3 should work as well.
We have an 8x Raid card in slot 2, it will run up to 16x so the 8x is fine there.
No big problems so far other than some small issues with 10.5.2.
Fred
The Troupe – Modern Media Design & Production
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One other thing.
We can’t select the Kona-3 as a Macintosh Desktop monitor. The selection is not greyed out it just does not work.
Fred
The Troupe – Modern Media Design & Production
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Thanks Fred. Good to know it works.
I don’t need the desktop option myself, but I can see where that would be a pain not to have.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
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[Fred Connors Jr] “We can’t select the Kona-3 as a Macintosh Desktop monitor. The selection is not greyed out it just does not work. “
read the file that came with the driver- there are issues with using the Mac Desktop setting i the newest version of the OS- it has been disabled in the latest version of the AJA control panel.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Inside look at the IoHD -
Hi Shane –
I do not know what you are talking about. If you had an OLD Mac Pro (pre Jan 2008), the CORRECT configuration for a system would be the graphics card at x16, slot 2 (unused) at x1, and slot 3 and slot 4 both set to x4. Slot 3 would be your Kona 3, and slot 4 would be your storage card. Let me be more specific for you, as you have a Cal Digit HD Pro. All of these SAS/SATA cards are rated for x8 slots, but perform BEAUTIFULLY at very fast data rates in x4 slots. This is where you put your Cal Digit, Dulce, ATTO, or other SAS/SATA card – be it a NEW or OLD Mac Pro.If you have a 4 Gig Fibre card, you can ABSOLUELY run it in a x4 lane slot.
So with your NEW MAC Pro, exactly what is your problem. The Kona 3 is NOT running any “slower” than it did before.
Nothing has changed.
bob Zelin
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First off, I do not have the HDPro on this system (actually, I don’t own an HDPro at all, I just reviewed it)…this is connected to an XSAN. And I wondered about the bus speed as I am getting slower transfer rates than the other machines. 85MB/s opposed to their 110MB/s. And the SAN techs say that my card is running at 2Gbs, not 4Gbs. I know squat about SANs, so I listen to them.
And I am not trying to do anything with the Kona yet, I just heard the tech say that mine was running at half speed.
Whatever…things are working…except for the half speed XSAN connection. But I am still able to work fine, so no complaints. Just curious.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
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[Shane Ross] “And the SAN techs say that my card is running at 2Gbs, not 4Gbs. I know squat about SANs, so I listen to them.
And I am not trying to do anything with the Kona yet, I just heard the tech say that mine was running at half speed. “
Yeah, uh huh. Go tell them to tweak the zoning and LUN masking.
Just kidding. I know squat about SAN too.
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Hi Shane –
I don’t know SAN either, but I do know the Apple XServe RAID, and I do know about it’s degraded performance after time. I am assuming (because I don’t know your system), but Don’t blame the MAC Pro because your Apple XServe RAID is running at a crawling rate of a modern internal SATA drive from Hitachi or Seagate. AS you well know, the Cal Digit HD Pro (although not fibre) runs circles around a primo PROPERLY WORKING Apple XServe RAID (and so do all the other SAS/SATA based products). Your problem is not the MAC Pro. If you don’t believe me, plug in another type of external RAID product from ANYONE, and see what I am talking about.Sorry you are having these troubles (if you DO have the XServe RAID, I assume that you have gone into RAID Admin, and turned off your Cache flushing).
Bob Zelin
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The XServe Raid and XSAN is what I have to work with here at the office. 4 edit stations sharing the storage on a series. It works for what we need.
I was provided this link concerning the proper slots for the new and old MacPros. Same rules apply, apparently:
https://www.aja.com/html/support_kona_rec_sys.htm
Recommended slot for the LHe is slot 2, however. Nice to know.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD now for sale!
http://www.LFHD.net
Read my blog! -
[Shane Ross] “my card is running at 2Gbs, not 4Gbs”
Hi Shane, the 2Gb/4Gb sounds like its related to the Fibre Channel link speed, which is different than the PCIe slot speed of x4/x8/x16 of the Mac Pro, pre Jan 08 or later.
If your Fibre Channel card in the computer is a 4Gb then it should be linked at 4Gb if the other end supports 4Gb. The slot the card is plugged into would not affect the Fibre Channel linked speed.
Depending on the Fibre Channel card, there might be a LED indicator telling of the link speed.
Robert Leong / Dulce Tech Support
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