Summary:
Mac Pro computers made before 2008 feature four PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots with 16-lane support and configurable bandwidth. Important: Make sure your PCIe cards are installed in the appropriate slots and that the slots are configured for optimal bandwidth using the Expansion Slot Utility.
Mac Pro computers from early 2008 and later feature four PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots that automatically configure bandwidth. With these Mac Pro systems, you will not need the Expansion Slot Utility. However, slot order still is important for optimal bandwidth for video capture and playback.
Regardless of your Mac Pro version, optimal slot configuration of the video capture card and Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) is required to give maximum video bandwidth performance. If the video capture card, such as the AJA Kona, and the Fibre Channel HBA are not installed in recommended slots or the slots are not configured correctly, then the PCI Express bus is not optimized and frame drops will occur.
Recommendations:
For Mac Pro systems manufactured early 2008 and later:
- When using a 4-channel, 8-lane, 4 Gbps Fibre Channel host bus adaptor card (HBA), install the card into slot 2. The video capture card can go into either slot 3 or 4.
- When using a 2-channel, 4-lane, 2 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA, install the card into slot 3 or 4. The video capture card should go into slot 2.
For Mac Pro systems manufactured before 2008:
- The Expansion Slot Utility is located in /System/Library/CoreServices
- When using a 4-channel, 8-lane, 4 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA, install the card into slot 2. Install the video capture card into slot 4. Then use the Expansion Slot Utility to chose Three x8 Lane One x1 Lane Slots.
- Primary display card is in slot 1
- The 4-channel, 4 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA is in slot 2
- The video capture card is in slot 4
- When using a 2-channel, 4-lane, 2 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA, install the card into slot slot 4. The video capture card should go into slot 3. Then use the Expansion Slot Utility to chose x16 Lane Graphics Slot Two x4 Lane and One x1 Lane Slots.
- The primary display card is in slot 1
- The 2-channel, 2 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA is in slot 4
- The video capture card is in slot 3
