Sonnet Allegro USB 3.1, Two-Port USB-C 10Gb PCIe Card (USB3C-2PM-E)

I purchased this to pass through USB devices to dedicated VMs on my whitebox VMware 7 host. Worked like a charm. For my use case, I'm passing through the entire PCI device to my VM. The device has a keyboard, mouse, and some other items. These are being passed through seamlessly to a VM. (I also pass through a desktop-class GPU, so that I can use a VM as a "desktop"). Not a moment's trouble so far.

No drivers necessary in High Sierra. No issues with cables properly seating. The plugs on the card do sit low on the back of the machine, but the USB-C connector does not need to be pushed into the point were plastic meets the card. As you can see in my image it appears the cable is not properly seated. Not to worry this is as far as it goes in.

After researching various USB-C PCIe cards I settled on the one from Sonnet because it had good reviews. While cost is important and this was not the cheapest one, my time is worth something and I hate hassles and dealing with computer problems, just want it to work and not have to troubleshoot problems. Followed the instruction sheet and went to the SonnetTech web site to check if there was a more recent instruction sheet and there was. The only difference that I found was the drivers didn't have to be downloaded for High Sierra so that was nice.This went in to my Mac Pro 2012 5,1 and was the easiest installation of anything that I've installed in it. The computer sits on my desk to get it away from sucking in any dust from the floor. Got a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the two screws holding the cards in. After removing the side panel it took all of about five minutes. to remove the empty card bay plate and insert the new USB-C card, re-install the plate with the two screws, and replace the side cover. What could be easier?Turned the 5,1 on, checked "About this Mac", System Report, and it showed that the USB-C card was installed. One may have to drag the window bar down a bit to see the list of all the USB items.Exited About this Mac then connected a 5TB USB-3.0 desktop HDD to the USB-C PCIe card via a 3-foot long Amazon USB-C > USB3 Gen2 cable (this was an Amazon cable). Proceeded to copy a number of video files from the computer SSD to the desktop drive and couldn't believe how fast it went! I was blown over. The first file would have taken "about an hour" via USB 2.0 but with the new card it took only five and a half minutes. Transfer rate for four different large (~45GB) video files was uniform at 137MB/s + or - a MB vs the ~10 > 15MB/s for 2.0. Really impressive. With 4K video files filling up my drives I've got plans for another desktop HDD and this card will be crucial to having a fast workflow and an improved backup system.

Put this in my MacPro 5.1 running Sierra 10.12.6. Works as advertised. The only issue is that I use the AUKEY USB C Adapters and they seem to not seat completely in the Allegro's USB sockets due to the opening on the Mac chassis. But everything seems to function fine. Haven't had a disconnected device yet.

The card was extremely easy to install on my Mac Pro 5,1 2010. It is detected automatically in both Mojave and Catalina. Yes, there is a small clearance issue for the connector, but this does not affect the functionality at all. I'm using an AmazonBasics USB-C to USB3 cable to read/write to an USB3 stick. IMO, this is a much better upgrade than purchasing a USB3 PCI card.

I run IT for companies, I am familiar with tearing down and building systems. I purchased this card to provide USB-C connectivity to my 2009 Mac Pro. I installed the card, my system detected it, although it reported 480Mbps speed, and charged devices. I installed the driver, and my system no longer detected the card. I spent about 2 hours troubleshooting, including swapping slots, between it and my USB 3.0 card, on the motherboard. No luck, but my USB 3.0 card still works. It's not the slot.I contacted Sonnet Support, they had me perform some of the same steps. When it did not work I setup an RMA and returned the card.I received the replacement card and installed it. The system detected it, but it did not charge anything. I installed the driver and the card disappeared again. (My USB 3.0 card, also from Sonnet, still works.)I reported it to Sonnet on the 19th, on the 22nd they asked fro a system report and an hour later I returned the system report. I've heard nothing back.So, do not buy this card for your 2009-2012 Mac Pro, it is highly unlikely to work as advertised..

The holes for the UBS-C connectors are in the mid low area of the back of card so there is a some what a interference with the alloy bars that divide each PCI slot of the mac pro 5,1. So when you connect a cable it doesn't have a perfect fit. I usually do copies with rsync in terminal with a sonnet USB3 card, having 80 MB/sec read and write speed. I bought this card hoping to have better performance, but nothing, I'm getting the same results even though the hard drives perform better in the disk speed test apps. May be is something with the terminal protocol. But have not seen any big improvement form a the USB3 card.

Installed this in my 2012 Mac Pro, and it is working flawlessly. I get full speed with the fastest external drive I have (around 700 MB/s) and I'm also using it with my USB C monitor/dock and it works great.