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What is the correct Thunderbolt firmware for iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) - iMac14,2

Hello,


Anyone here willing to share with me what is the latest firmware for Thunderbolt Bus for the above mentioned machine? My hardware report lists:


Firmware Version: 23,10

Cable Firmware Version: 1.0.16

Link Controller Firmware Version: 0.12.3


More specifically I'm trying to optimize the connection to an AKiTiO Thunder 2 PCI Box where I have installed a Nvme PCI drive (intel 660p). The speeds I'm getting are 729 MB/s write and 856 MB/s read which I presume would max my Thunderbolt 1 connection isn't it so? If some of you get better drive speeds with the classic Thunderbolt please let me know.


Thank you.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on May 30, 2020 7:06 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 30, 2020 1:35 PM

Doing some backward math, you writes are ~5.6 Gb/s and reads ~6.4Gb/s.

and with Thunderbolt 1, it has a max of 10Gb/s, in theory. Considering that

there is overhead in any data transfer and also macOS overhead with

its I/O drivers (and everything else if the system requesting macOS disk

services) and also filesystem tracking overhead, you are probably doing

pretty good, especially on a 2013 iMac.


As for your firmware numbers, they match mine and, FWIW, if you keep current

with all macOS updates, you will always have current firmware as Apple

hasn't released separate firmware updates for years, unless there is a specific

model firmware bug and I think now they just use the catchall "supplemental

update".

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 30, 2020 1:35 PM in response to anciubo

Doing some backward math, you writes are ~5.6 Gb/s and reads ~6.4Gb/s.

and with Thunderbolt 1, it has a max of 10Gb/s, in theory. Considering that

there is overhead in any data transfer and also macOS overhead with

its I/O drivers (and everything else if the system requesting macOS disk

services) and also filesystem tracking overhead, you are probably doing

pretty good, especially on a 2013 iMac.


As for your firmware numbers, they match mine and, FWIW, if you keep current

with all macOS updates, you will always have current firmware as Apple

hasn't released separate firmware updates for years, unless there is a specific

model firmware bug and I think now they just use the catchall "supplemental

update".

What is the correct Thunderbolt firmware for iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) - iMac14,2

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