USB 3.0 'kits' (PCI-e cards)

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Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#100991 22-Apr-2012 15:14

it seems that these are quite rare (I've looked at my usual first-choice retailers and can't find them listed anywhere), and googling in general has found only two NZ retailers (prices varying from $30-60) (+1 on TradeMe for $60)

· has anyone bought one of these?
· does anyone recommend picking or avoiding any particular brand?
· how much should I expect to pay?
· should I consider Au retailers?
· if I was going to upgrade my front I/O panel* (more USB slots would be handy), could that be hooked up to USB 3.0, or would I have to use these card slots at the back?

*it has an eSATA section that's blocked off, I don't know if that's a viable alternative to USB 3.0 for me...knowing even less about that than the aforementioned.

also, can anyone tell me if there's a tool on Windows 7 Home to see if I've used either PCI-e slot on my motherboard? (the case is in an awkward place to open) ...device manager doesn't seeeeeem to tell me what's plugged in to what (and I'm not savvy enough to know where my RAM/etc. should be. all I know is that there's an old 56K card in a standard PCI slot, and that my mobo has two -e slots, one of which I'll need to upgrade to USB 3.0).

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614316 24-Apr-2012 13:47

edit (apparently I can't edit it): I've found out that my PCI-e slot is free. so, disregard final paragraph.

sidefx

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#614324 24-Apr-2012 14:04

there are a few listed on pricespy:

http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=629&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#rparams=l=s86692697

USB3 vs eSata; while USB3 has higher potential throughput I believe this depends on what device(s) you're using it with. The discussions I've come across not that long ago seemed to indicate that eSATA still has a bit of an edge.

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xpd

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#614357 24-Apr-2012 14:53

I tested a couple at work last year and posted this about my experience....

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Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614447 24-Apr-2012 16:59

xpd: I tested a couple at work last year and posted this about my experience....

yea, I searched the site and found that before posting.

I guess you've not tried it at home since that trial?

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614449 24-Apr-2012 17:03

sidefx: there are a few listed on pricespy:

http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=629&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#rparams=l=s86692697

USB3 vs eSata; while USB3 has higher potential throughput I believe this depends on what device(s) you're using it with. The discussions I've come across not that long ago seemed to indicate that eSATA still has a bit of an edge.

most of what I've seen has suggested maybe a three-fold improvement (certainly no '10x faster than full-speed')

does this depend on the PC? (I've only got two cores and 2gigs RAM...would I even be capable of generating speeds noticeably higher than USB2.0 if I can't even get _its_ stated maximum*?

*is anyone able to get that, or am I wrong to think my bare-necessities hardware is to blame?

P.S.
thanks for that link ... I'd thought the ST Lab ones were considerably more expensive than the Mukii one I'd found.

Regs

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Snowflake

#614575 24-Apr-2012 21:09

http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=ADPSTL15778&name=STLab-U-511-PCIe-USB3.0-2-Port-Card-NEC-Chipset-2x

I've used one of these with > 100MB/sec transfers on SATA disks. Thats 4x faster than the typical USB2. I have also used the expresscard version with the same results on a laptop.

for a 10x improvement you probably need a raid solution - although a SATA drive might be 3Gbps rated, whether it can actually deliver data off the platters that fast is something i'd debate in consumer product land..

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Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614660 24-Apr-2012 23:37

Regs: http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=ADPSTL15778&name=STLab-U-511-PCIe-USB3.0-2-Port-Card-NEC-Chipset-2x

I've used one of these with > 100MB/sec transfers on SATA disks. Thats 4x faster than the typical USB2. I have also used the expresscard version with the same results on a laptop.

so, it's a worse trick of advertizing than the bit/byte thing*, then, yea?

I'm probably confusing my bits and bytes or something (I'm even worse at math than computer jargon), but if USB2.0 tends to go about half its theoretical maximum (of 57MB/s?) and USB3.0 goes at about 100MB/s (1/6th its maximum), then it's only twice as good as USB2.0 'should' be able to work...not 10x better (4x better, functionally, but a far cry from 600MB/s**)

* "1TB drive" = 931GB drive

**if I rightly converted what 5Gb/s is

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jtbthatsme

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#614718 25-Apr-2012 02:20

I think my USB 3 PCI card was the ST Lab one works good but certainly not at the speeds I had hoped for but a vast improvement on USB 2.

What I found odd is that transferring from one USB 3 device to another was also faster than from my hard drive at times. If using flash drives as opposed to hard drives then check the read write speeds when your purchasing them as just because the connections USB 3 it does mean your getting a super fast device.

What annoys me most is I can't find a 4 port USB 3 PCI card and the only solution I found for a front panel was through a spare drive bay.

I do like how my USB2 flash drive has a vast speed improvement when plugged into the USB3 port.

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614845 25-Apr-2012 11:58

jtbthatsme: I think my USB 3 PCI card was the ST Lab one works good but certainly not at the speeds I had hoped for but a vast improvement on USB 2.

What I found odd is that transferring from one USB 3 device to another was also faster than from my hard drive at times. If using flash drives as opposed to hard drives then check the read write speeds when your purchasing them as just because the connections USB 3 it does mean your getting a super fast device.

What annoys me most is I can't find a 4 port USB 3 PCI card and the only solution I found for a front panel was through a spare drive bay.

I do like how my USB2 flash drive has a vast speed improvement when plugged into the USB3 port.

can you put a number on 'vast'? is it better than 100MB/s?

one youtube review noted that one product came with a USB extension cord as their solution to the annoying 'back panel only' issue. I wonder what would happen if you plugged a USB hub into the extension. ...I mean, what're the limits, here (on which end) can you write to three external drives at 100MB/s each through one port+hub with a theoretical 600MB/s maximum, or will it just go at 33MB/s a piece because functionally it's limited to 100? do both ports effectively have a ~100MB/s speed, or will you get ~50MB/s using both ports? (I guess I'm wondering which this is analogous to: having 5 downloads go at (let's just say) 10k instead of 1 at 50k because the bandwidth limit is 50, or choosing to have 5 downloads go at 50 instead of 1 at 50 because your bandwidth can go 250+ but the devices you're send/receiving from are more limited than your bandwidth)

how much better does the 2.0 flash drive perform? (I'd also read that 3.0 will charge USB-charged devices faster, too)

jtbthatsme

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#614891 25-Apr-2012 13:20

On my one I get about 60 - 70 MB/s but when I bought the usb 3 flash drive I made sure that read write speeds were high (and obviously the price reflected it).

If you were to buy a USB3 hub and plug that into your pci cards slots then you would certainly get USB3 speeds out of your hub. If memory serves on some of the websites I was researching when buying the PCI card it told you under what environment you would get the best speeds but to be honest I was not quite geeky enough to know wth they were talking about hehe.

My USB2 device through the USB3 port was probably running at around 25MB/s but it really depends on what each device is capable of I use a filter for read write speeds when looking at buying devices (search through pricespy.co.nz then change the search options to reflect what I am looking for). Now I've been using USB3 for a while I will not even consider anything that's not taking advantage of the speed increase.

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#614939 25-Apr-2012 15:07

jtbthatsme: On my one I get about 60 - 70 MB/s but when I bought the usb 3 flash drive I made sure that read write speeds were high (and obviously the price reflected it).

If you were to buy a USB3 hub and plug that into your pci cards slots then you would certainly get USB3 speeds out of your hub. If memory serves on some of the websites I was researching when buying the PCI card it told you under what environment you would get the best speeds but to be honest I was not quite geeky enough to know wth they were talking about hehe.

My USB2 device through the USB3 port was probably running at around 25MB/s but it really depends on what each device is capable of I use a filter for read write speeds when looking at buying devices (search through pricespy.co.nz then change the search options to reflect what I am looking for). Now I've been using USB3 for a while I will not even consider anything that's not taking advantage of the speed increase.

wow, that's pretty decent.
I guess for the meager price it's worth it, eh. (at least until I need my PCI-e slot for something else)

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#618308 2-May-2012 12:45

bought the ST Lab one. getting speeds 3-4x faster.