USB 3.0

[alex]

Oh yes, I

[Alan]

Yeah Dave, my desktop is an HP from 2002. XP, 1.4GHz pentium 3? i've upgraded the RAM and put in a couple bigger hard drives, but they're both IDE. I don't even know if you can buy those anymore.
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Shoot! That sounds like my computer, 2 computers ago! It was a pentium 4, too. It got hot enough when I was rendering video that it finally blew. I mean, literally. I saw a big spark and the thing froze up. I looked inside, and a heat sink had flew off one of the chip sets. It was all over, but the cryin'.


Now I don't feel so bad about not having USB 3.0!

[Daniel Browning]

My PC is "old" enough not to have a USB 3.0 connection. But, even if I installed a PCI card to adapt the motherboard to such a connection, won't the PCI buss limit the transfer speed anyway?

99% of the time, yes, USB3 will be limited by the bus. That's true in most cases even if you use a PCI Express 2.0 x1 card (which is theoretically capable of 500 MB/s). It's even true if you bought a brand new computer that has the USB 3.0 directly on the motherboard and even advertises full 400 MB/s USB 3.0.


There is a *huge* disconnect between advertising and reality, especially when it comes to USB 3.It took me several months, three computers, and several thousand dollars to finally get a computer that is capable of the the full 4.8 Gbps USB 3.0, so I feel I'm qualified to speak about it. I needed the full speed in order to capture, modify, and output live uncompressed 10-bit 1080p video (192 MB/s two ways) with a USB3 capture device.


99.99% of computers that advertise "True USB 3.0 @ 4.8 Gbps (400 MB/s)!" are not actually capable of speeds anywhere near that level (not even the speed of the USB 3 device itself). For example, my first motherboard, an Asus P7P55D, claimed this, but was actually only capable of less than half that speed. The second computer I tried with an add-in PCI express 2.0 x1 USB 3.0 card, but that too didn't work at the full "SuperSpeed". It wasn't until I bought an ASUS P6X58D-E that I was able to hit the fuill 4.8Gbps.


So why don't computer and motheboard manufacturers use the full speed? Because PCI express lanes to the CPU are expensive and in short supply. They have to divide them up among add-in slots, SATA controllers, etc. And it doesn't make for good marketing when you say "our USB3 is throttled from 400 MB/s to 100 MB/s so we could dedicate 75% of those PCI lanes to the 6 extra SATA ports on the motherboard!". Instead, they just lie and say "USB 3.0 400 MB/s!". (Lucifer was Director of Marketing in heaven before he got kicked out, you know. That's where he got his nickname "Father of Lies".)


So, theoretically, it is possible to have a PCI Express 2.0 x1 add-in card that provides the full USB 3.0 400 MB/s (4.8Gbps), but in practice no such configuration exists because no manufacturer truly dedicates a full 400 MB/s between the pci-x1 lane and the processor. (At least it certainly didn't exist between Sep 2010 and Feb, 2011).


All that said, USB3 is still going to be faster than USB2 (which tops out around 35 MB/s for me), so I recommend an add-in card anyway. (Personally, I use eSATA for hard disks.)

[Alan]

All that said, USB3 is still going to be faster than USB2 (which tops out around 35 MB/s for me), so I recommend an add-in card anyway. (Personally, I use eSATA for hard disks.)
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Good advice. I'll get the card.

[iso79]

I wish they would skip USB3.0 and make Thunderbolt a standard

[Dave Johnston]

I wish they would skip USB3.0 and make Thunderbolt a standard

Then everyone would have to get new cords for their cameras..... and iphones... [:P]

[iso79]

[quote user="Dave Johnston"]


Then everyone would have to get new cords for their cameras..... and iphones... :P


[/quote]


So what? Remember the serial cable, and even USB 1.0 days? It

[Dave Johnston]

Remember the serial cable

yeesh.... unfortunately...

It's not going to happen overnight.

Very True... I just wonder if the masses are going to let USB go though.... Firewire was beast back in the day... and a lot of people still use its latest iteration... but it never got as mainstream as it could have, despite the speed it provided... i just wonder if the same fate lies ahead for the thunderbolt.

[iso79]

Firewire is still great. I use all firewire800 external drives. USB 2.0 is just too slow.

[Alan]

Just a little update on the USB 3.0, with the add-in card and the Delkin card reader.


Let's just say that it's FAST! I'm going to try loading up more pics on a card, then try to time its download speed.


But, it's WAY faster than 2.0. The images from a 7D or 5DMk2 (RAW) were zipping by so fast that it looked the lines on a highway going about 200 miles an hour. []


Ineo and Thermaltake make a docking station that are equipped with USB 3.0. I have a Thermaltake that is eSATA, too.


The speed of the USB will probably rival the eSATA, on the docking station. Don't know, but it sure is fast.


It was a good investment, and the add-in card was a cinch (thanks, Daniel).


Alan