Silicon Power Rolls Out Pair of USB 3.0 Cards for Desktops and Notebooks

[btarunr]

Silicon Power today added to the propagation of the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interconnect standard, by releasing two 2-port expansion cards, one that uses the PCI Express x1 interface, and one suited for notebooks with the ExpressCard 34 slot. Both cards are fully compliant with Intel's xHCI (extensible Host Controller Interface) standard, and deliver up to 900 mA of current to connected devices (80% over USB 2.0), and 5 Gb/s of bandwidth (10 times over that of the USB 2.0). The cards come backed by 2-year warranties, though the company did not give out pricing.

[Frick]

Does the PCI-E version really need that extra power?

[Kreij]

I saw the laptop one at their website and now know where the original news article dissapeared to.

I wonder why they did not just make the USB 3.0 spec at 1A, instead of 900mA?

[Static~Charge]

Originally Posted by Frick

Does the PCI-E version really need that extra power?

I browsed the USB 3.0 cards on newegg.com, and almost all of them have a supplemental power connector (floppy, Molex, or even SATA).

[Jizzler]

^ I've seen one that doesn't have it, so I'll never buy one that does.

Besides, where's our quad-port cards!

[PVTCaboose1337]

I have been wanting to get one of these 3.0 cards for my laptop, however they stick out too much. Perhaps down the road they will make them smaller.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Frick

Does the PCI-E version really need that extra power?

it seems weird to me as well, 900ma @ 5V = 4.5W x2 = 9W, is 9W really that hard for a PCI-E slot to output? doubt it.

[BazookaJoe]

Ppl please - Stop being silly.

The cards work PERFECTLY FINE IF YOU DO NOT CONNECT THE POWER CONNECTOR

I Have a Gigabyte card with a power connector and it is NOT ESSENTIAL TO PLUG IT IN

It is just an option for ppl who expect to run self powered devices such as external Blu-Ray writers and such that they KNOW will permanently draw lots of power, so that they don't HAVE to put that load on their motherboard BUS, that may already have enough work to do, and hell, if you HAVE a spare connector WHY THE FUNK NOT USE IT? Apart from for the sheer sake of being an otherwise ass-hat for attention.. And if you don't have one then that's fine too

THE CARD CAN, AND DOES WORK PERFECTLY FINE WITHOUT THE POWER CONNECTED (Well at least my Gigabyte one does)

Do you all think you need to have 2 (or 3 or whatever) monitors for your video card to work? But that has 2 or more ports? - What about your 7.1 surround sound card - does it fail to make sound if you don't plug all 7.1 speakers in? - Just because a connector exists does not mean you have to use it for the device to work.


- And I do apologise in advance for being a sarcy biach.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by BazookaJoe

Do you all think you need to have 2 (or 3 or whatever) monitors for your video card to work? But that has 2 or more ports? - What about your 7.1 surround sound card - does it fail to make sound if you don't plug all 7.1 speakers in?

Yes

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by BazookaJoe

Ppl please - Stop being silly.

The cards work PERFECTLY FINE IF YOU DO NOT CONNECT THE POWER CONNECTOR

I Have a Gigabyte card with a power connector and it is NOT ESSENTIAL TO PLUG IT IN

It is just an option for ppl who expect to run self powered devices such as external Blu-Ray writers and such that they KNOW will permanently draw lots of power, so that they don't HAVE to put that load on their motherboard BUS, that may already have enough work to do, and hell, if you HAVE a spare connector WHY THE FUNK NOT USE IT? Apart from for the sheer sake of being an otherwise ass-hat for attention.. And if you don't have one then that's fine too

THE CARD CAN, AND DOES WORK PERFECTLY FINE WITHOUT THE POWER CONNECTED (Well at least my Gigabyte one does)

Do you all think you need to have 2 (or 3 or whatever) monitors for your video card to work? But that has 2 or more ports? - What about your 7.1 surround sound card - does it fail to make sound if you don't plug all 7.1 speakers in? - Just because a connector exists does not mean you have to use it for the device to work.


- And I do apologise in advance for being a sarcy biach.

generally anything with power connectors (motherboards, video cards, hard drives, DVD drives, etc etc) tends to get unhappy without a power connector. so yes, we assumed it needed it.

since its not neccesary, AWESOME.

[pantherx12]

Anyone think it would of made sense drawing power from ye-olde usb 2.0 mobo headers?

Having it molex means more PSU wire clutter D:

Although only really a concern for specific people apprently seeing as it doesn't need it., cheers Bazooka!

[Jizzler]

^ Nope. I would have still passed it up.

< This ass-hat is vain.

[WarEagleAU]

nice but extra power?

[PVTCaboose1337]

I have never had USB hubs work without expansion (moar power). Example: My G15 moves at slow USB 1.0 speeds cause it does not get enough power from USB 2.0 slots.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

I have never had USB hubs work without expansion (moar power). Example: My G15 moves at slow USB 1.0 speeds cause it does not get enough power from USB 2.0 slots.

i've had hubs work without it, they run everything fine but 2.5" HDD enclosures.

[BazookaJoe]

Originally Posted by Mussels

i've had hubs work without it, they run everything fine but 2.5" HDD enclosures.

I've had endless troubles with external 2.5" enclosures across a number of different brands of enclosures and PC's. Going to be interesting to see how that works now with USB3, as in will it be any better...

Certainly the Storage Capacity vs Physical Size vs Speed equation is looking very good with 2.5" drives on USB3.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by BazookaJoe

I've had endless troubles with external 2.5" enclosures across a number of different brands of enclosures and PC's. Going to be interesting to see how that works now with USB3, as in will it be any better...

Certainly the Storage Capacity vs Physical Size vs Speed equation is looking very good with 2.5" drives on USB3.

3.0 has more power behind it, so the 2.5" drivse that exist now should work fine.

while its possible someone may design drives to work on 3.0 power specs, breaking 2.0 compatibility isnt something i expect to see happen.