quick USB (thru PCI card) question

[rh71]

http://www.compusb.com/usbcards.html

Do these actually transfer at USB rates or are they just adapters for those who don't have existing USB ports on their machines? Thanks.

[otheos]

These are proper USB controllers and transfer a full MB (or less) per second. If you're after one, and can afford the extra cost, go for the USB2.0 ones, or go for firewire if you haven't got the hardware yet.

[daveleau]

Agreed, go for USB 2 (it is backward compatible) or Firewire if you can spare the extra $$. The big problem is the low bandwith with USB 1.1. It is only 12Mbps. USB 2 is around 20 times faster (can't remember the specs right off). Firewire is nice too of course. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

The PCI add-in cards support the max bandwith for the USB1.1 cards. Not sure about 2.0 or firewire. I don't know enough about PCI limits to know if it can transfer all firewire/ USB 2 has to offer.

[RobRich]

32 bit PCI = 133 MB/s

[rh71]

The USB 2.0 PCI cards I linked to... I would need a USB 2.0 compliant device to use it right? It's for an Intel MP3 player.

[otheos]

USB2.0 is backwards compatible so you can connect your USB1.1 Mp3 player (max speed around 1MB/s) and in the future any USB2.0 device you may buy.

[sharder8]

I'm only familiar with two of the brands of USB/PCI Adapters, Belkin and D-Link.

The Belkin uses Opti chipset w/Opti drivers and was V-E-R-Y unstable in my computer. After searching the web, I found out this is a known problem between some machines running Windows and Opti.

I replaced the Belkin with D-Link and everything has run smooth since.

Harder

[rh71]

Thanks for the info guys. I notice the USB 2.0 PCI cards go for around $20. Are the original USB (PCI slot) cards much cheaper? Where can I buy them? Any particular online vendor or a local BestBuy/CompUSA/etc.