Asus Reveals USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Front Panel Upgrade Kit

[kcarbotte]

Asus will soon be selling a USB 3.1 Gen 2 upgrade kit, which will mount into a 5.25-inch drive bay for two front panel ports, or installed in a PCI-e slot for rear facing ports, and offers 100W of charging power.

Asus Reveals USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Front Panel Upgrade Kit : Read more

 

[firefoxx04]

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

 

[jasonelmore]

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

 

[RedJaron]

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

 

[targetdrone]

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

How many computer cases come with front panel type-c ports?

 

[RedJaron]

How many computer cases come with front panel type-c ports?

Fair point. I'm not completely in love with type-C yet considering so few things are even available in it. And I do agree with firefoxx, considering this is using a whole 5.25" bay, I think it'd be worthwhile to get more than just two connectors. Throw in some card readers or maybe a HDD dock.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

 

[MrAOK]

from what i've seen, there are already a number of z170 boards that have no usb 3.1 and the h170 board may not have it either. Newegg currently lists 44 z170 motherboards and says only 28 have usb 3.1

 

[basroil]

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

 

[brisa117]

I think this will have alot more applications when things start to be powered by the type-c ports -- cell phones, laptops, cameras. No one wants to reach around to the back of a tower just to charge their phone on a 3.1 connection.

 

[jasonelmore]

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

 

[Crashman]

Perhaps this should have been titled "Asus offers to sell it's buyers the part ASRock gives them free"?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port. ASRock already includes an adapter for FREE in the Z170 Extreme6.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

The SATA ports are wasted, as mentioned in the ASRock Z170 Extreme6 article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html
These bay adapters have a single 2-lane PCIe 3.0 to 2-port USB 3.1 controller.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/I/516438/original/ASRock_Front-USB-31-Panel_ASM1142.jpg

 

[basroil]

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

SATA Express does NOT support SATA to PCIe upconversion, no more than the DisplayPort on your video card accepts HDMI. What most motherboards have is the ability to use a SATA Express connector as two SATA connectors, but the SATA Express PORT is not used, instead SATA ports are piped though the connector. The reverse however is impossible, as the SATA ports can only use SATA data rather than the PCIe that's necessary.


(DisplayPort+ specification is the same way, it lets your video card output HDMI/DVI signals directly though the DisplayPort connector, but the electrical and protocol characteristics are that of an HDMI signal)

 

[robisinho]

Perhaps this should have been titled "Asus offers to sell it's buyers the part ASRock gives them free"?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port. ASRock already includes an adapter for FREE in the Z170 Extreme6.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

The SATA ports are wasted, as mentioned in the ASRock Z170 Extreme6 article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html
These bay adapters have a single 2-lane PCIe 3.0 to 2-port USB 3.1 controller.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/I/516438/original/ASRock_Front-USB-31-Panel_ASM1142.jpg

Perhaps this should have been titled "Asus offers to sell it's buyers the part ASRock gives them free"?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port. ASRock already includes an adapter for FREE in the Z170 Extreme6.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

The SATA ports are wasted, as mentioned in the ASRock Z170 Extreme6 article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html
These bay adapters have a single 2-lane PCIe 3.0 to 2-port USB 3.1 controller.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/I/516438/original/ASRock_Front-USB-31-Panel_ASM1142.jpg

Perhaps this should have been titled "Asus offers to sell it's buyers the part ASRock gives them free"?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port. ASRock already includes an adapter for FREE in the Z170 Extreme6.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

The SATA ports are wasted, as mentioned in the ASRock Z170 Extreme6 article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html
These bay adapters have a single 2-lane PCIe 3.0 to 2-port USB 3.1 controller.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/I/516438/original/ASRock_Front-USB-31-Panel_ASM1142.jpg

Perhaps this should have been titled "Asus offers to sell it's buyers the part ASRock gives them free"?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Is there a USB limitation that prevents them from offering more ports? 5.25 inch pay is a bit big for just two USB ports.

4 USB slots is what I would expect or maybe some SD card slots.

The charging feature is cool. Some boards offer increased wattage to charge things quickly.

It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port. ASRock already includes an adapter for FREE in the Z170 Extreme6.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html

Anyone feeling this is a solution in search of a problem? The article says this requires a Z170 board and SATA Express. Well, how many Z170 boards don't already have USB 3.1 on them?

Plus why is it ONLY Z170? Z97 users also have SATA express and thus we should be able to use this solution as well.

Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

looks to be a bandwidth limitation.. also it has 2 regular sata ports to suggest it will work on z87 and z97 boards as well.

It doesn't have "2 regular sata", it has one SATA Express. Same physical connectors (plus a bit) but it will NOT work with regular sata ports because the underlying communication is PCIe. It might work with other boards that use SATA Express, but it might not.

sata express accepts two normal sata ports as well.. its backwards compatible.

The SATA ports are wasted, as mentioned in the ASRock Z170 Extreme6 article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z170-lga-1151-skylake-motherboard,4254-2.html
These bay adapters have a single 2-lane PCIe 3.0 to 2-port USB 3.1 controller.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/I/516438/original/ASRock_Front-USB-31-Panel_ASM1142.jpg

 

[robisinho]

tom's hardware needs to update their site .. I could get the quote feature to work with or without adblock, with or without disconnect .. loading or not loading unsafe scripts .. there were scripting errors even using a vanilla microsoft edge. the page takes forever to load because of their archealogically interesting implementation in javascript, and the bazillion ads, etc... anyway, moving on

> It has two ports going to two PCIe 3.0 lanes because the bandwidth of a single lane is similar to the bandwidth of a single port.

It's still not enough. looks like the same problem as with early 3.0 (and even later 3.0) connectors, doesnt it?

2 x pcie3 = 15.76gbps theoretical maximum throughput .. that's enough for 1, but not 2 usb 3.1 ports.

> Because Z97 doesn't have PCIe 3.0 on the SATA-E connector. Two PCI 2.0 lanes would give you two USB 3.0 "Type C" ports instead, at least from the bandwidth perspective.

2 x pcie2 = 7.88gbps — enough for 1 but not 2 usb 3.0 ports.

There's an implementation issue in pci mobos, seems like.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

tom's hardware needs to update their site ...

This is the reason tom's site is a mess. This is the guy who developed the disaster, and he's gone AWOL after he put an uncrackable password on the web admin account. http://i.imgur.com/Mfrl8rZ.gif

 

[Gurg]

This is a case manufacturers problem. There is no reason that they don't design their front i/o panels so that you can upgrade them when newer motherboard technology comes out. The HAF 912 that I have is still being sold with usb 2 ports. If Cooler Master had common designs of the i/o interfaces then they could sell you an upgrade kit hat would work with whatever usb tech your motherboard allowed. This would allow them to extend the product life cycles of their cases requiring fewer case model redesigns.

 

[JaredF]

What about x99 deluxe?

 

[therealduckofdeath]

This is a case manufacturers problem. There is no reason that they don't design their front i/o panels so that you can upgrade them when newer motherboard technology comes out. The HAF 912 that I have is still being sold with usb 2 ports. If Cooler Master had common designs of the i/o interfaces then they could sell you an upgrade kit hat would work with whatever usb tech your motherboard allowed. This would allow them to extend the product life cycles of their cases requiring fewer case model redesigns.

What are you talking about? This is an upgrade for the front panel. Having modular and proprietary panels is definitely not a good option. One for each material, each colour, each size, each manufacturer. Do you think any reseller would stock that? 😀

 

[gggplaya]

Can't they put an SD and microSD slot into this thing?

 

[Samer1970]

Ugly and too big.

Asus should added extra USB3.0 ports and a card reader of some kind to this product. or make it fit in 3.5 inch bay.

 

[RedJaron]

Looks like the reason for the size is because they're shoving a whole PCIe card in the bay. It makes some sense, they only have to manufacture one PCB and can sell it as both an AIC and a front bay expansion. However even with that card, there would still be more room for other readers. It would just need a few more cables running out of the box for the mboard headers.

 

[Crashman]

Looks like the reason for the size is because they're shoving a whole PCIe card in the bay. It makes some sense, they only have to manufacture one PCB and can sell it as both an AIC and a front bay expansion. However even with that card, there would still be more room for other readers. It would just need a few more cables running out of the box for the mboard headers.

They should have added eSATA. Not because eSATA is a big deal, but just because the ports are wasted. Or maybe ASRock should have added eSATA to it's adapter, since ASRock's can't be plugged into a slot.