I only have pci slots - can I get USB 3.0 on my PC

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

tracker45

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2012
409
0
18,790
I only have pci slots and one slot for the graphics card on my motherboard


I want to connect a usb 3.0 device to it.


What cables/adapters would work ?

 

Aha, PCI only cards are more expensive around $50bucks and I wouldn't worry to much about the difference in bus speeds. Most USB devices don't ever reach their theoretical speed limits let alone the speed of the bus. Just don't expect to plug in a high performance USB3 SSD drive and get max performance out of it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158275&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Add-On+Cards-_-N82E16815158275&gclid=CM_N69zMn7UCFU-mPAodmhoADg
 
so what performance is usb 2.0 ?

and hat performance is usb 3.0 when on a PCI card ?


is the difference worth it, and what is the difference ?
 
Yes there's a noticeable difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, for eg if you have a flash memory connected to USB 2.0, read and write speed may not exceed 10 MB/s, where USB 3.0 speed will be in the range of 90-100 MB/s or faster depending on the drive.
Check if you have a PCIE X1 slot, most old mobos have PCIE X1 slots, if you don't have then you need a new board.
 
Given that card has 2 usb 3.0 ports, I'd guess the performance at 1 Gbit/s compared to about 0.5 Gbit/s with a usb 2.0 port.

To get the full 5 Gbit/s you'd need pci-express (or onboard usb3, which I think technically uses the pci express bus)
 
this maybe very far off but what are your specs?

i am wondering if you have an AMD rig that you may be able to get a motherboard with USB 3 for slightly more than the $50 it will cost you for a PCI card . . .
 
That Biostar one has no onboard usb3, but at least it has a pci-express x1 slot. However, what video card do you have? if it takes up two slots, you won't be able to put a usb3.0 board in that x1 slot. I'm not familiar with what changes actually force an os reinstall, but I think you'll at least need to re-activate with *any* motherboard change.
 

if you can, "go for broke" and get the best you can. that athlon x4 is still a decent enough chip and when you can upgrade, getting a good board will allow you to get any AMD cpu.

now you *may* be able to contact M$ and tell them you needed to get another motherboard, they *might* help you re-activate windows at no additional cost. i cannot tell you it is a sure thing but it does happen.


good luck :)
 
Does reinstalling my Os mean I lose my personal data and have to reinstll my programs, games, put my files back on the computer etc.

After I have backed it all up ?
 
you have a good chance that the OS would just need the motherboard/chipset drivers. so you won't need to re-install anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom