Plug powered USB hub and all USBs into 1 USB on motherboard? (omitting other F-USB jacks on mobo).

[blahcomp222]

Windows 8.1
16 BG RAM (2 sticks vengeance ddr3)
Intel i7-4790K (Not overclocked and I won't be)
Motherboard GIGABYTE Z97-HD3 LGA 1150 rev 2.0
GeForce GTX 1050ti not overclocked
PSU: EVGA supernova 650 Watt G2 80 plus Gold.
case: rosewill line glow mid tower atx.


my PC case's front panel USBs are faulty, they caused restarts.
I air cleaned the circuit board in the front bezel and checked wires and everything looked ok, but is faulty, so I unplugged the front USB hub from the motherboard (the USB 3.0 jack that connects to motherboard and two 2.0 F-Case USB connectors to motherboard) and then moved my front USBs (keyboard, mouse, audio interface) all into the back USBs direct to motherboard. It hasn't restarted for months since I've done this.


I want more USBs and will get a powered hub. Is it ok if I connect a powered hub into 1 back motherboard USB and run all USBs through that, or will it lag or something and I should also use the jack on the motherboard which is meant for front-case USBs or an expansion USB card?

Things I will plug into the hub are printer, audio interface, SD card reader, not too much stuff, and the keyboard and mouse.

I'm referring to the blue USB 3.0 connector shown in the second picture
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2845990/angle-female-header-usb.html
Mine was using that blue jack for the front case USB 3.0 and also two more jack for F-USB 2.0. I disconnected all them because of the restarting problem.
I need a powered Hub regardless so I figure, even though it's nice to have quick front USB access, it's a waste of money if I don't NEED to also use that F-USB ports on the motherboard.

 

[USAFRet]

I want more USBs and will get a powered hub. Is it ok if I connect a powered hub into 1 back motherboard USB and run all USBs through that,

Yes, that is fine.
All those uses are low impact, minimal traffic.

 

[blahcomp222]

thank you,
so it's the same drain on the system and no problem if I plug EVERYTHING through just 1 usb port on the back of the PC case (direct to motherboard) ,but of course WITH using a powered hub?

 

[blahcomp222]

bump, sorry don't want it to get lost in sea of threads.
The motherboard doesn't care (just as safe) if all usb devices are routed through a powered hub into just 1 motherboard USB port? Or is it safer to also plug back in the blue F_USB 3.0 (and/or the F_USB 2.0) jacks and use those ports on the motherboard also which would likely mean also buying a new front dash USB panel, which I don't want to do.


There are also PCI USB card which I don't think need to plug into that F_USB mobo port.
But the same question, does it even matter, is it safer to span the USB devices across the F_USB jacks and the direct-to-motherboard-back-of-PC USBs?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, it will work fine.
I have a 12 port powered USB hub. Connects to a single USB port on the back of the PC.
This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HL7Z46K

At various times I have combinations of several things connected.
SD card, microSD card, phone and/or tablet for moving data, 3D printer, GPS for updating maps, etc, etc, etc.

Now..if you were trying to connect several USB SSD drives, and expecting each to have full performance through the hub and a single USB port..no. That won't happen.

But for the devices you listed? No problem.

 

[blahcomp222]

"if you were trying to connect several USB SSD drives, and expecting each to have full performance through the hub and a single USB port..no. That won't happen.

But for the devices you listed? No problem. "


So it DOES matter?
I meant in general and not totally in reference to the devices I plan to connect USB which seem low-power. I dunno what else I might end up connecting. I guess if they're all on a powered Hub which has enough power per port, then the power thing is taken care of obviously, but data transfer could become a tad slower if I had a bunch of 'stuff' all to one USB port?.
Not talking external drive though, that I'm not worried about, but I just don't know what I might end up connecting, maybe a music 4-way mixer, or a better audio interface, or a usb synthesizer (but powered).

 

[USAFRet]

It would matter in the case of a few SSD's trying to simultaneously push their data through a single USB port.
That single port becomes the choke point.

But then, only if you were trying to move data from several of them at the same time.

 

[Paperdoc]

There are two points I'll make about "overloading" a USB port.

First is electrical power supplied to the devices plugged into the USB Hub, and on that point there are three "sub-points". One is the exact meaning of "Powered Hub". Do NOT get a "bus-powered" Hub - those things use ONLY the power from the host USB port with its 0.9 A limit. Be sure to get a Hub that comes with its own power supply "brick" or "wall wart". And last of the three, check the actual capacity of that power supply. A USB3 port is supposed to be able to supply up to 0.9 A, and that applies to EACH of the Hub's ports. So if you have a 7-port USB3 Hub, ideally it needs a power supply module able to deliver to the Hub 6.3 A, or a bit more. IF the Hub has what are often promoted as "charging ports" able to deliver even more than 0.9 A for changing, then the power needs are higher than that. But if you look at the systems sold, very often the power supply modules included have less than the max capacity because it's cheaper and the makers expect that your will NOT need full max power on ALL the hub's ports simultaneously. Now, that may well apply to you, OP, considering what you've outlined. The other item on power supply modules specs is confusion. The power output from the hub's ports is at 5 VDC, to a max of 0.9 A each port - that's 4.5W per port, or 31.5 W total for 7 ports as an example. But often the Power Supply module is delivering 12 VDC to the Hub, and the Hub is doing a conversion, so the Amps rating of the power module can cause confusion. Look more at the WATTS rating of the power module, and you want (ideally) a max Watts (at whatever voltage it puts out) slightly more than that 4.5 W per port.

The other type of "overloading" is data throughput. A USB3 port can handle data MUCH faster than the older USB2 ports, and so can a proper USB3 hub, of course. That is, IF you ensure that you use a USB3 port on the host machine AND use a USB3 cable between the host and the Hub AND that you also use USB3 cables between the Hub and each connected device (well, at least for each device that is itself USB3 capable). That way you have the potential to have all of those devices operate at USB3 speeds. But the "bottleneck" in the system is that single link from Hub to host port - ALL of the connected devices' data must go through that channel subject to the USB3 data transfer rate limit. Now, IF you are NOT using all those devices simultaneously, and / or if many of your devices do NOT call for really fast data transfers (e.g., mouse and keyboard are low-rate devices), this will not really bother you. Just be aware that several high-speed devices (as USAFRet reminded, an SSD in an external enclosure) may be slowed slightly if you try to use them all at once.