Windows 7: PCI-E Card USB 3 Upgrade to older motherboard and Win 7 Ult X86

Hi Guys

The debate about the processor and the motherboard has been worn out on the net. The argument is, a PCI-E USb3.0 expansion card carries all that is needed for USB3 to work. I got a headache reading up on it in various places. The thought occured to me about whether it would work or not. The consensus of opinion on the web is 'Yes' it will work. Just don't expect 5Gbs. Fair enough, with my set up I was lookinf for x2 maybe x3 if I'm lucky.

Now here's the result of the HD Tune and it surprised me.

Transfer Rate USB 2.0 USB 3.0
Min 28.2Mbs 68.9 Mbs
Max 28.9Mbs 72.3Mbs
Ave 28.7Mbs 72.3Mbs

Access Time 0.6Mbs 0.4Mbs

Burst Rate 22.5 Mbs 51.8Mbs

CPU Useage 14.4% 18%

These results seem to suggest it's working and at nearly x3 speed, if I'm interpreting the results right. If that's the case, it's now clear as mud to me. If it is working, then why is it, timing file transfers in both direction give the same result as USB 2? That was one of the reasons I wanted the write option available in Ver 5.(See attached .jpeg). I wanted to check the drive seperately reading and writing files. So, can you guy's throw some light on this for me? Cheers and hope you're having a good weekend. Me, I'm off to the pub for a quiz and a couple of ciders.

Hi guys

Sorry the layout of the results seems to have altered when I posted. I'm sure you can get it though. Just didn't want you to think I was being lazy and not presenting my findings properly.

thanks for the info. was just curious.

Any time you transfer files you are limited by a number of things. Most importantly is the write speed of the drive you are transfering to. If you can transfer 100 MB/s of info but your receiving hard drive can only write at 50 MB/s then your max speed is 50MB/s, because that is as fast as the receiving drive can take info. a little oversimplified, but it works. You are also limited by several other factors. But the times you quoted are about right for USB 3.0. My experience is 60-70Mb is about the most you will get.

Btw. - if I have a choice, i would rather take an eSata PCI-e than a USB3 - of course with the external disk or enclosure to match it. On one system I have both USB3 and eSata and when comparing the speeds, the eSata is faster. There seems to be quite some overhead with USB3.

So its just not my imagination. I have both eSATA and USB 3 and have come to the same conclusion in regard to speed. Also, you have the advantage of being able to boot a disk with another OS installed on it from an eSATA HDD dock, or enclosure.

Having read Essenbe's last post, I really hadn't taken into account the speed of my hard drives and only looked at the USB drive and port. I guess I need to test the speeds of those and add them to the mix. A basic mistake and silly oversight when I think about it. I'll see what comes back on those tests and I have a sneaky feeling that they will explain why I get the USB3 working using HD Tune yet get USB2 speeds when using in reality. If that's right, then I'll get the web cam ordered that started all this. Then I'll have to find something else to pester you folks with.

You have to have a USB 3.0 enabled device and a USB 3.0 cable to get USB 3.0 speeds. A USB 2.0 device will still work, but at only USB 2.0 speeds. But, WHS was right. I have both USB 3.0 and esata and esata is always much faster.

Hi folks. It appears the HD on the computer was holding the USB3.0 back when it came to transfering files from the memory stick to computer and vice versus. A lesson to be learned here. It doesn't matter how fast your port is if the drives at both ends can't match it. you can only be as fast as the slower drive. It's been an interesting learning curve with this thread and I thank you all for your input. I like the HD Tune and if they get back to me with an answer to my email I'll probably buy the newer version. Has anyone got any final thoughts on this thread or any thing else to say on the subject? If not I'll mark it as solved and look forward to chatting with you all on a future topic.

LOL, what did you expect - did you think the trailer runs faster than the car that pulls it.