USB 3 PCI Adapters

Hi - I have a 2009 custom built system, essential specs:

W7 x64 Home Premium
Motherboard Gigabyte UD3R-SLI 6GB RAm
Intel i7 920 X58
2 available "PCI" slots

I'm not that great with the technicalities of computer "innards" these days - I haven't kept up for the past few years - so forgive me if the answers to these questions seem obvious to the enlightened!

I was recently given a USB 3 Samsung S2 640GB portable HDD, and figured I might as well add USB 3 capability to my system to take advantage of its potential speed. A bit of googling eventually referred me to the GA-USB 3 (Gigabyte) adapter, which I hope/assume would work with what I have, but I want to be sure. To establish that, my questions are:

Given my system, what type of USB 3 adapter do I need to be looking for? I have no idea if my PCI slots are PCIE or not, nor how to find out - various spec utilities just say "PCI". Can I assume that the slots are PCIE? If not ...

On the basis of the above, can I slot in a USB 3 PCIE adapter - was thinking of the GA-USB 3 (Gigabyte) but am wary of buying the wrong thing.

Any suggestions as to my best path to upgrade?

All gently given advice gratefully anticipated.

Robin
(Blonde, female, senior citizen!)






Any gently given advice geatly appreciated.

No PCI slots are not PCI-E slots, and a PCI-E card will not work in one. For that USB card and looking at your motherboard,

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1366 - GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI (rev. 1.0)

you would put it in either of the two PCI-E 1x slots, or it can go in eithe the 4x or other 16x slot.

stormy13 said:

No PCI slots are not PCI-E slots, and a PCI-E card will not work in one. For that USB card and looking at your motherboard,

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1366 - GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI (rev. 1.0)

you would put it in either of the two PCI-E 1x slots, or it can go in eithe the 4x or other 16x slot.

Thanks, Stormy. I realize PCI isn't PCIE, but I don't know what my slots are. I did check Gigabyte, which only confused me further as my mobo is identified only as a UD3R-SLI, not EX58-UD3R-SLI. My chipset is X58, is that what the EX58 means?? Other than the x16 PCIE graphics card slot, the PCIs are shown only as PCI, not PCIE and nothing about the "x" factor. That's why I am confused. Utilities consistently return only the specs below. From those, what, if anything, can I assume?

Would I be able to see this info on the board, I wonder. I suppose I should look ...

Thanks

Motherboard
Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Model UD3R-SLI
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model X58
Chipset Revision 12
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model 82801JR (ICH10R)
Southbridge Revision 00
System Temperature 31 °C
BIOS
Brand Award Software International, Inc.
Version F1
Date 01/23/2009
Voltage
CPU CORE 1.120 V
MEMORY CONTROLLER 1.520 V
+3.3V 3.360 V
+5V 5.080 V
+12V 2.368 V
-12V -12.224 V
+5V HIGH THRESHOLD 3.656 V
CMOS BATTERY 3.264 V
PCI Data
1. PCI Available
2. PCI Available

pooch said:

Hoods said:

Yes you are looking for a PCI device and it will fit into the PCI slots on your MB
I think this might help clear things up for you; Review of USB 3.0 GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 PCI Express Card GA-USB3.0

Hi Pooch - thanks for that. I had actually based my initial choice of potential card on that exact same review.

Since posting, I found and ran the CPU-Z utility which says my graphic interface is PCIE, so, can I safely assume the two free PCI slots on my mobo are PCIE as well? I would imagine so!

Thanks
Robin

Yes as per the diagram, this is for another Motherboard and in German but it should be clear

Thanks, again. It turns out these adapters have been discontinued and every store I have tried no longer has oone in stock. Any suggestions on another card I could get to suit my rig??

No idea on a recommendation but,

Newegg.com - Add-On Cards,usb 3.0 card

Lots to choose from.

Thanks.