Add USB 3.0 to desktop

[greebal]

I have noticed this,

Amazon.com: HooToo® HT-CR001 PCI-E to USB 3.0 Internal Combo - 3 Ports USB 3.0 Hub + 6 Slots All-In-One Card Reader. Can read:M2/MS Micro,High-Speed CF(UDMA),UHS-I,XD,SD/SDHC/SDXC/MiniSD/MMC/RS-MMS,T-Flash/Micro SD,CF/MD,MS Card: Computers & Accessor

would it be compatible for my desktop?

This is my 4 year old motherboard,

ASRock > ALiveNF7G-GLAN

any advice appreciated.

Note
Disregard my system specs as they are for the laptop.

 

[DocBrown]

If the PCI-E slot on the MB is not in use for anything else presently. I think it should work.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

It's working just fine with my ASUS P9X79 WS. The only major problem I had with installing it was getting a four pin Molex connector from the PSU to go into the socket on the back of the reader. The socket's male pins are slightly misaligned and are a bit on the fat side with blunt ends that do nothing to help guide them into the female pins of the connector. I had the divil's own time getting the darned thing plugged in due to the tight quarters in my case.

A minor problem is it seems to be sensitive to the brand class of SD card that is used with it (SDs are the only cards I use right now). It recognizes Kingston 8GB Class 10 cards almost immediately but an 8GB Class 10 Muskin takes up to nine seconds before it pops up on screen. Class 4 8GB SanDisk cards take 13 seconds to show up. My external USB 2.0 reader would read all my cards almost instantly but read and writes between the card and the computer were much slower. Besides faster read and writes, the internal reader has the huge advantage of not sticking out two inches from the front of my computer just begging for me to walk by and knock it off, ruining it and, possibly, the socket on the front of my computer. I also don't have to keep track of the external reader anymore.

Of course, getting three USB 3.0 ports on the front panel on a case that doesn't already have it is also huge.

Compatiblity may vary from board to board. The only way to know for sure is to try it out. Just make sure you do within the vendor's return envelope so if you do have a problem, you can return it for refund). It has received good reviews on Amazon (you can see mine there under Jeannie) and on NewEgg. The frequent complaint about the HOOTOO not being compatible with MOBOs with onboard USB 3.0 won't apply on your MOBO and probably wouldn't have applied anyway (it didn't in the case of my MOBO which does have onboard USB 3.0).

 

[greebal]

Lady Fitzgerald & DocBrown

Many thanks for your replies, very informative.
I have to say that I found out about this hardware by a post by LF on another site (which has now become a circus).

 

[fireberd]

One thing, you will need USB 3.0 devices to get the USB 3.0 speed. If you plug a USB 2.0 device into the USB 3.0 port it will still only run at USB 2.0 speed.

 

[greebal]

Thanks fireberd,
I understand that.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Lady Fitzgerald & DocBrown

Many thanks for your replies, very informative.
I have to say that I found out about this hardware by a post by LF on another site (which has now become a circus).

Hmm, which site?

 

[greebal]

The new HTG
I used to enjoy reading it, but not now.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The new HTG
I used to enjoy reading it, but not now.

Yeah, I've bailed from there, too. I don't like the direction Lowell wants the site to take (not to mention he has a few attitude issues), the UI is cartoonish looking and difficult to navigate, and I wasn't too crazy about some of the people the new site has attracted.

 

[COMPUTIAC]

The new HTG
I used to enjoy reading it, but not now.

Yeah, I've bailed from there, too. I don't like the direction Lowell wants the site to take (not to mention he has a few attitude issues), the UI is cartoonish looking and difficult to navigate, and I wasn't too crazy about some of the people the new site has attracted.

I also do not like the new HTG, dropped it soon after the change. The same thing with Smartest Computing, to me it turned into more of a social gathering than computer site.