USB 3.1 Spec Approved, Brings 10Gbps Speeds

[Dude]

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced on Wednesday (pdf) that the USB 3.1 specification is complete and will raise the SuperSpeed USB transfer rate up to 10 Gbps. The current USB 3.0 spec in use has a limit of 5 Gbps, thus the latest release not only doubles what's available now on installed USB 3.0 ports, but makes SuperSpeed USB more competitive with Intel's Thunderbolt technology.

Source

 

[crankypenguin]

This is great news, but sadly how long will it take for new motherboards to catch up They are still selling USB2 only mobos.....how long has USB3 been around now?

 

[Michael21]

USB3.0 has been around since 2008, and USB3.1 will most likely come in broadwell motherboards as mobo companies have to sell off their older motherboards as well. I hope that usb3.1 is included in some haswell-e mobos, which are coming out later this year (they are NOT ivy bridge-e processors)

 

[FuturDreamz]

is it backward compatible with existing controllers? I doubt it.

 

[jimbo45]

This is great news, but sadly how long will it take for new motherboards to catch up They are still selling USB2 only mobos.....how long has USB3 been around now?

Hi there
For ONCE some new technology is going to deliver unlike the stupid things like 300 GB optical drives being proposed -- but MOBOS as the other poster says still rarely have USB3 slots and the external PCI-E USB 3 cards generally available s are worse than useless. You are actually not much worse off just plugging your USB 3 device into a USB 2 slot --it will still perform a little faster than a standard USB 2 device anyway - than using one of those cards on a standard MOBO as the PCI bus isn't fast enough for USB 3 anyway.

Also a LAPTOP having more than 1 USB 3 slot these days is still as rare as Hens' teeth --a lot of cheaper ones being sold still don't have ANY at all.

I'm all in favour of these -- hopefully external HDD's will have this capability too.

Faster device transfer that works is what a LOT of people want and need -- also think too with larger HDD's - more backups and you want this to be performed also within a reasonable time.

Now how about it while we are at it -- DECENT WI FI adapters -- it's SILLY having 50 - 100 mbs broadband speed and then still being stuck with a SLOW Wi-Fi adapter -- and not everybody can use or wants to use those "electric Ring main" type of devices either. Wi-fi technology doesn't seem to have advanced very far since its introduction -- I think I'd prefer emphasis on THIS rather than ridiculously silly usb speeds but I'll take the USB 3.1 standard.

(Remember a few years ago when people were still talking about READ CD's at 150X - 200X standard !! -- these were so stupid that if one was slightly damaged and came flying out of the machine it could literally SLICE your neck off)

Maybe a good story here :"Murdered by a PC" !!..

Cheers
jimbo

 

[sygnus21]

This is great news, but sadly how long will it take for new motherboards to catch up They are still selling USB2 only mobos.....how long has USB3 been around now?

Not sure what motherboards you're buying but most motherboards today do come with USB 3.0. And for the record, when I bought my Gigabyte board (GA-X58A-UD5) back in 2010, it too had USB 3.0. In fact, 2

Also a LAPTOP having more than 1 USB 3 slot these days is still as rare as Hens' teeth --a lot of cheaper ones being sold still don't have ANY at all.

The (my) Asus Zenbook Prime 13.3 inch laptop has two USB 3.0 ports. Yay Asus!

You might also note that Samsung too has laptops with USB 3.0 ports as well. I know because I was seriously considering a Samsung Series 9 notebook. However they come with one vs. two for ASUS.

Anyway I don't see this going mainstream (seeing lots of USB 3.1 devices) until at minimum late 2014. Though I'd imagine you'll see a few add-on cards first, then incorporation into motherboards.

 

[Golden]

What would really be nice is if Microsoft actually provided native USB3/3.1 drivers....

 

[sygnus21]

What would really be nice is if Microsoft actually provided native USB3/3.1 drivers....

They may.... once the tech becomes mainstream. Until then, it's just guesswork.

 

[Golden]

USB3.0 has been around for a few years now.......but still no native drivers

 

[lehnerus2000]

USB3.0 has been around for a few years now.......but still no native drivers

Isn't that supposed to be one of the "big" improvements in W8?

If MS wasn't busy sulking, they would have released them for W7 by now.

 

[jimbo45]

USB3.0 has been around for a few years now.......but still no native drivers

Hi there
not sure what you mean by "No Native drivers". - Windows 8 (and 8.1) recognizes USB3 devices right from install -- and the speeds are obviously faster than USB2 even when a USB3 hub is attached.

So I'm confused here as to exactly what you are wanting Ms to provide here.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Imrankhan]

I searched a week for Renesas USB 3.0 support driver With Windows 8. All my USB ports just supplied power and no device got recognised, even USB Mouse.No response when you connect any device. But they simply powered my cooling Pad.
This is going to be same case for fellows who upgrade to USB 3.1 at earliest.

And also trying to using USB 3.1 as Boot device/Before windows boot, gonna make them mad.

 

[jimbo45]

I searched a week for Renesas USB 3.0 support driver With Windows 8. All my USB ports just supplied power and no device got recognised, even USB Mouse.No response when you connect any device. But they simply powered my cooling Pad.
This is going to be same case for fellows who upgrade to USB 3.1 at earliest.

And also trying to using USB 3.1 as Boot device/Before windows boot, gonna make them mad.

Hi there
1) Where on EARTH have you FOUND a USB 3.1 disk drive --- they won't be available for a while yet so you really can't expect Ms to have drivers ready before the hardware has even been seen in THE LABS !!!. Until Bus speeds on the computer MOBOS are also changed you'll never get 3.1 USB speed on your machine even if you FIND a USB 3.1 HDD.

2) Are you telling me that your USB mouse isn't recognized -- USB devices have been standard as far back as Windows 98 I believe and certainly Windows 2000. No drivers etc needed. Not sure what a Renesas USB driver is -- if you decide to use very strange and rare hardware then you will certainly get problems -- mainstream USB devices should just work -- even USB3 ones. I'm running about 6 different machines at the moment and I've never had a problem with any USB device.

The only thing that sometimes happens (and that's because I'm often switching HDD's between computers) is that the HDD isn't shown in Windows -- but going into Disk manager the disk is visible but not assigned a letter. Assign it a letter and it all works.

Did you also look in the BIOS to see if USB devices are supported -- your Mouse / keyboard should be shown in the BIOS.

Have you installed the CHIPSET drivers for your computer. Also have a look at the device manager and see if any USB hardware is recognized.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Golden]

USB3.0 has been around for a few years now.......but still no native drivers

Hi there
not sure what you mean by "No Native drivers". - Windows 8 (and 8.1) recognizes USB3 devices right from install -- and the speeds are obviously faster than USB2 even when a USB3 hub is attached.

So I'm confused here as to exactly what you are wanting Ms to provide here.

Cheers
jimbo

Windows 7 forum means I'm obviously refering to Windows 7.....there are no native USB3.0 drivers for Windows 7.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
I suppose it means on what you consider "Native". For Windows 7 the Intel chipset drivers have a USB3 driver that works just fine.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=21129

Now most people usually install the chipset driver or it's done via windows update in some cases - so I suppose the meaning "Native driver" is a bit vague. For instance when installing Windows 7 it found and loaded drivers for an HP printer without me having to look for a separate download.

Anyway those INTEL ones work if you have the relevant hardware which is quite common.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[lehnerus2000]

For instance when installing Windows 7 it found and loaded drivers for an HP printer without me having to look for a separate download.

That is totally random though.

W7 won't install drivers for my USB DTV dongle, even though it knows what the device is.
It is named and the properties are listed in the Device Manager.

However, if I install an old driver for it, Windows Update will then be able to locate the newer version.

 

[Golden]

For Windows 7 the Intel chipset drivers have a USB3 driver that works just fine

So does Etron and Renesas....but these are 3rd party vendors, as is Intel. Native means native Jimbo....as in Microsoft's own driver.

 

[jimbo45]

For Windows 7 the Intel chipset drivers have a USB3 driver that works just fine

So does Etron and Renesas....but these are 3rd party vendors, as is Intel. Native means native Jimbo....as in Microsoft's own driver.

Hi there.

OK but then so long as a "generic" driver works from somewhere that should be fine . However it's unreasonable to expect Ms to build in support for every possible hardware device out there - especially if manufacturers deviate slightly from "published specs".

Ms isn't a hardware company so it's unreasonable for them to gather all possible hardware drivers. They do get together with larger manufacturers such as Epson / HP etc so they can incorporate the most common devices into the base windows install.

Actually that's one of Windows greatest strengths is the fact that it's possible to connect a HUGE variety of hardware without (on the whole) too much hassle.

The main problem comes when manufacturers "Badge" their product with one name but source cheaper components from elsewhere so the "Official" software from the site won't always work.

Sony is a HUGE sinner in this type of game --for instance if you look say at the model of your laptop it might say VPCEH150E (That's the VAIO Laptop I'm currently testing with) but when you log on to the Sony site you'll find all sorts of extra letters after the VPCEH105E such as /B / K etc etc and the drivers for each can be quite different --for example the laptop I'm using actually has the INTEL HD graphics but other VPCEH150E models have the NVIDIA set -- total confusion all round. !!!

I don't think it though in general for MOBO's that this should be an issue though because I'm sure if you buy a recent motherboard with USB 3 ports on board the driver utilities disk that comes with these boards will have all the necessary drivers and laptops will already have the relevant hardware installed and working.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Golden]

Actually that's one of Windows greatest strengths is the fact that it's possible to connect a HUGE variety of hardware without (on the whole) too much hassle.

Agree, thats why its just a great pity they don't have their own USB3 drivers....it would make life so much easier when installing from USB. I can't tell you how many times we have had to troubleshoot installations only to find out that OP's are attempting installation off USB3.0 ports, whose drivers do not become functional until after Windows 7 boots.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Pfft, want to see benchmarks. With its ridiculous overhead this may not even translate in a 150% transfer speed improvement.