Resolved Recommendation for USB Root hubs.

I believe that the USB Root Hub (8 ports) and (4 ports) if connected properly can boost the speed of my attachments. Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller -293A. My computer at present has 6 USB2 fitted and a card plugged into motherboard with four USB3.
A caption was sent showing : The hubs shown in bold type have free ports that can support the HI-SPEED USB device. Your Generic USB Hub can perform faster if it is plugged into hi-speed hub. Can anyone enlighten me what requires to be done to achieve this?

 

USB 1.0 is "Full Speed "
USB 2.0 is "Hi-Speed USB "
USB 3.0 is "SuperSpeed "

 

Hi BobbyScot, Your System details would help! If your motherboard is not designed for USB3 - your best speed will be USB2 as the enhanced host controller indicates.
Please take the time to fill in your System Details. Neil.

 

Hello retiredlearner, my computer is a Compac PresarioCQ5115uk, VC913AA.
Motherboard is not designed for USB3 but USB2. I have installed a VIA USB3 HUB card. This card appears to not recognize the 3 USB2 hard drives and 1 USB3 hard drive. The manufacturer of the USB3 Hub maintain that their card is able to make available USB3 usage on any make of computer.

 

Nope! Your attached devices can only go as fast as their own interface allows, and that in turn, can be restricted further is the interface is less capable.

Right.

It is important to understand the maximum speed achievable is only as fast as the slowest link. So if you connect a 3.0 device into a USB2.0 port, you are limited to 2.0 speeds. If you connect a USB 1.0 device into a USB2.0 or USB3.0 hub, you will still only achieve 1.0 speeds.

If your Ferrari can do 180MPH but the [strictly enforced] speed limit is 60MPH, then your Ferrari is going to max out at 60MPH, just like the little minivan next to you.

Therefore, if you want USB3.0 speeds using USB3.0 devices and your motherboard does not support USB3.0, you are forced to use a USB 3.0 expansion card in a spare PCIe slot.

BUT, understand a hub will distribute available bandwidth to the connected devices, which then must share that bandwidth - thus each connected device will have less than the maximum bandwidth than if connected alone to a dedicated port.

 

Bill, am I correct to think that the makers of the of the expansion card are not entirely true to say all USB connectors on the expannsion card are not capable to deliver USB3 but a quarter on a four type card. To achieve USB3 on card only one connector should be used?

 

If you have a garden hose that can deliver 40 gallons per minute and you connect a 4-way splitter supplying 4 hoses, are you going to get 160 gallons per minute out of all hoses? Or just 10 per hose for 40 total?

So it sounds like to me the card makers were being honest.

Without researching - I suspect much depends on the design and intelligence (and $$$) of the card. A "smart" card may sense only one device connected and deliver maximum bandwidth to that single device, 1/2 each to 2 cards, and 1/4 to 4 cards. A not-so-smart card may divide and reserve 1/4 of the bandwidth for each of the 4 ports, even if only one device is connected. But in any case, the maximum and total bandwidth possible will only be the maximum the least capable device (link in the chain) supports.

 

Thank you to all who answered.

 

You're welcome BobbyScot. I recently had a fry up with my old M/B and if you look at my System Details you'll see that I had to bite the bullet and upgrade.
All my USB ports are 3.0 and it's not a fantastic improvement over 2.0.

Stick with your USB2.0 until you change your comp. Cheers Neil.

 

The only time you would see any improvement is if you upgrade both the interface and the connected device to 3.0.

If upgrading to 3.0 throughout (that is, all interfaces and connected devices), in theory, 3.0 is more than 10 times faster than 2.0. But again, any 2.0 link in the chain will slow everything down to 2.0 speeds. Plus, when it comes to external drives, there is a SATA to USB conversion process that takes up a bunch of time (relatively speaking) too. So while 3.0 is faster than SATA on paper, connecting via eSATA may be a better option for external drives.

 

Here, USB 3.0 is over 5.5 times faster than USB 2.0.

I used a SanDisk Extreme 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive and HD Tune 2.55 to compare the speed difference.

When the SanDisk is plugged into a USB 2.0 port it averages *31.4 MB/sec.

When the SanDisk is plugged into a USB 3.0 port is averages 175.3 MB/sec.​

(Screenshots of the test results are attached to this post: http://www.windowsbbs.com/pc-hardware/103558-installing-usb3-card.html#post594611).

 

I think SpywareDr's example perfectly illustrates how theory and real world rarely jive. As I noted above, "in theory" (which is always "under ideal conditions ") USB 3.0 is a little over 10 times faster than USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is capable of 5Gbps (gigabits per second) speeds vs 480Mbps (.48Gbps) for USB 2.0.

Still, 5 times faster in a real world scenario is significant if using external storage devices regularly.

Just an FYI to those thinking about building a new computer or upgrading their cases - there are still lots of cases on the market that do NOT support USB 3.0 to the front panel - only 2.0. So do your homework to make sure any new case has 3.0 support if you need it in front. Of course any case will do if you only need USB 3.0 support via the back as those are provided by the motherboard via the rear panel I/O area, or via expansion slots. You can always use an external hub.