First USB 3.0 product gets certified, floodgates get closer to breaking

Engadget ^ | September 21st, 2009 | Darren Murph

[SunkenCiv]

After waiting around for what feels like ages, USB 3.0 can now say it has its first certified product in NEC's xHCI host controller. We know this may not be the most exciting first product to get the all-important seal of approval, but you've got to start somewhere... a number of manufacturers would likely try to get USB 3.0-equipped wares onto store shelves before that magical day in December... a Buffalo external hard drive, an ExpressCard-to-USB 3.0 adapter and even a full-on laptop with a functioning USB 3.0 port... USB 3.0 wares will be able to connect via older USB 2.0 sockets, though again at a slower rate... USB 3.0 cables will be physically different inside. In other words, a USB 2.0 cable cannot carry data at USB 3.0 speeds, end of story. To enjoy USB 3.0, you'll need a USB 3.0 receptor port, a USB 3.0 cable and a USB 3.0 product; if you swap any of those pieces with USB 2.0, everything slows to USB 2.0 rates.

[Recon Dad]

Speed good.

(I am a serial downloader I won't go further than that. How do you get the speed? I have a normal Roadrunner line should I be looking for something else?)

[TomGuy]

I am a serial downloader I won't go further than that. How do you get the speed?

That is the speed from my pc to the 1 TB drive via USB 2.0 cable, not my download rate.

My dl rate varies with whatever the cable company is doing that day.

Some torrents get greater than 700 kB/s. Other times (and sources), under 50 kB/s.

Via Usenet type news server (nzb files), I get between 150 and 250 KB/s for 4 connections.

I am supposed to have "up to 12Mbps" highspeed cable internet, but many times I am lucky to get half that -- and the latency for webpage loading is ridiculously slow much of the time.

[steve-b]

Always nice to see a technology that obsoletes my entire array of peripherals.

All the old USB 2.0 stuff will work the same as usual (i.e. at USB 2.0 speed) when connected to a USB 3.0 port.

There might be some stupid "This Device Can Perform Faster" popups, but there should be some way to turn those off.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Good news for me because I’m the kind of guy who’ll be licking his chops at the prospect of USB 2.0 peripherals hitting bargain basement prices.

[martin_fierro]

Can't wait to plug this guy in & see what happens.

[Still Thinking]

I am just so busy I can hardly wait for my computer to operate faster. This will add at lease 45 seconds of free time to my day.

I know what you mean. USB 1.0 at 12MB was actually slow enough that it was frustrating to use it for certain tasks and you might avoid it if there were an alternative. USB 2.0 is up to forty times that fast, and I've never found anything that causes it to run at a speed that wastes my time. I know they use FireWire for high bandwidth applications like streaming video from a camera to a hard drive and things like that, so maybe that's where USB 3.0 will actually have an advantage over 2.0.

[SunkenCiv]

Does anything? [ducks, runs]

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, there’s a website, let’s see, it’s something obvious, like this:

http://www.firewire3200.com/

I’ve got a few bottom-feeder type ideas for FW products, but this is a little like Kramer having the idea for redoing the restaurant on top of the Chrysler bldg, or whatever...

[SunkenCiv]

I have tried to put type A into slot B...

[SunkenCiv]

Oooh, good point...

[bmwcyle]

bttt

[SunkenCiv]

If it were a tiger, it would probably turn to butter.

[JoeProBono]

I think Kramer invented USB - or was that AlGore?

[SunkenCiv]

I used both USB and Firewire drives to backup a Mac graphics department, and the Firewire 400 drives performed better than the USB 2.0 drives.

I agree. Not only that, in my limited experience, a single drive with both available will finish a large backup of the same data noticably quicker on the FW side.

[SunkenCiv]

One big way 2.0 was faster than 1.1 is that 1.1 split the bandwidth each time anything else got added to the chain. 2.0 is much better about that.

[SunkenCiv]

It was Kramer, but he never finished his patent application.

[papasmurf]

I have tried to put type A into slot B...

As badly as I want to, I won't touch that one. LOL

[ColdWater]

Always nice to see a technology that obsoletes my entire array of peripherals.

It is backwards compatible to your peripherals. And, the mouse, keyboard and many other peripherals won't need the extra speed. They work fine on the existing USB.

[SunkenCiv]

Ports, hubs, the possibilities are finite. ;’)