USB 3

[James Silverton]

Can anyone tell me how to determine whether a USB socket on my machine
is type 2 or type 3? I believe two of the sockets are USB3 but I don't
presently have any devices that use them.
--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Can anyone tell me how to determine whether a USB socket on my
machine is type 2 or type 3? I believe two of the sockets are USB3
but I don't presently have any devices that use them.

The USB3 socket is somewhat different looking than a USB2 socket.
Easiest to show a picture rather than describe it, so go here:

http://www.usb3.com/usb3-info.html

HTH

 

[James Silverton]

The USB3 socket is somewhat different looking than a USB2 socket.
Easiest to show a picture rather than describe it, so go here:

http://www.usb3.com/usb3-info.html

HTH

Thank you very much indeed! That is very interesting information. Is
there any way to electrically detect the difference? I'm afraid my
close-up vision is not very good. I guess I could open up the case and
check inside or go to the store where I bought the computer. I did try
asking over the phone but there was a bit of a language difficulty.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[John Aldred]

Can anyone tell me how to determine whether a USB socket on my machine
is type 2 or type 3? I believe two of the sockets are USB3 but I don't
presently have any devices that use them.

The illustration and information that Zaphod posted is very useful.
However, with my eyesight, I found myself in need of a bright light and a
pair of reading glasses to identify the differences in pin arrangements on
the sockets at the back of my computer.

Perhaps the blue colour of the insulator is the best clue?

However the reason for this reply is to ask if Device Manager identifies any
of the ports as USB 3. It won't tell you which ones are USB 3, but it may
tell you if you have any.

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Thank you very much indeed! That is very interesting information. Is
there any way to electrically detect the difference? I'm afraid my
close-up vision is not very good. I guess I could open up the case
and check inside or go to the store where I bought the computer. I
did try asking over the phone but there was a bit of a language
difficulty.

The USB2 portion of the socket is likely electrically identical to a
standard USB2 since USB3 was designed to be backward compatible with
USB2. If I needed to easily identify a plug as USB3, I'd be inclined
to grab a USB3 cable and see if it fits or not.

 

[James Silverton]

The illustration and information that Zaphod posted is very useful.
However, with my eyesight, I found myself in need of a bright light and a
pair of reading glasses to identify the differences in pin arrangements on
the sockets at the back of my computer.

Perhaps the blue colour of the insulator is the best clue?

However the reason for this reply is to ask if Device Manager identifies any
of the ports as USB 3. It won't tell you which ones are USB 3, but it may
tell you if you have any.

Under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"" there are
two Generic USB hubs,
two Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host
Controllers,
one USB Composite Device,
one USB Mass Storage Device,
one USB Printing Support
two USB Root Hubs

That does not tell *me* too much :-(

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[John Aldred]

Under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"" there are
two Generic USB hubs,
two Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host
Controllers,
one USB Composite Device,
one USB Mass Storage Device,
one USB Printing Support
two USB Root Hubs

That does not tell *me* too much :-(

It doesn't tell me much either.
On my machine Device manager lists
NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub.

However I cheated, by fitting a PCIe USB 3 card!
Just wondered if a built in USB 3 hub would be identified as such.

Well I guess the only way is to get a flashlight and a magnifying glass, as
I just did, and compare the appearance of the USB socket on your computer
with the images posted by Zaphod.

 

[Char Jackson]

Can anyone tell me how to determine whether a USB socket on my machine
is type 2 or type 3? I believe two of the sockets are USB3 but I don't
presently have any devices that use them.

Besides the physical inspection that's already been mentioned, you can
check the specs for your computer or motherboard. USB3, being new,
will almost certainly be mentioned somewhere.

If you don't know which motherboard you have, there are utilities that
will tell you, such as Belarc Advisor (free), without requiring you to
open the case. Armed with that information, it's usually easy to find
the rest of the information you're looking for.

 

[James Silverton]

Besides the physical inspection that's already been mentioned, you can
check the specs for your computer or motherboard. USB3, being new,
will almost certainly be mentioned somewhere.

If you don't know which motherboard you have, there are utilities that
will tell you, such as Belarc Advisor (free), without requiring you to
open the case. Armed with that information, it's usually easy to find
the rest of the information you're looking for.

Belarc seemed to work well but there was no mention of USB 2 or USB 3

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[Paul]

It doesn't tell me much either.
On my machine Device manager lists
NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub.

However I cheated, by fitting a PCIe USB 3 card!
Just wondered if a built in USB 3 hub would be identified as such.

Well I guess the only way is to get a flashlight and a magnifying glass, as
I just did, and compare the appearance of the USB socket on your computer
with the images posted by Zaphod.

As far as I know, that NEC chip is still the only game in town.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/nec-japan-announces-its-superspeed-usb-3-0-controller/

Intel hasn't delivered USB3 on a chipset yet (choosing to go with
it's Thunderballs/LightPork technology instead, to confuse the market).
I don't think AMD has done one either (but there may have been an
announcement that AMD was buying an IP logic block from someone).
Maybe AMD will deliver this year some time ?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4194/intels-codename-lightpeak-launches-as-thunderbolt

There is an example of Device Manager with a NEC chip for USB3, here.
So this is what you might look for, as of today. I can't predict
what future ones will use for labeling.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1277/device_manager1.jpg

*******

Caveats on the NEC chip. It has a PCI Express x1 lane interface on it.
The interface runs at Rev.2 or Rev.1 speeds. If you plug it into a
Rev.1 slot, then the theoretical speed is reduced from the maximum
values you might see listed. There is currently only one
hardware peripheral device right now, that cares about this.
For connecting an external USB3 hard drive, it's not important.

The first motherboards to have predominantly Rev.2 interfaces, are the
Intel Sandy Bridge motherboards (LGA1155). With many older boards, you
have to do careful analysis, to determine your slot type, and whether
that NEC USB3 card you bought, ends up at full speed.

There are other tricks for getting full speed performance from older
PCI Express slots. Asus used a PCI Express bridge chip, to do "gear
changing" and get the faster communications path needed. Asus uses
an x4 Rev.1 add-in card, to develop x1 Rev.2 lanes for the chips
soldered to the card. This card was an excellent deal, while it
was available. You'd need a spare x4, x8, or x16 slot to use it.

Asus U3S6 card - was about $25 or so.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995004

Paul

 

[Rob]

It doesn't tell me much either.
On my machine Device manager lists
NEC Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub.

However I cheated, by fitting a PCIe USB 3 card!
Just wondered if a built in USB 3 hub would be identified as such.

Well I guess the only way is to get a flashlight and a magnifying glass, as
I just did, and compare the appearance of the USB socket on your computer
with the images posted by Zaphod.

The Intel 5 series/3400 USB controllers are USB 2.0
HTH

 

[James Silverton]

As far as I know, that NEC chip is still the only game in town.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/nec-japan-announces-its-superspeed-usb-3-0-controller/


Intel hasn't delivered USB3 on a chipset yet (choosing to go with
it's Thunderballs/LightPork technology instead, to confuse the market).
I don't think AMD has done one either (but there may have been an
announcement that AMD was buying an IP logic block from someone).
Maybe AMD will deliver this year some time ?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4194/intels-codename-lightpeak-launches-as-thunderbolt


There is an example of Device Manager with a NEC chip for USB3, here.
So this is what you might look for, as of today. I can't predict
what future ones will use for labeling.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1277/device_manager1.jpg

*******

Caveats on the NEC chip. It has a PCI Express x1 lane interface on it.
The interface runs at Rev.2 or Rev.1 speeds. If you plug it into a
Rev.1 slot, then the theoretical speed is reduced from the maximum
values you might see listed. There is currently only one
hardware peripheral device right now, that cares about this.
For connecting an external USB3 hard drive, it's not important.

The first motherboards to have predominantly Rev.2 interfaces, are the
Intel Sandy Bridge motherboards (LGA1155). With many older boards, you
have to do careful analysis, to determine your slot type, and whether
that NEC USB3 card you bought, ends up at full speed.

There are other tricks for getting full speed performance from older
PCI Express slots. Asus used a PCI Express bridge chip, to do "gear
changing" and get the faster communications path needed. Asus uses
an x4 Rev.1 add-in card, to develop x1 Rev.2 lanes for the chips
soldered to the card. This card was an excellent deal, while it
was available. You'd need a spare x4, x8, or x16 slot to use it.

Asus U3S6 card - was about $25 or so.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995004

Note that the Intel "Sandy Bridge" motherboard has serious bugs that are
not expectedto be fixed in shipped motherboards until the end of this
month. I was going to buy a machine with the new motherboard last month
but I had to give up on it.


--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[Char Jackson]

Belarc seemed to work well but there was no mention of USB 2 or USB 3

I was expecting Belarc to give you the motherboard manufacturer and
model. (It does that on each of my systems here.) From there, you
should be able to find a data sheet, manual, spec sheet, something
like that.

 

[John Aldred]

Paul wrote:

[Snip]

As far as I know, that NEC chip is still the only game in town.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/18/nec-japan-announces-its-superspeed- usb-3-0-controller/

Intel hasn't delivered USB3 on a chipset yet (choosing to go with
it's Thunderballs/LightPork technology instead, to confuse the market).
I don't think AMD has done one either (but there may have been an
announcement that AMD was buying an IP logic block from someone).
Maybe AMD will deliver this year some time ?

I guess that explains why I couldn't find anything about USB 3 on the Intel
website.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4194/intels-codename-lightpeak-launches-as- thunderbolt

There is an example of Device Manager with a NEC chip for USB3, here.
So this is what you might look for, as of today. I can't predict
what future ones will use for labeling.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1277/device_manager1.jpg

Yes my Device Manager has the same two lines that start with NEC.

*******

Caveats on the NEC chip. It has a PCI Express x1 lane interface on it.
The interface runs at Rev.2 or Rev.1 speeds. If you plug it into a
Rev.1 slot, then the theoretical speed is reduced from the maximum
values you might see listed. There is currently only one
hardware peripheral device right now, that cares about this.
For connecting an external USB3 hard drive, it's not important.

The first motherboards to have predominantly Rev.2 interfaces, are the
Intel Sandy Bridge motherboards (LGA1155). With many older boards, you
have to do careful analysis, to determine your slot type, and whether
that NEC USB3 card you bought, ends up at full speed.

There are other tricks for getting full speed performance from older
PCI Express slots. Asus used a PCI Express bridge chip, to do "gear
changing" and get the faster communications path needed. Asus uses
an x4 Rev.1 add-in card, to develop x1 Rev.2 lanes for the chips
soldered to the card. This card was an excellent deal, while it
was available. You'd need a spare x4, x8, or x16 slot to use it.

Asus U3S6 card - was about $25 or so.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995004

Thanks for the info.

 

[James Silverton]

I was expecting Belarc to give you the motherboard manufacturer and
model. (It does that on each of my systems here.) From there, you
should be able to find a data sheet, manual, spec sheet, something
like that.

I'll probably be able to talk to the tech who sold me the machine tomorrow.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[Char Jackson]

I'll probably be able to talk to the tech who sold me the machine tomorrow.

So Belarc didn't give you the mobo info? That's strange. When I build
systems for customers, I always include a Belarc profile so they can
see what's inside.

 

[James Silverton]

So Belarc didn't give you the mobo info? That's strange. When I build
systems for customers, I always include a Belarc profile so they can
see what's inside.

It gave me an amazing amount of useful information about the processor,
the main circuit board, the drives and memory etc! However, there was no
indication of whether the USB hubs were types 2 or 3.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[KCB]

It gave me an amazing amount of useful information about the processor,
the main circuit board, the drives and memory etc! However, there was no
indication of whether the USB hubs were types 2 or 3.

(1)Use Belarc to FIND YOUR MOTHERBOARD MODEL NUMBER.

(2)Go to the manufacturer's web site to download the manual and/or look at
the specifications to see if/which ports are USB 3.

If you don't know who made the motherboard, even after using Belarc, then
Google the model number to find out, go back to step (2).

 

[James Silverton]

(1)Use Belarc to FIND YOUR MOTHERBOARD MODEL NUMBER.

(2)Go to the manufacturer's web site to download the manual and/or look
at the specifications to see if/which ports are USB 3.

If you don't know who made the motherboard, even after using Belarc,
then Google the model number to find out, go back to step (2).

I'll ask the tech tomorrow if I have the time

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

 

[Larry]

I'll ask the tech tomorrow if I have the time

--


James Silverton, Potomac

"Not": obvious change in "Reply To"

This site will tell you what you want to know.

http://www.usb3.com/usb3-info.html

Larry