I hate it when my ports are obsolete.
While 3rd generation USB is good news; let’s put things in perspective. When you are fetching small files, the cache and the burst speed of a protocol makes a big difference. However, when you are tranferring large amounts of data (copy files from one drive to another) you quickly saturate the on-board cache, and the mechanical drive of the Hard drive becomes the bottle-neck. It doesn’t matter how fast your protocol is (Firewire, hyper-transport, USB3, whatever) it simply has little meaning.
The mechanical hard drive can only spin so fast, it can only move the heads at a particular speed; I’ve seen large data transfers slow down to 12-25 MB/sec simply because that’s the mechanical limitation of the drive.
So, if you have a new High Definition video recorder, you are not going to transfer your 8 Gig SDD card in ~3 seconds. The Hard drive simply can’t load the data that fast; even if the USB3.0 protocol can theoretically move the data that fast.
HOwever, when we are using a Solid State Hard Drive, there is a significant performance bump where tranactions can mean that files transfer data at up to 201 MB/s.
Unless you dump your standard hard drive, and go with a SSD of suitable size, USB3.0 won’t mean a whole lot to you. IMHO, your mileage may vary.
oh joy, MORE cables to lug around.
I have been very curious about USB 3.0; but I hardly expected to see product review here. Thanks
Grossly inadequate seems a little strong. I remember constant frustration with USB 1's speed of 12 Mbps, constantly feeling like it was holding me up; with USB 2, I wouldn't say I never feel that way, but it's rare.
>Taking into account SuperSpeed USB’s 8b/10b encoding, flow control, packet framing, and protocol overhead reduces effective throughput to a “realistic” 400MB/s for actual applications.
What is interesting is that FireWire’s original spec was generally faster than USB 2.0’s when you compare the two on the actual throughput; now with USB 3.0, perhaps it would be best to compare it to FireWire’s third revision (3200) as the following article tries: http://www.techiesouls.com/2008/12/03/usb-30-vs-firewire-3200/
I am in full agreement with the commentator there who said:
“I’ve been a fan of firewire for many years. It has never let me down.”
“I only have on problem with USB and that is they have always claimed speeds of 480mpbs while only delivering about 65% of that. Firewire on the other hand runs at about 97% of its claims. With that said I’m guessing Firewire 3200 will blow USB 3.0 out of the water. Just my $.02”
Just a few days ago, someone posted pictures of a truly filthy interior of a desktop PC, and it was pointed out that there are two advances in technology that have lagged since the very first IBM PC.
The two are connected, because they both exist because of the same problem: cabinet heat. Because of cabinet heat, desktops use “gawky” and primitive electronic boards, instead of sealed cases, and use fans that expel hot air away from hot components. Which bring in copious amounts of dust.
If you can overcome the problem of cabinet heat, the entire computer could be modular and tidy and assembled in just a few minutes.
It would seem that the way to do this would be for the computer cabinet to be sealed, so no new external air and dust is introduced, and the ambient air temperature inside the box is low, even cold. In turn, cabinets would be vacuum insulated, to keep the inside cold.
Fans would still be used, but smaller fans on each module that generated heat.
Initially, when the computer was turned on, the heat exchanger would take a minute to cool down the ambient air. In turn, an external heat sink would get hot for a bit. But during normal use, the external heat sink would be a little warm, just exchanging heat as it was generated inside the box, warming the air that was then cooled.
(I now have a total of 11 external USB 2.0 ports.)
Micro USB (2.0) is already vexing.
How much faster is this than the Fire Wire external drive that I’ve been using for two years?
I have been waiting for the new USB 3.0 to upgrade my motherboard and computer.
Please GIGABYTE release a new motherboard with USB 3.0 on it!!!!