Pros: Exceptionally good performance; 5 years of warranty; internal port for front panel hub.
Cons: No Windows 98 driver; spotty platform support; extra cost for USB 2.0 peripherals.
Verdict: USB 2.0 is a very promising technology, and Adaptec USB2Connect 3100LE PCI card delivers that on a $40 package.
The first generation USB ports are now standardized on every computer on the market, but they are just painfully slow for devices beside mice, keyboards and printers. If you’re looking for something on the fast side, USB 2.0, dubbed as the Hi-Speed USB, will do the job just fine. The USB2Connect 3100LE, the first USB 2.0 add-on solution from Adaptec, adds four 480-Mbps USB ports to speed things up between your PC and peripherals.
Inside the USB Card Basically, the USB2Connect 3100 sports one internal and three external Hi-Speed USB ports. If you need more ports, there’s the USB2Connect 5100, featuring six USB 2.0 ports. All these ports are powered by a NEC USB 2.0 host controller. Traffic from legacy USB devices is handled by the two discrete USB controllers. Technically, the card doubles the bandwidth available to USB 1.1 devices. Although you get four ports from this card, Adaptec claims the internal port shares with another external port. So, you can only use three ports simultaneously. Incidentally, the USB card also ships with a 3m USB 2.0 compliant cable.
USB 2.0 Support Coming to XP Contrary to some reports, Microsoft is committed to USB 2.0 support for Windows XP. In fact, the company has been testing its USB 2.0 beta driver since early July, but it has pushed back the release to January 2002. For this reason, Adaptec has rolled out its own proprietary driver especially for its USB2Connect-series. Supporting Windows 98SE/ME/2000, the driver enables the high speed mode of USB 2.0-based peripherals. Windows XP users can also force the OS to accept the Adaptec driver. If you don’t install Adaptec USB 2.0 driver, the card will simply act as a two-host USB 1.1 card. To Mac users, the card won’t install on Power Macintosh Beige G3 (rev. B or later).
Real-world Performance Amid all the speculations about USB 2.0 real-world performance, our benchmark showed that USB 2.0 far exceeded our expectations. The USB 2.0 card worked exceptionally well with the first USB 2.0-based hard drive – the Maxtor Personal Storage 3000LE. Through a USB 2.0 connection, files on the drive were transferring at a rate of 14.8MBps. When the drive was connected via USB 1.1 port, it slowed down to a 1MBps (8Mbps). This kind of improvement will save hours of wait time. Although the test clearly showed that USB 2.0 is improved significantly over USB 1.1, it cannot tell the maximum efficiency of the new standard. To make use of all the available bandwidth, you must get the card, obviously, and USB 2.0 compatible peripherals, which will add to the cost for upgrading.
The Bottom Line For $50 street, the Adaptec USB2Connect 3100 is undeniably the best pick for a USB card out there. It’s a speedy, future-proof add-on PCI that gets you on the fast track of peripheral connectivity.
-- By Ian Chiu, Managing Editor
Where to buy Adaptec USB2connect 3100 Card?
User Review(s)
"Cant find card" I have internal usb but I want to use the card, xp wont recognize the card, only the internal usb, and because of adaptecs lack of support I dont know what to do....if anyone would be kind enough to help me out, please email me at cramis1@yahoo.com
Thanks From Marc, September 15, 2003
"driver complains ???" to all you people that are complaining about the drivers. all the USB 2.0 pci cards on the market are identical, they use the same drivers, made by OrangeWare. if one company doesn't have the newest version, then go the next company and use their drivers. i have a OrangeMicro card and i use Belkin drivers. Remember all the USB 2.0 PCI cards on the market right now, use NEC chipset, and they are indentical.
BOTTOM LINE From qwert, October 18, 2002
"NO DRIVERS, NO SUPPORT" WHEN I SPEND MONEY FOR A PRODUCT, I WANT IT TO WORK NOW!!!!
SUPPORT FROM ADAPTEC WAS ZERO!!!
COULD NOT GIVE ME ANSWER AS TO WHEN DRIVERS ARE AVAILABLE!!! I TOOK IT BACK TO FRY'S AND PURCHASED AN ORANGE MICRO CARD. WIN XP DRIVERS AVAILABLE FOR PCI CARD AND IT WORKS!!!!THESE DRIVERS ARE FROM MICROSOFT!!!! From ron dale, December 11, 2001
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. USB2connect 3100 Card Specs
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Interface
PCI
Required interface revision
2.1
# of USB ports
3
# of internal USB ports
1
Independent host controller for each port?
Yes
USB host controller interface
EHCI
USB chipset
NEC PD720100
# of FireWire ports
0
Software
--
Extra?
3m USB 2.0 cable
Power source
PCI bus
Warranty
Five years
Extras Lost a USB cable? Get a replacement USB cable.
Running out of USB ports? Get an extra USB hub.
You may need a new USB card to achieve Hi-Speed USB speeds.
Confirm with our USB 2.0 FAQ if you have Hi-Speed USB on your PC.
