Upgrade USB By Adding A 3.0 Card

[SL58]

Hello & help please,

I'd like to upgrade my tower by adding a USB 3.0 card. I do have PCIe expansion slots (According to specs) but I can't seem to find out anywhere whether they're

1.0 or 2.0 & I do need a 2.0 slot for the card to be effective. I've checked my system info as well with no results.

Can anyone help & maybe steer me in the right direction on this please ? Below is a link to my tower specs.

Thanks !

HP Pavilion p6670t Product Specifications and Configurable Options | HP® Customer Support 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

According to the Intel specs for your PC's chipset, the PCIe slots are revision 2.0.

Intel H57 Express Chipset Product Specifications

[SL58]

Thank you Paul !

I wouldn't have known to check the Intel site for chipsets.

So ALL of my PCIe slots are 2.0, correct ?

I have a total of 4 PCIe slots & only 1 is used. I opened the case & took some pics (See attachments).

Can you recommend some cards & the best slot to use ? I'm thinking 1 of the small ones.

Thanks again !

P.S.  How do you give a Thumbs Up ?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you would want to install the PCie x1 card in one of the small slots.

All of the PCie x slots are gen 2.0.

This one has 4 ports for example.

Amazon.com: ELUTENG PCIE USB 3.0 Card 4 Ports PCI Expree to USB Expansion Card Super Speed 5Gbps PCI...

The longer one is for a graphics card if you ever wanted to add one.

[DGroves]

you have one other option, there are some usb 2.0 cards that are pci-e x4 which will fit into the x16 slot however unless you need the speed thes cards provide the cheaper x1 usb 3 cards will work fine but the 5MBps speed is shared across all of the usb 3.0 ports

these usb 2.0 cards allow each usb port to run at the full USB 3.2 Gen 2 speed (10MBps) at the same time!!

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-USB-PCIE-Card-USB/dp/B01I39D15A?th=1

https://www.provantage.com/startech-pexusb314a2v2~7STRP0PN.htm?source=googleps

[SL58]

Thanks again Paul,

The price looks good on the card from Amazon & I may very well get it but I have a question.

Does the card definitely not need a power cable ?  The Amazon page is saying "No additional power supply needed"

but so far what I've read & videos I've watched they state It's a good idea to hook a power cable to it

(Either SATA or Molex).

If I can get away without the cable & still get the faster speed I'm all for it but I'm just not sure about adding a power cable

& why.

I'm also a little concerned that the expansion bracket that comes with it will fit the back of my tower.

Thank you !

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I looked at the Q & A's on the card, and one of the respondents indicated that no additional power was needed.

Looking at the photos of the card, I don't see any place for a power input.

You may want to read through the questions and reviews.

The bracket the ports are located on appears to be a standard mounting bracket for a tower PC like yours, not a small form factor or slim tower.

[SL58]

Thanks DG !,

Looks very interesting but right now a bit out of my price range.

Good to know though ! 

Thank you !

[SL58]

Good to know on the bracket !

Read the reviews & q&a's & @ least 1 question was the same as mine. And as far as the cable that comes with other cards it seems It's required to power those cards. One review stated there wasn't enough power but I'm thinking that has to do

with his tower, I'm hoping.

A lot of good reviews though.

Hey, I'm learning !

Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

You can always shop around for others, but that one seemed to be the cheapest, decent overall solution that seems to be plug and play.