• “This card showed me how much faster USB 3.0 is compared to E-SATA, and I was impressed. 300GB transferred in less than one hour from a Maxtor 500GB 7200rpm drive in a Vantec external USB 3.0 enclosure. ” – Nathan D. Wilder
  • “…it worked like a champ…I would highly recommend the product and would buy again.” – Vincent P. Bedus, New York, NY
  • “This is my favorite kind of hardware — I installed it and it worked.” – Steve Smith, Santa Rosa, CA

Features

  • PCI Express Card (PCIe Gen2 x 1 Lane) expands your desktop to support two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Ports
  • Market leading NEC/Renesas µPD720200 chipset and USB 3.0 host software stack
  • CD includes 32/64-bit drivers for Windows XP SP3, Vista SP2, and Windows 7
  • Supported with open source drivers in Linux kernel 2.6.31 and later
  • Supports USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.x devices at spec transfer speeds of 5000/480/12/1.5 Mbps
  • Includes Standard and Low profile brackets
  • Includes SATA to Molex LP4 power adapter cable

Upgrade any Windows-based desktop to Super Speed USB 3.0 REQUIRES: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or later, one free standard or low profile PCIe x1 slot. Recommended: use included free standard molex 4-pin power connector from the power supply inside your PC. SPEED: Theoretical maximum speed of USB 3.0 is 5Gbs and PCI-e 1x is 4Gbs. Included in package: PCIe card and driver disk.


FAQ

How to I install the Plugable USB 3.0 Expansion Card?

Confirm your desktop PC has an available PCIe slot (can be 1x size). Open case, insert card. To work with any bus-powered USB devices (those without their own AC adapter), connect cable from your PC’s power supply to the white 4-pin molex connector on the adapter. Install driver from disk. Your PC now has two extra USB ports, capable of connecting any USB 3.0, 2.0, or 1.1 device.

I have a low profile PC. Will this standard profile card fit?

The bracket included with the card is sized for standard profile PCs. However, it’s possible to unscrew the bracket from the card and fit in any low-profile PC by swapping in a low profile bracket (included).

How does Windows see a USB 3.0 host controller?

With the NEC drivers installed, this product appears as any other USB host controller. It runs the NEC drivers at the HCI level to provide full USB 3.0 functionality. And yet it is compatible with all higher level drivers in Windows or from 3rd parties (e.g the USB mass storage class driver provided by Windows), so all older/existing drivers will work transparently, and in fact can benefit from the increased throughput of any native USB 3.0 devices that are attached.

What is the state of support on Linux?

The NEC µPD720200 is the most widely used and tested USB 3.0 chipset. For Linux, kernel driver code was first provided in kernel 2.6.31. Driver code is in drivers/usb/host/xhci*. USB 3.0 has been receiving active work and improvements in later kernels.

Drivers available for:

  • Windows XP,  Vista, and Windows 7 (all versions)
  • Linux kernels 2.6.31. and later
See our Renesas USB 3.0 Drivers page for details and links

 

Where to Buy

Plugable PCI Express to SuperSpeed USB 3.0 2-Port Expansion Card for Desktops (NEC/Renesas Chipset) Product Details $25.95