Best chipset for USB card?

[Flipped Gazelle]

I need to add a PCI USB card to an older PC (P4 2.4 Ghz). Any thoughts on the best USB chipset available, in terms of CPU utilization and throughput?

 

[techmanc]

You can goto the link and check the different External USB Ports on the advanced search options and read the reviews there.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...StoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: techmanc
You can goto the link and check the different External USB Ports on the advanced search options and read the reviews there.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...StoreType=&srchInDesc=

Unfortunately, most of the Newegg reviews are of the "hey, it works" or "this sucks" variety.

 

[techmanc]

I here ya I use some cards but never bothered to spec em.

 

[Zepper]

The NEC USB chips have a good rep. I've got a NEC USB card I used here for a while and it worked fine for me. I also have a VIA based one that also has FW on it and it worked well too (but I don't recall doing any specific benchmarking either). I think my old Abit Sock.A board's USB ports went TU for some reason - that's why I got the add-on cards. I got the one with FW just because I had an external HDD enclosure here with multiple outputs on it I wanted to test. I think both were no-name cards I got off fleaBay for under $10. shipped each...

.bh.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Thanks for the input. I knew NEC had the best reputation for USB chipsets, but my knowledge about that is pretty old, and I figured possibly out of date.

 

[jrichrds]

There hasn't been much development in USB 2.0 PCI chipsets in recent years.

NEC PD720101 is still the king of USB 2.0 PCI chipsets (in both speed and compatibility). The first-generation NEC PD720100 isn't far behind at ~10% slower, but still beats the rest of the competition. Latest VIA is OK. ALI is the worst.

 

[bruceb]

Belkin cards work fine in most systems. But they are more costly than the ones you will see at discount houses.

 

[darkfalz]

I'd say you'd get negligible CPU usage on any chipset. Personally I'd go with VIA.

 

[Zepper]

Belkin cards are the same as generic with a much higher markup to help the big box stores improve their margins. It has to be an amazing sale on them to make them worth the cost.

.bh.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Belkin cards are the same as generic with a much higher markup to help the big box stores improve their margins. It has to be an amazing sale on them to make them worth the cost.

.bh.

The high cost of Belkin cards are mostly from markup/marketing/better warranty, but Belkin cards do have a higher quality standard than all of the generics I've seen. It's hard to find high quality generics, because they're all made to be as cheap as possible...besides being able to promote a particular brand chipset, there's no other incentive to use better components.