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How important is USB 2.0 support?

grrl

grrl

Diamond Member
I'm putting together a new system for a friend but I'm not sure if I need to worry about onboard USB 2.0 support. He plans to have the system for several years and will be getting a new printer and scanner once the system is up and running. However, I don't know if I should limit my choices to a mobo that already has the support, although for a little extra now it will save him money should he have to buy a 2.0 card later.

Just how many peripherals are using 2.0 now?
 
Honestly, it's probably better to get a more stable motherboard with a better set of features than lock yourself only into boards with USB 2.0 (since that will cut out a huge number of otherwise excellent boards). He can upgrade with a good USB 2.0 card later not to mention that it doesn't seem like a ton of devices are using USB 2.0 right now.
 
If he plans on keeping the system for several years I would argue that USB 2.0 is a feature you would definitely want. USB 2.0 is rather new, but I see almost all new USB products supporting it. In two years I believe we will be seeing products that only support USB 2.0. There are enough USB 2.0 boards to choose from that I don't see it being an issue. USB 2.0 is significantly better than USB 1.1.
 
Honestly, it's probably better to get a more stable motherboard with a better set of features than lock yourself only into boards with USB 2.0
Click to expand...

That's my primary concern, especially with the KT33 boards (although he may go P4).
 
Originally posted by: grrl
Honestly, it's probably better to get a more stable motherboard with a better set of features than lock yourself only into boards with USB 2.0
Click to expand...

That's my primary concern, especially with the KT33 boards (although he may go P4).
Click to expand...

I personally would get one with USB 2.0. There are already quite a few peripherals that support it like External HD's and CDRW's, and the newer scanners are starting to support it too. An excellent KT333 board with USB 2.0 and a reasonable price is the Epox 8K5A2 series. The non-plus model can be had for ~$85 and the plus model with onboard LAN and better sound can be had for ~$100.

🙂

 
Insane3D, I'm considering an Epox as well as the Asus A7V333, but I'm curious about Newegg's notice that no Epox boards are eligible for a refund, just replacement. Is the failure rate excessive on them?
 
i would vote for getting one of the tried and true boards that you mentioned, and then when he starts needing to use usb 2.0 then he can just get a add on card...
 
Originally posted by: grrl
Insane3D, I'm considering an Epox as well as the Asus A7V333, but I'm curious about Newegg's notice that no Epox boards are eligible for a refund, just replacement. Is the failure rate excessive on them?
Click to expand...


I noticed that on Newegg, but they same the same thing for the new ATI Radeon 9700 Pro's, so I don't know. I don't bother with Newegg for Epox boards anymore anyways...they're expensive. I would check out Mwave for much better prices on Epox boards, and no such disclaimer. 🙂


Epox boards @ Mwave.

Also, IMO, the Epox board is a much better board than the A7V333...🙂

 
There are tons of second generation KT333 boards with the Via 8235 southbridge with USB 2.0 support, and there are some that use the VT8233A with a VT6202 USB 2.0 controller.

A number of good ones exist:

Asus A7V333 (VT8233A+VT6202)
Epox 8K5A2(+) (VT8235)
MSI KT3 Ultra2 (VT8235)

If you are an Abit fan: Abit AT7 (VT8233A+VT6202)

A number of KT400 boards are hitting the market, but these are not well reviewed and not tried and true.
The Gigabyte GA-7VAXP is already available and the Asus A7V8X should be hitting the shelves around September 8th. I believe the A7V8X is one of the most feature rich boards ever made from the reviews I have read. I have no idea what the stability of it will be like though.

The performance ranking seems to be in my opinion (based on combining many different benchmarks):

Gigabyte 7VAXP (DDR 333)
Asus A7V8X (DDR 333)
Abit AT7 and Epox 8K5A2+ are about even
Asus A7V333
MSI KT3 Ultra2
Epox 8K3A+
Gigabyte 7VAXP (DDR 400)
Asus A7V8X (DDR 400)
MSI KT4 Ultra (DDR333)
MSI KT4 Ultra (DDR400)

They flip around quite a bit depending on the benchmark and which site does it.
 
Originally posted by: dszd0g
There are tons of second generation KT333 boards with the Via 8235 southbridge with USB 2.0 support, and there are some that use the VT8233A with a VT6202 USB 2.0 controller.

A number of good ones exist:

Asus A7V333 (VT8233A+VT6202)
Epox 8K5A2(+) (VT8235)
MSI KT3 Ultra2 (VT8235)

If you are an Abit fan: Abit AT7 (VT8233A+VT6202)

A number of KT400 boards are hitting the market, but these are not well reviewed and not tried and true.
The Gigabyte GA-7VAXP is already available and the Asus A7V8X should be hitting the shelves around September 8th. I believe the A7V8X is one of the most feature rich boards ever made from the reviews I have read. I have no idea what the stability of it will be like though.

The performance ranking seems to be in my opinion (based on combining many different benchmarks):

Gigabyte 7VAXP (DDR 333)
Asus A7V8X (DDR 333)
Abit AT7 and Epox 8K5A2+ are about even
Asus A7V333
MSI KT3 Ultra2
Epox 8K3A+
Gigabyte 7VAXP (DDR 400)
Asus A7V8X (DDR 400)
MSI KT4 Ultra (DDR333)
MSI KT4 Ultra (DDR400)

They flip around quite a bit depending on the benchmark and which site does it.
Click to expand...

I would be interested to see those reviews. The reviews of the Gigabyte and Asus KT400 boards I've seen show them being slower than the faster KT333 boards..

 
Mwave for much better prices on Epox boards, and no such disclaimer
Click to expand...

MWave is $5 cheaper after shipping, but on many other items I'm looking at they're not as good.
 
Originally posted by: grrl
Mwave for much better prices on Epox boards, and no such disclaimer
Click to expand...

MWave is $5 cheaper after shipping, but on many other items I'm looking at they're not as good.
Click to expand...

That's why I mainly just buy my Epox boards there, and get most else from Newegg. 🙂

 
Originally posted by: Insane3D
Asus A7V8X review @ OCWorkbench

In almost all of the tests in that review, the A7V8X is slower than the A7V333.
Click to expand...

Let's just use that review. The 333 is faster at CC Winstone and Quake3. The 8X is faster at Winbench, Sandra, and 3DMark. Just from that review I would lean towards the 333 unless the only thing I did was play Quake 3.

Winbench 99/High End:

A7V8X: 25200
A7V333: 23800

Winbench 99/Business Disk:

8X: 11500
333: 10900

CC Winstone:

8X: 49.5
333: 50.4

Sandra 2001/FPU:

8X: 1015
333: 1008

Sandra 2001/ALU:

8X: 914
333: 877

3DMark 2001:

8X: 6587
333: 6551

Quake 3 Demo 1 HiQuality:

8X: 212.1
333: 215.9

Quake 3 Demo 1 Fastest:

8X: 256.8
333: 264.5

If you grab the numbers out of Tbreak:

Quake 3:

Asus A7V8X 226/230.3
Epox 8K5A2+: 201.6

3D Mark:

Asus A7V8X: 10159/10285
Epox 8K5A2+: 9750

I believe that just using the reviews you pointed to, I can show that they are reviewing slightly faster but not significantly so.
 
I would like to add that I would love to see Anandtech review the KT400 boards and compare them with KT333 boards. However, I do not have Anandtech reviews to go by at this point.
 
True, however...they are both slower than the 8K3A+ which is a tad slower than it's replacement, the 8K5A2+. Anyway, differences this small will have no effect on "real world" performance. There just seems to be no reason to bother with KT400 right now over the more mature KT333 boards. There have already been reports of problems running AGP 8X on these boards as well...although most people will not be using AGP 8X cards anytime soon.



 
USB 2.0 is sweet! 32x10x40 USB 2.0 external same speed burning(using an NEC chipped add-in card) as when tested as an internal IDE drive ..approx 3:30 to 4:30 mins..on a side note ..burning times thru USB 1.0/1 spec port ..well the original 16x10x40 was 15 minutes ..under the 2.0 was 6 minutes..same size data CD ..<edit> oopz..
 
Originally posted by: Insane3D
True, however...they are both slower than the 8K3A+ which is a tad slower than it's replacement, the 8K5A2+. Anyway, differences this small will have no effect on "real world" performance. There just seems to be no reason to bother with KT400 right now over the more mature KT333 boards. There have already been reports of problems running AGP 8X on these boards as well...although most people will not be using AGP 8X cards anytime soon.
Click to expand...

That has actually been my debate. For my next system I haven't decided between the A7V8X, A7V333, or 8K5A2. I'm going SCSI so I don't think the 8K5A2+ is worth it for the LAN and IDE RAID, although I have heard rumors of performance differences between the + and no+ that I would look into if I leaned towards the 8K5A2.

I definitely want USB 2.0 support though.

The only reason I would go with the A7V8X is that it seems to have so many features. I would probably pick up PC3200 memory, but run it at 333.
 
On board, big deal! If you find a mobo you want, go for it. Purchase a 2.0 card later when you need it. I have one and it has 4 external & 1 internal and I only have 1.1 devices. I also have a firewire card and never use it. It's there for "just in case." 🙂

~box
 
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