looking to add USB ports to back of 3 computers

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I would like to add a couple of USB ports to the back of 3 computers here at home. 2 of the computers are small form factor (low profile) desktops, while the third is a mid size tower. I think this pretty much limits me to low profile cards.

I would like the cards to have at least 2 ports in the back, and a header that would allow me to either:

a) add a cheap bracket and 2 more USB ports on the back

or

b) add a couple of front USB (near impossible on the sff pc's without drilling, but easy on the tower one)

Cost IS a factor - I'd like to be able to do this cheap. Mostly we are wanting to plug in game controllers, keyboards, printers, USB flash drives and such where speed is not that important. 1 of the 3 computers has the rear USB ports completely full, so I'm mostly wanting to do this in order to have a few extra ports available.

I'm not sure that speed is that important, since my USB flash drives at this point are usb 2. It might make sense to make sure this card is USB 3, but I'm not sure that paying for USB 3.1 would make any sense.

I've seen some cards that have the old molex/IDE power connector, and some that have SATA power on them. Is this for when you want to plug in something like an external 2.5" HDD that needs to spin up and draw a bit more power?

If you guys have experience with a cheap and trusworthy low profile card, I would appreciate suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Paperdoc]

ALL USB cards mounted in a PCIe slot should have a way to draw power from a PSU output, either SATA or 4-pin Molex. A standard USB2 port must be able to provide power at 5 VDC up to 0.5 A per port to connected devices. For USB3 ports, that is up to 0.9 A. The PCIe slot system never was designed to provide that much power to cards in the slots, so a USB card needs another power source.

By the way, an external "Laptop" hard drive almost ALWAYS can NOT get all the power it needs from a USB2 port. Even though such devices are designed to use minimal power, there are VERY few of them that can function on the 0.5 A max available that way. The older ones designed for USB2 interfaces had two possible solutions. One was that it came with its own power "brick" that you plug into a wall outlet and into the drive to give it power. The other was that some came with a special connecting cable that had TWO USB2 connectors on one end, and you had to plug both of those into separate ports to get the power the drive unit needed. Today the market is dominated by the new USB3 type of "Laptop Hard Drive" that CAN get enough power from a USB3 port able to supply 0.9 A. So they come only with a USB3 cable, and most do not even have a socket to plug in a separate power "brick". But watch out for the claims! They all will say they are "USB2 compatible". What that really means is that their COMMUNICATION subsystems can and will work with a USB2 port, but the MOTOR and HEAD drive components still will NOT get enough power unless you arrange to feed them properly. So either you must find a way to feed power in either of the two old methods (maybe find an old double-headed special cable) OR buy a USB3 HUB that comes with its own power supply "brick". If you use a USB3 cable to connect the new USB3 laptop drive to such a Hub it CAN get sufficient power from the Hub to work.Then you can connect the Hub to your computer's older USB2 port, and that WILL work. However, the data transfer speed will be limited to the slower USB2 rate.

 

[mindless1]

TLDR - Get unpowered and/or powered USB3 hubs.

I would like to add a couple of USB ports to the back of 3 computers here at home. 2 of the computers are small form factor (low profile) desktops, while the third is a mid size tower. I think this pretty much limits me to low profile cards.

I would like the cards to have at least 2 ports in the back, and a header that would allow me to either:

a) add a cheap bracket and 2 more USB ports on the back

That cheap bracket will probably near double the total cost. Doesn't seem like it should but it's probably the case unless you find something shipping s l o w from a chinese merchant.

Instead I'd think about just getting a USB3 hub to do with it, wouldn't necessarily even need to be a powered hub since several of the things you listed below are low power (and self powered) devices.

b) add a couple of front USB (near impossible on the sff pc's without drilling, but easy on the tower one)

I wouldn't hesitate to drill if you have a plastic case bezel you can file out to a nice, finished looking appearance. If it's going in sheet metal, not so much unless you mount the bracket for the ports on the outside so you don't have rough bare metal jagged holes next to the surface finish.

Cost IS a factor - I'd like to be able to do this cheap. Mostly we are wanting to plug in game controllers, keyboards, printers, USB flash drives and such where speed is not that important. 1 of the 3 computers has the rear USB ports completely full, so I'm mostly wanting to do this in order to have a few extra ports available.

Of course, who wants to pay more than necessary to get the job done? Even so, I would start out getting a USB3 hub then see how far you can go with it before reaching a power limitation, or consider a powered hub if you hope to do without getting a PCIe USB card at all.

As far as finding a good deal on a low profile USB3 card, you'll have to make a short list and keep an eye out for sale prices, or patrol ebay for people getting rid of used cards as they upgrade to a newer system and don't need the card anymore.

I'm not sure that speed is that important, since my USB flash drives at this point are usb 2. It might make sense to make sure this card is USB 3, but I'm not sure that paying for USB 3.1 would make any sense.

It's the age old dilemma, how much to pour into an old system rather than replacing it sooner. USB3 is not exactly new tech at this point, consider how many more years you reasonably expect to get out of these systems. I mean you didn't state these systems currently have USB2 but I assume so because if they were USB3 already, I wouldn't for a second consider using a USB2 hub unless you happened to already have one lying around, but if you found a cheap enough SFF USB2 card, it could make sense to use for the slower peripherals.

I've seen some cards that have the old molex/IDE power connector, and some that have SATA power on them. Is this for when you want to plug in something like an external 2.5" HDD that needs to spin up and draw a bit more power?

No, it's just 5V input power for the ports. It could come from a full sized molex, and mini molex floppy connector, or an SATA connector. If you need to power an external SATA HDD, get a y-adapter and you can use the same power feed to the card, to split and power the external HDD too, assuming you don't already have a lot of other things fed from that PSU wiring run, for example if it had 3 x SATA power plugs and you were already powering 2 x SATA mechanical HDDs, it would be pushing it to try to power both a USB card's ports and an additional external HDD, unless these were mostly 2.5" drives so they consume less current.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've got a pair of USB3.0 (I think PCI-E x1) cards spare that I'm probably never going to use. PM me if you want them.
(Moved to my FS thread, check there if interested.)