PCI USB 3.0 card

In Japan, a very interesting product was born.

An accessory card that can handle USB 3.0 devices using a NEC chip has recently emerged in a Japanese store. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that this product fits into the traditional PCI socket on the market, which has been on the market for 17 years. This in itself would not be a problem, the problem starts there that the maximum bandwidth of a traditional PCI bus is 1 Gbit / s. However, USB 3.0 is capable of up to 5 Gbit / s, so 80% of the theoretical speed is lost. However, USB 2.0 should no longer be a problem, as the maximum data transfer there can be 480 Mbit / s.

Another interesting thing is that since the PCI slot is not able to provide enough power to the card for proper operation in some (extreme) cases, a 4-pin power connector has been added to the product for safety. In addition to the NEC chip, a PCIe-PCI chip was also housed.

The new and interesting supplementary card is already available in Japan for 5.500 yen, which is about 50 euros. It is not yet known whether or not they will be marketed in Europe.