USB 3.0 PCIe cards? Stability?

[IVIaverick52]

Anyone? I noticed that sweetwater is currently selling Siig firewire cards, I assume their USB cards would be reliable as well?

[blacklion]

Look for a renesas (NEC) chipset. I found an $11 usb 3.0 card with the latest NEC chipset (UPD720202) on ebay and it works fine with an RME usb interface, YMMV with the Steinberg. Had to find the drivers myself but it was not hard to do. I think I might still have the driver file somewhere.

Had to wait a couple weeks for shipping from HK, but similar cards sell for 3 times the price once they get rebranded and sold in the US. I was told that usb 2.0 cards have a higher rate of reliability but they're kind of pricey now that people aren't adding usb 2 ports very often these days.

2 Port USB 3.0 HUB to PCI-E Express Card Adapter Converter NEC Chipset 5.0Gbps | eBay

[IVIaverick52]

hmm alright, I'm going to look more into the reliability aspect of 2.0 vs 3.0. I'm just obsessive compulsive and like to stay as future proof with my PC's as possible haha.

[blacklion]

I guess more than the reliability of 2.0 vs 3.0, it's the controller drivers and what not being more mature with 2.0 for obvious reasons. My mobo usb 3.0 ports (AS Media Controller) don't work with high track counts. I wanted to add a separate port for the interface and like you, I just didn't feel like adding another usb 2.0 port.

Asked around and looked around for the right chipset and what I found was that the renesas chipsets are like the TI chipsets for firewire...most reliably reliable. I needed bus power as well so I made sure the card I was getting had a power plug. That card in the link has worked perfectly for me when opening my largest projects (70-90 tracks). These same projects would not playback properly with my mobo usb 3 port.

[IVIaverick52]

awesome, looks like exactly what I need. thanks.