I’ve taken a look at a couple USB 3.0 PCIE card here at technogog. I’ve got another one today, but this one is quite a bit different. It’s the ASUS U3S6 PCIE card that actually uses a standard PCIE slot as opposed to the small X1 style. This card is also a combo card that has both USB 3.0 ports on it and SATA3 or 6Gbps SATA connections on it. According to ASUS, utilizing the PCIE X4 slot will maximize your bandwidth or speeds you’ll achieve with USB 3.0. let’s find out if that’s true or not…

The U3S6 Card comes in a nice shiny box, and the card comes in an anti-static bag.

Included with the card is a drive disc, manual and two SATA6 cables.

The card is black in color, and doesn’t look like much really. it has two USB 3.0 ports on the PCI slot side so you can access them and two SATA6 connection on the card itself.

Specifications:

ASUS U3S6 USB 3.0/SATA 3 (6Gbps) add on card
Product Code: UPCSF010600

Price: US$55.00

Future Transfer Technology
True SATA 6Gb/s Support
Unique PCIe x4 Bridge Chip for Ultra Performance
Supporting next-generation Serial ATA (SATA) storage interface, this motherboard delivers up to 6.0Gbps data transfer rates. Additionally, get enhanced scalability,faster data retrieval, double the bandwidth of current bus systems.

True USB 3.0 Support
Unique PCIe x4 Bridge Chip for Ultra Performance
Experience ultra-fast data transfers at 4.8Gbps with USB 3.0–the latest connectivity standard. Built to connect easily with next-generation components and

peripherals, USB 3.0 transfers data 10X faster and is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 components.

ASUS U3S6 x4 with Bridge
Maximum Bandwidth to Full Unleash USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s Performance!

Features:
-True SATA 6Gb/s & USB 3.0: Native support PCIe Gen2 bandwidth
-Support Hot Plug function
-Support Native Command Queuing (NCQ)

Specifications:
-Internal Connectors: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports support of up to 2 SATA disk drives
-Internal Connectors:
-Backward compatible with SATA 3Gb/s and SATA 1.5Gb/s hard disk drives External Connectors: 2 x USB 3.0 ports
-External Connectors:
-Backward compatible with USB 2.0/1.1 interface Interface: PCI Express x4 interface

Interface:
-Compatible with PCI Express x4, x8, and x16 slots Configuration Supported: AHCI Mode
-Operating Systems Supported: Windows 7 / Vista / XP 32/64bit
-Form Factor: 122mm x 76mm

Installation is fairly easy, but since I’ve only got two large style PCIE slots on my motherboard I had to remove my second video card to run the tests.

Since this card boasts faster speeds using the X4 PCIE interface as opposed to the X1 PCIE slot, I figured I’d compare it to the one I reviewed not long ago, the Unitek PCIE USB3.0 card.

So I’ve got the USB3.0 2.5” HDD Enclosure, and the Kingston UBS2.0 64gb drive.

First up for testing is ATTO Disk Benchmark.

There’s not much of a difference at all is there…

Here again there’s not much of a difference is there? So much for using a faster PCIE slot.

Here’s testing using SiSoft Sandra 2010 Portable Edition, we see something a bit different here though.

According to this test the Unitek card is much faster than the Asus.

I’m not sure why the results differed so greatly with the Sandra test, I ran the test over again and got he same results though.

To me it’s not worth losing the X16 PCIE slot for a USB3.0 card when I’ve got X1 PCIE slots with nothing in them, especially since I can really see no difference in speeds.

Yes there is the fact that it’s also SATA6 enabled as well, and I haven’t said anything about that just yet. Shortly after this review is up, another will follow of the new Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA6 Hard Drive. In that review I’m using the ASUS PCIE card for my testing.

Conclusion:

I don’t know but personally I wouldn’t waste a full PCIE slot on this card. Sure it has SATA 3 ports on it, but there isn’t much out there that can even utilize it just yet. Is it worth it? I don’t think so really…

Pros:
+Combo card, USB 3.0 and SATA 3
+No additional power needed

Cons:
-Not much difference using X1 or X4 PCIE slots.
-Uses a standard PCIE slot

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

This product was given to technogog for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. To learn more about our review policy please visit this page HERE.