USB Add-on

[gstope]

I have an old abit bx6 rev 2 m/b. After this holiday season, I now have 4 USB periphials, (mouse,scanner,web cam and and digital camera) but only have two usb connections on the back of my computer.

My question is: Would I be better off buying a four port hub and using one of the existing ports to connect all items or would it be better to buy an adapter to connect to the extra USB pins on the moterboard, thereby, ending up with four individual usb connections on the back of the computer?

I Know it easy to do either setup but I want to know if there is any advantage one way or the other?

[edge345]

Go for the 4 port hub. you then will have 1 spare usb port for a PRINTER or what ever else you need it for....

[Tuf]

I would probably buy a hub and plug it and the mouse to the mobo. Better yet buy a USB 2.0 card and and four ports that have USB 2.0 capability.

[andyms18a]

id go for a powerd 4 port hub and take the presher off your psu

[glc]

AC powered USB hub is the best solution unless you want to upgrade to USB 2.0 with a card.

[gstope]

Is USB 2.0 that much faster? I think the pci card costs are about the same as the powered hubs?

If it is better then I will get a usb 2.0 card.

[andyms18a]

yes usb 2 is faster with usb2 devices but with usb1 it runs at the same speed make shour you have a good psu if you go with the usb2 card

[gstope]

By PSU, your talking about the power supply? If so, I have a 300 watt power supply. Is there a way to see what is the actual load on the power supply?

[Tuf]

USB 1.1 speeds are rated up to 12MB per second, USB 2.0 speeds are raed up to 480MB per second. The device must support the 2.0 standards to see any benefit. They ratings are a little misleading. But a USB 2.0 scanner will be a lot faster than a 1.1 one.