CSL PCI Express expansion card with four USB3.0 interfaces! Use the rapid USB 3.0 peripheral devices with your computer now! This PCI Express card by CSL expands your PC by four rapid USB 3.0 interfaces. The controller provides you with four USB 3.0 ports and can be easily plugged into the PCI Express slot of your PC. The modern USB interface corresponds to the current USB 3.0 standard with a maximum transfer speed of up to 5Gb/s. You can use 4x USB peripheral devices in parallel, thus achieving the highest possible flexibility. Another advantage of this versatile PCI Express expansion card is the reliable connection of the peripheral memory to your computer up to 5Gb/s: The device is compatible with a variety of peripheral equipment, such as USB memory, USB hard disks, external CD drives, MP3 players or digital cameras. The PCI Express card is downward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1, thus ensuring comprehensive compatibility. The Plug & Play function ensures quick and easy operation. Moreover, a 15-pin SATA power connection ensures a stable energy supply.
M**N
Nice expansion card
Just to be clear (since there are 10 different product options here) this review is for the 4-port USB 3.0 PCIe card.Bought this as had run out of USB sockets. Easy to install and Windows 10 Home picked it up straight away without any manual intervention for driver installation. Initially, one external drive failed to show but reappeared after a reboot (probably my bad trying to relocate all the cables in one go). Since there are a multitude of hardware and other variables that can impact transfer speeds, I can't make any definitive comment other than file transfer rates are as good as they were. Rather than sit there with a stopwatch bemoaning speeds, I prefer to so something more worthwhile with my time.If all you want is more USB sockets then this item fits the bill admirably.UPDATE: Had no problem moving files around 100MB to external drive but ran into problems copying a 6.5GB file. That generated a semaphore timeout error which locked up my file browser and even Task Manager couldn't budge it (unfroze it by powering down the external drive). Turned out it it did need the supplied drivers installing and now working fine.
C**H
So far so good
Bought this as a replacement for the old USB3 card I had in my PCI-E slot. It arrived on time and was well packagedInstallation* This card was an absolute pig to install, I do not know why it wouldn't go into the slot but it really had me swearing, as a last resort I had to very carefully bend the metal plate at the bottom a millimeter or so and finally it clicked in.* Power was easy to connect and the power splitters / plug converters were useful* Drivers were easy to install from disk and worked first time.Usage:* The card has been working well since purchase without issue* Works quickly as it allows me to use the full 200mb connection rate for the internet through my dongle* Can't comment on longevity yet as I've not had it long enough, should it start to fail like the other one, I will update my review but so far so good.Compatibility issues :* Just the one, for some reason it doesn't like my Corsair gaming keyboard. As soon as I start tapping keys it disconnects and reconnects, however I'm using my USB 2 connections for this now as it doesn't need the speed so not a problem for me.Summary :Can't complain really, couldn't give the card 5 stars due to the pain of plugging it in, and the compatibility issue, but for the price and it's reliability so far, I haven't got much to complain about.
P**N
4-port USB 3.0 PCIe card - works using supplied drivers
These reviews seem to be for different devices. This for the 4-port USB 3.0 PCIe card.It was supplied with instructions in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German.I was surprised that my Windows 10 installation did not recognise an extra device installed on the motherboard, even an unidentified device, but a search on the CD found a setup.exe file, not as described in the instructions, which I ran, the drivers installed straight away, and a USB card reader that I connected worked.In the device manager the card shows as a Renasas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller and a Renasas Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub. Don't know if these are the best drivers but they work for me.
M**T
Card worked but maybe safety issues?
I am on the fence. The card worked, although for Win7/64 I needed the driver disc supplied. But something went wrong on day 2 that resulted in a huge over-voltage, melting the insulation off one of the 5V wires in the power feed to the card. In fairness it is not clear whether this was a fault in the card or the device connected to it (which was also new). However, I would have hoped for an over-current protection on the card.I cannot fault CSL customer service, which sent out a replacement card on the assumption that it was faulty. At the end of the day the card was cheap and it did work. I do not see other reports of meltdowns so it's probably worth trying. At this price you can always throw it away and start again if it doesn't work.UPDATE 15/02/16The manufacturer of the device I had connected says it is not faulty. So my reasoning is that the USB card or the power cable was faulty. There is no obvious evidence of a short at the cable connectors.
A**R
An effective way to add 4x USB 3.0 ports to an older computer
A PC in our office was built in 2011 just because USB 3.0 became mainstream, so this PCIe card was a great way to add 4x USB 3.0 ports to that computer, allowing fast access to USB 3 hard drives and card readers. I was impressed you get both Molex and SATA power cables in the box, so even if the computers PSU has no free Molex or SATA power connections you can still power this PCIe card with no issues.Drivers were installed on Windows 10 Version 1703 as soon as the user logged on.Great value for money as this was cheaper than competing products and provided more USB ports. I will keep CSL products in mind for future hardware purchases, even the packaging looked pretty nice, not that it really matters, however it certainly reinforces you have purchased a quality product.
H**K
Speed shows a great improvement over the USB 2
Very simple to install on desktop running Windows 10 anniversary edition. Driver was automatically installed by the OS. Note that the package includes a SATA power splitter cable so I didn't need to buy one (OK I admit I didn't realise this when I ordered it so I ordered one at the same time. I have a spare now!) I did need a SATA power extension cable and I suspect most installations will need this.I contacted customer support with a question after I installed the product and received a very detailed, helpful and well considered response. I was very impressed.Speed shows a great improvement over the USB 2.0 connections even on my now rather old machine.
C**N
Plug & Play but quality lacking.
This was plug & play with my Windows 10 system. My only gripe is the quality of the board... The PCIe connector is a bit loose so I don't expect it to survive much unplugging and plugging back in.Secondly, and more importantly, the front panel is not perfectly perpendicular to the PCB, which means that to get the PCI to slot in place I needed to bend the silver front panel of this board slightly. Even then, it took a little more pressure than I would have liked to get it to seat properly.
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