The pragmatism of it
ASUS UK provided us with a caddy and controller card with which to test USB 3.0 performance.
We placed a Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB hard-drive in and tested performance by connecting the caddy to a USB 3.0 totin' ASUS card via both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cables.
The caddy is a generic-looking enclosure on first glance. Take a peek at the back, shown below, and you can spy the USB 3.0 port. Remember, you can plug a USB 2.0 type-B cable right in and it will work just fine, albeit at a slower speed. Bear in mind the USB 3.0 cable's pin arrangement means that it won't fit into a regular USB 2.0 port.
The enclosure is the easy portion of the equation. We've noted that Intel is dragging its heels over implementation of USB 3.0 so it's left up to manufacturers to provide the necessary controller(s). The ASUS U3S6 features an NEC D720200F1 controller (middle-left) alongside a PLX PEX 8613 switch that's hooked up to a PCIe x4 interface.
The two-port card also features a Marvell SATA 6Gbps controller (middle-right) and two ports on the very edge of the PCB. The PCIe x4 interface is divided between USB 2.0 and SATA 6Gbps. We'll be testing SATA 6Gbps performance a little later on.
The card should also be available separately for around £25, we're told.
