Compatibility issues with my MOBO with front panel USBs and thinking of getting a USB PCIe controller

[AleksiDj73]

(I have no clue where to put this thread and i put it here. If any of the mods see this, put it in the correct category)

 

Hello everyone, i have a question but not sure if it's worth doing or even smart. I own a Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 MOBO that only has USB 2 headers and my GF bought me a case on christmas which is the Cooler Master CMP 520 ARGB which has USB 3.0 and 2.0 in front. However the front panel 2.0 port has compatibility issues with the MOBO meaning some USB sticks do not get recognised and some half work (only with the 2.0 as i don't have a header for the 3.0 port).

 

The question is the following (and not sure if what i'll say exists) but is it worth buying a USB controller with a USB 2.0 and 3.0 header on that controller that connects to PCIe and at the back of the card there are USB 3.0 ports? Does that even exist? Meaning the front case panel USBs (2.0 and 3.0) connect to that controller and having extra 3.0 ports at the back of my computer, would that work and does exist?

 

Thank you!

 

Edit : if possible, affordable controllers not expensive ones

[Tetras]

Cards that only offer rear usb are more common, but yeah, you can get one that has an internal header.

 

This one is USB 3.0, I believe:

PEXUSB3S2EI

 

I'm not sure if you can get one with both a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 header, but I guess somebody would have made one at some point.

[PDifolco]

That's what ? 15 years old, who approximates to middle ages of computer era...

Why spending money on peripherals/extensions on this ?

[AleksiDj73]

23 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Cards that only offer rear usb are more common, but yeah, you can get one that has an internal header.

 

This one is USB 3.0, I believe:

PEXUSB3S2EI

 

I'm not sure if you can get one with both a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 header, but I guess somebody would have made one at some point.

Yeah i did see that before poting this thread and it's only 3.0.

 

And yeah someone defo has done what i asked but it will take searching lol

[AleksiDj73]

11 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

That's what ? 15 years old, who approximates to middle ages of computer era...

Why spending money on peripherals/extensions on this ?

Why not? As long as it works why bother upgrade? I don't care lol. Not gonna shell out the 400 euros i don't have to buy a new mobo cpu and whatnot. I'll use it till it dies

 

Also if i where to buy a controller on this and in the future i bought a new MOBO, that controller wouldn't go to waste...

[PDifolco]

4 minutes ago, AleksiDj73 said:

Why not? As long as it works why bother upgrade? I don't care lol. Not gonna shell out the 400 euros i don't have to buy a new mobo cpu and whatnot. I'll use it till it dies

 

Also if i where to buy a controller on this and in the future i bought a new MOBO, that controller wouldn't go to waste...

If you save the money instead you'll get enough to upgrade eventually...

Not sure the controller will have any use on a modern mobo, they have natively USB-C and tons of USB3

But hey that's your money !

[AleksiDj73]

1 minute ago, PDifolco said:

If you save the money instead you'll get enough to upgrade eventually...

Not sure the controller will have any use on a modern mobo, they have natively USB-C and tons of USB3

But hey that's your money !

I got other priorities right now to save up money on that saving for an upgrade

 

And yes a controller would be of use in a modern mobo, more ports. Even if it didn't have a use, i would sell it

 

But yeah i understand where you're coming from

[Tetras]

27 minutes ago, AleksiDj73 said:

Yeah i did see that before poting this thread and it's only 3.0.

 

And yeah someone defo has done what i asked but it will take searching lol

I assume you checked how much space you have, by the way? Reason I mention that is because if you have plenty of space under the graphics card you could try looking for a PCI one which might open your options up.

 

A local store has one which is PCI & USB 2.0 and it is like $2 brand new in a box.

[Thomas4]

Why not save the time and money and get an external USB splitter? Do what I did and tape it to the exterior of the case where its out of the way? Or, if you have only 2 devices that you want to hook up buy a USB splitter cable.

No taking the case apart, no spending money on a part that you're not going to use in a couple of years anyway as either are always useful, even if only in the case of an emergency.

[AleksiDj73]

12 hours ago, Tetras said:

I assume you checked how much space you have, by the way? Reason I mention that is because if you have plenty of space under the graphics card you could try looking for a PCI one which might open your options up.

 

A local store has one which is PCI & USB 2.0 and it is like $2 brand new in a box.

Could you please elaborate? I didn't understand sorry

[AleksiDj73]

12 hours ago, Thomas4 said:

Why not save the time and money and get an external USB splitter? Do what I did and tape it to the exterior of the case where its out of the way? Or, if you have only 2 devices that you want to hook up buy a USB splitter cable.

No taking the case apart, no spending money on a part that you're not going to use in a couple of years anyway as either are always useful, even if only in the case of an emergency.

Nah i'm not interested in having a usb splitter and taping it on the side of the case. i like things clean but thanks for the suggestion nonetheless

[saintlouisbagels]

8 hours ago, AleksiDj73 said:

Could you please elaborate? I didn't understand sorry

They are asking if the remaining PCIe slots are still accessible, or if they're obstructed by whatever graphics card and capture cards you have installed.

 

20 hours ago, AleksiDj73 said:

Yeah i did see that before poting this thread and it's only 3.0.

 

And yeah someone defo has done what i asked but it will take searching lol

You shouldn't try to find a single card that does everything. You want as many USB controllers as you can get. If ALL USB ports are controlled by a single controller, you will run into a bottleneck quickly and have disconnection issues. 

 

A motherboard will typically have 2 USB controllers and it will share the ~8 USB ports between them.

This is important because connecting multiple hard drives, a webcam, etc. all to 1 controller will have unintended issues.

 

Leave the low-power items like computer mouse and keyboard to the USB 2.0 ports on your motherboard.

Purchase this card and use it for USB 3 flashdrives and hard drives. This has 1 USB controller.

https://www.amazon.com/FebSmart-Header-Build-Self-Powered-Technology-No-FS-U7S-Pro/dp/B081Y4TK5H/

If you still have space, maybe buy another card and add some more USB-C to your computer. This has 1 USB controller.

https://www.amazon.com/FebSmart-Ports-Build-Self-Powered-Technology-No-FS-U3C2-Pro/dp/B09BMBSPQM/

 

Honestly though... at the cost of adding multiple PCIe cards... you should really just save your money and buy a modern motherboard. I'm not saying that you should spend several hundred $$ on a gaming motherboard. Literally anything from the last several years... YOU'RE STILL ON USB 2.0 WHAT THE HELL.

 

edit: after the graphics card, you only have 1 available PCIe slot. The other 2 slots are PCI and mostly limited to USB 2.0 options.

Edited May 22 by saintlouisbagels

[Tetras]

3 hours ago, AleksiDj73 said:

Could you please elaborate? I didn't understand sorry

I didn't know why you're specifically looking @ PCI-Express cards, but I assumed the reason was because your other expansion slots are being blocked by a graphics card, since they're immediately underneath that slot.

 

Your other expansion slots are both PCI and while this is now obsolete and rarely present on modern boards, there are still quite a few USB 2 cards available for PCI slots and they're often dirt cheap. Like I said, there's a store here that has USB 2 PCI cards for just $2, BNIB.

 

If your PCI slots are blocked by a graphics card then this is obviously irrelevant.

[saintlouisbagels]

5 hours ago, Tetras said:

I didn't know why you're specifically looking @ PCI-Express cards, but I assumed the reason was because your other expansion slots are being blocked by a graphics card, since they're immediately underneath that slot.

 

Your other expansion slots are both PCI and while this is now obsolete and rarely present on modern boards, there are still quite a few USB 2 cards available for PCI slots and they're often dirt cheap. Like I said, there's a store here that has USB 2 PCI cards for just $2, BNIB.

 

If your PCI slots are blocked by a graphics card then this is obviously irrelevant.

Ah I was confused by what you were saying too - I forgot there was a difference between PCI and PCIe.

It looks like OP should be fine with getting either PCI and PCIe. I doubt he is somehow using a fat graphics card that overlaps both of the PCI slots... he is using a USB 2.0 motherboard after all lol.

 

[AleksiDj73]

On 5/22/2024 at 3:46 PM, Tetras said:

I didn't know why you're specifically looking @ PCI-Express cards, but I assumed the reason was because your other expansion slots are being blocked by a graphics card, since they're immediately underneath that slot.

 

Your other expansion slots are both PCI and while this is now obsolete and rarely present on modern boards, there are still quite a few USB 2 cards available for PCI slots and they're often dirt cheap. Like I said, there's a store here that has USB 2 PCI cards for just $2, BNIB.

 

If your PCI slots are blocked by a graphics card then this is obviously irrelevant.

Oh shoot lol i forgot to mention either pcie or pci is fine, not ONLY pcie

[AleksiDj73]

On 5/22/2024 at 6:30 PM, saintlouisbagels said:

Ah I was confused by what you were saying too - I forgot there was a difference between PCI and PCIe.

It looks like OP should be fine with getting either PCI and PCIe. I doubt he is somehow using a fat graphics card that overlaps both of the PCI slots... he is using a USB 2.0 motherboard after all lol.

 

i got a 1050 ti so defo that pci1 is covered by the gpu. and as i said above i forgot to mention either pci or pcie is fine