USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1?

[Austroknot]

Okay, I understand the basic principle that 3.1 gen 2 is faster than 3.0, which is faster than 2.0 and so forth, but I'm not really understanding it's real world implications. If I was looking to build a computer, what is the main reason I would have to make sure my mobo/case supports usb 3.1? What can someone plug into a 3.1 port that won't work in 3.0 or 2.0 (or be so slow it's not worth plugging into a slower standard)? Is there anything you could utilize a 3.1 usb port for that would have drastic improvements over slower standards similar to the difference between switching from a harddrive to an M.2 NVMe SSD?

[ZcanKal]

8 minutes ago, Austosaur said:

Okay, I understand the basic principle that 3.1 gen 2 is faster than 3.0, which is faster than 2.0 and so forth, but I'm not really understanding it's real world implications. If I was looking to build a computer, what is the main reason I would have to make sure my mobo/case supports usb 3.1? What can someone plug into a 3.1 port that won't work in 3.0 or 2.0 (or be so slow it's not worth plugging into a slower standard)? Is there anything you could utilize a 3.1 usb port for that would have drastic improvements over slower standards similar to the difference between switching from a harddrive to an M.2 NVMe SSD?

USB drives come to mind, as well as what you said, external drives, not NVMe because that would run on Thunderbolt since their both PCIe but just external drives.

[Beef Boss]

Just data speeds, that and if you want to boot from an external hard drive or ssd you'll need at least a USB 3.0

[Jtalk4456]

To be clear, while data speed might be all you get, having said this, most motherboards come with 3.0 or 3.1 these days, so I wouldn't focus too much on that when shopping for motherboards unless you move data around alot

[Christophe Corazza]

On 9-6-2018 at 9:05 AM, aki adaki said:

Just data speeds, that and if you want to boot from an external hard drive or ssd you'll need at least a USB 3.0

 

For the average consumer who simply uses his computer for daily tasks like web browsing, writing text, reading email etc. there is no real need of going balls to the walls for a USB 3.1 interface.