[IDF2009] Impressive USB 3.0 presentations

On the IDF tech showcase, several manufacturers surprised us with impressive USB 3.0 presentations. Products using the new version of the popular connector are to become available by the end of this year. The available bandwidth is tenfold the current generation; from USB 2.0's 48 Megabyte/s to 480 Megabyte/s for USB 3.0.

Chip designer Fresco Logic demonstrated its FL1000 controller chip. The chip is powered by a PCI-Express x1 slot. Though this makes it impossible to attain the full speed of USB 3.0 (A PCI-Express x1 slot can only reach speeds of up to 250 Megabyte/s), Fresco states that its more than enough for all USB 3.0 applications. The chip is to be mass-produced soon and will be used by ASUS for expansion cards. The chip can also be integrated directly into a motherboard. There's quite a big chance the next generation of P55 and X58 boards will use these chips for their USB 3.0 ports.

ASUS FL1000 USB 3.0 controller with Fresco Logic chip.

To demonstrate the power of their FL1000 chip, Fresco used a USB 3.0 webcam, manufactured by Point Grey. This high-end webcam sports a 1920x1080 Full HD resolution and thanks to USB 3.0's bandwidth, is capable of processing images uncompressed at 60 fps. The result is an unprecedented image quality for a webcam.

USB 3.0 1080p webcam by Point Grey

60 fps at a 1080p resolution, only possible with USB 3.0

The Japanese manufacturer Fujitsu showed its USB 3.0 to SATA conversion chips. These can be used in external hard disk chassis. The chip was demonstrated with a prototype Buffalo external USB 3.0 hard disk, once again connected to an ASUS FL1000 card. The result: in benchmarks speeds of up to 126,9 MB/s were reached, where USB 2.0 stalled at just over 30 MB/s. The new situation places the bottleneck at the hard disk, not the interface.

Buffalo external USB 3.0 hard disk, equipped with a Fujitsu controller.

Speeds of up to 126,9 Megabyte/s were reached.

Fresco and other manufacturers were unable to make any statements regarding the pricetags of USB 3.0 expansion cards. One thing that was mentioned though was that USB 3.0 cards are to reach the price level of USB 2.0 controllers in just a year from now.

Tags: hd sata usb usb3 x58 p55

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