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Question

Can I upgrade my computer with a USB 3 card?

Dec 23, 2014 2:50AM PST

So I have a Dell Studio XPS 8100, I believe. Late 2010, great PC for its age (graphics card isn't the best, but otherwise good.)

-Core i5 650, 3.2GHz
-ATI Radeon HD 5450
-8GB RAM
-WD 1TB hard drive (partitioned with Windows 7 and 8, although I really never have used the 7 partition.)
(Research shows that this is a Sata-6, 7200rpm HDD)

I will be off to college in a year and a half, so I'll get a new laptop then. In the meantime, I want to bring this PC up to date a little. It's been a great machine, but I've been gambling enough with essentially no backup, so I want to begin the process of backing things up.


So, to help me with my new external hard drive (a replacement for one that crashed, I think I'll use online backup too as a "backup to the backup"), I want to get a USB 3.0 card. The issue is that my PC apparently has few upgrade slots.

There are 4 slots on the back, and 2 are taken (from top to bottom, it is taken-free-taken-free I think)... I think the PCI-e x16 slot has the Radeon in it. Another slot has a Wi-Fi card (which I do not use anymore, rather using a long Ethernet cable.)

I am very unfamiliar with expansion slots, and I want to know whether my PC has the power supply cables and free space to support a USB 3,.0 card. The PC has never been opened before (at least not for upgrades, IDK about cleaning.) Can anybody with some more knowledge of this system enlighten me?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I added USB 3 to a 2009 HP desktop
Dec 23, 2014 3:01AM PST

I bought a PCIe USB 3 card and put it into a 5 year old HP desktop, and it works fine. All you need is a PCIe X1 slot, but you can use the wider PCIe slots if desired or needed. My card's an Inland I think I paid around $30 for. It works just fine with Vista, Windows 8.1, and the pre-release Windows 10.

Good luck.

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Answer
Let's say this is your Dell. (link)
Dec 23, 2014 3:02AM PST
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/studio-xps-8100/manuals

I looked at this and found FOUR SLOTS:
"PCI one 124-pin connector
PCI Express x1 two 36-pin connectors
PCI Express x16 one 164-pin connector"

So we know the x16 is used but can't tell which of the other 3 are used. You'll have to open it and inspect which slot is open.

While you're in there (power off of course) you can do your bi-monthly canned air cleaning and then tell which slot is open.

Newegg and Amazon have many USB 3.0 card available.
Bob
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Answer
From what I read,
Dec 23, 2014 4:41AM PST

there's only one open PCIe-x1 slot. That could be use for the card. Just make sure that's the slot it need. Another method maybe to go SATA, I see there is an eSATA port there.

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Do I have a power cable?
Dec 23, 2014 7:47AM PST

I've heard your PSU must have a free Molex cable or whatever kind the card uses. My PSU is stock, but I've never modified the PC, so do I probably have a free power cable?

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You could use an external case like this.
Dec 23, 2014 2:18PM PST
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I have a USB drive ready, I don't want a new drive/case
Dec 23, 2014 3:06PM PST

Do most PCs come stock with extra Molex or SATA power connectors?

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If you have a USB drive,
Dec 24, 2014 1:35AM PST

is it a 2 or 3? If it's 2 then I am not sure exactly how much a usb3 card is going to help. As for power connector, it sounds to me you are just thinking of connecting a bare harddrive to the computer. In that case, you could use a "ducking" unit instead of an external case. Or maybe what bob b suggested.

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Answer
I have that machine
Dec 23, 2014 6:58AM PST
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Answer
I'd get rid of the wifi card first
Dec 23, 2014 7:12AM PST

Might as well empty that slot since you're connected via ethernet.
Than do what Bob said. Silly

Digger

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Answer
Find this first
Dec 25, 2014 1:05PM PST

If i am not wrong i guess XPS 8100 has 1 x PSI slot and 2 x PCIe x1. First check whether the slot is open or not. If yes then you can upgrade pc with USB 3.0

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Answer
Isn't an upgrade if PCI used, maybe if PCIe is used
Dec 26, 2014 1:29AM PST
PCI

Width in bits 32 or 64
Speed 133 MB/s (32-bit at 33 MHz - the standard configuration)
266 MB/s (32-bit at 66 MHz or 64-bit at 33 MHz)
533 MB/s (64-bit at 66 MHz)

PCIe

Speed

Per lane, in each direction:

v1.x: 250 MB/s (2.5 GT/s)
v2.x: 500 MB/s (5 GT/s)
v3.0: 985 MB/s (8 GT/s)
v4.0: 1969 MB/s (16 GT/s)


For a 16-lane slot, in each direction:

v1.x: 4 GB/s (2.5 GT/s)
v2.x: 8 GB/s (5 GT/s)
v3.0: 15.75 GB/s (8 GT/s)
v4.0: 31.51 GB/s (16 GT/s)



USB 3.0

is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus
(USB) standard for computer connectivity. Among other improvements,
USB 3.0 adds a new transfer mode called "SuperSpeed" (SS), capable of
transferring data at up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s), which is more than ten
times as fast as the 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) high speed of USB 2.0.