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Review on 💻 FebSmart 5X USB-A Ports PCIE USB 3.2 Gen 2 Expansion Card for Windows 7.8, 8.1, 10, Server; MAC OS 10.9.x, 10.10.x, 10.12.x, 10.13.x, 10.14.x, 10.15.x - Self-Powered Technology (FS-A5-Pro) by Shane Jess

Revainrating 4 out of 5

NOT USB 3.2 and NOT PCIe x4

I got this card for my backup server - HP DL140 G3 - which didn't have USB3 ports. I have a ZFS array connected to this computer via multiple USB drives, so the throughput of these drives will definitely be high. This machine has PCIe, but it's only PCIe v1.0, so getting a card that uses more PCIe lanes to compensate for the older/slower PCIe bus was important. I chose this particular card because both the pictures and the description indicate it is a PCIe x4 card and it appears to be the cheapest PCIe x4 card - there are x8 and x16 ones Maps but they all seem overpriced. expensive. Installation was relatively easy - it's a Linux machine and the Linux kernel recognized it right away. The machine has been standing for almost a day and there have been no problems. (Not even any warnings/device reboots from the kernel!) However, immediately after installing the card, I ran "sudo lspci -vv" on the machine to see how it identified itself (output at the end of this post). Two problems were immediately apparent: - It identifies itself as a PCIe x2 card, not PCIe x4 - It identifies itself as a USB 3.1 host controller, not USB 3.2. The "USB 3.1 not USB 3.2" part isn't that great. Deal for me - as I'm not even sure if the drives I plugged in support USB 3.2. However, the "PCIe x2, not PCIe x4" part annoys me because it basically means I'm only getting half the bandwidth I expected from this card. And this seems to agree with one of the other reviewers who installed it on their Mac and got similar data from the System Information app. an improvement over my previous PCIe x1 card. I just wish it was a x4 card. Below is the output from lspci (truncated to only show the information for that card). Please note that the "LnkCap" line shows "Speed 8GT/s x2 width" which means it supports PCIe v3.0 speeds but can only use 2 PCIe lanes. The "LnkSta" line shows "Speed 2.5 GT/s (degraded), width x2 (good)" which means that PCIe v1.0 speeds are used (because that's what my computer supports), and is actually used there 2 PCIe lanes. .10:00.0 USB Controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller (prog-if 30 [XHCI]) Subsystem: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop - ParErr+ Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx+ Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAabort- <TAabort- <MAbort- > SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 0, cache line size: 64 bytes interrupt : Pin A is redirected to IRQ 16. Region 0: Memory level dfb00000 (64-bit, no prefetch) [size = 32 KB] Capabilities: [ 50] MSI: Enable – Count = 1/8 Maskable – 64bit+ Address: 00000000000000000 Data: 0000 Capabilities: [68] MSI- X: Enable+ Count = 8 Masked – Vector table: BAR = 0 offset = 00002000 PBA: BAR = 0 offset =00002080 Capabilities: [78] Power Management Version 3 Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- Auxiliary power = 55mA PME(D0+ ,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME- Enable- DSel =0 DScale=0 PME+ Features: [80] Express (v2) Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00 DevCap: MaxPayload 512 bytes, PhantFunc 0 , Latency L0s <64ns, L1 <2us ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLRe set- DevCtl: CorrErr- NonFatalErr- FatalErr- UnsupReq- RlxdOrd+ ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+ MaxPayload Req: Max1 CortesErr 128 bytes, CorrErr.- FatalErr- NonalFatalr - NonFatalErr- FatalErr- UnsupReq+ AuxPwr+ TransPend- LnkTCap0, speed #T/ , width x2, ASPM L0s L1, output delay L0s <2us, L1 unlimited ClockPM- Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOpt Comp+ LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk+ ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt- LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s (lowered), Width x2 (good) TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt- DevCap2: Completion timeout: not supported , TimeoutDis-, NROPrPrP-, LTR+ 10BitTagComp-, 10BitTagReq-, OBFF not supported, ExtFmt-, EETLPPrefix- EmergencyPowerReduction not supported, EmergencyPowerReductionInit- FRS- AtomicOpsCap: 32bit- 64bit- 128bitCAS- DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms , LTR, OBFF disabled AtomicOpsCtl: ReqEn- LnkCtl2: Target link speed: 8GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis- Transmission range: Normal operating range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS- Compliance Deemphasis: -6dB LnkSta2: Current accent suppression level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1- EqualizationPhase2, EqualizationPhase3, LinkEqualizationRequest Functions: [100 v1] Enhanced Error Reporting - UEMsk: DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltT O- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol- UESvrt: DLP+ SDES+ TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol- CEsta: RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Fatal- AdvNon - CEMsk: RxErr - BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- AdvNonFatalErr+ AERCap: Указатель первой ошибки: 00, ECRCGenCap+ ECRCGenEn- ECRCChkCap- ECRCChkEn- MultHdrRecCap- MultHdrRecEn- TLPPfxCap: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 Возможности: [200 v1] Secondary PCI Express LnkCtl3: LnkEquIntrruptEn-, PerformEqu - LaneErrStat: 0 Capabilities: [300 v1] Latency Tolerance Report max tracking delay: 0 ns max non-tracking latency: 0 ns Kernel driver used:

Pros
  • Easy to use
Cons
  • Quick guide