Review on StarTech Com Express SuperSpeed Adapter MPEXUSB3S2 by Ricky Brooks

I bought this because my motherboard offers an MPCIe & Msata (Asus MAXIMUS V GENE) combo slot. It works with this card. It runs on a Renesas chipset (it might be important for some to know, for example the Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle for USB 3.0 Tech Sheet states that they base this product on a Renesas chip, it MAY work with others but they only guarantee a Renesas chip). It has a power connector that resembles a floppy disk power plug. Luckily I didn't cut it off my power supply like in the past, otherwise a simple Molex floppy cable would be required. The ONLY thing I can think of negative about this product is the pinout. It is used to switch from MPCIe card to PCI bracket, it is not a standard USB 3.0 connector. So if you want to connect some USB 3.0 ports (internal memory card reader, USB 3.0 port on the front) internally, you have to come up with a few tricks to get the pin assignment working. My specific issues are NOT with the product but with this product in my setup: #1 Even though it's an MPCIe slot, Asus expects you to use a low-profile WiFi card like this (Intel Network Centrino WiFi card) use as the combo slot includes a bracket that secures the expansion cards to the combo slot. This bracket will NOT fit with this Startech card installed. I had to cheat with a zip tie to secure the card in place. #2 My case is a Silverstone Tek Micro-ATX case, if you look at the photos from the back you can see 2 vertical vents. I WANT these vents to be able to mount a PCI bracket like in this case (Cooler Master HAF 912). This way I can conserve the small expansion slots I have on the motherboard.