USB3.0 Controller Benchmarks
With the release of our USB3.0 Loopback Plug, we wanted to test the performance of various USB 3.0 host controllers currently on the market. To do this, we carried out the following benchmark with a USB 3.0 flash drive and with our USB 3.0 loopback plug. Testing was done on some on board host controllers and a number of PCI-e USB 3.0 expansion cards.
* Motherboard USB3.0 Controller.
PCI-e Card Specifications
| Name | No. Ports | PCI-e Ver | PCI-e Lanes | Driver on Website | Power | Controller Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silverstone SST-EC04-P | 2 | 2.0 | 1 | Yes | Molex 8981 | Renesas |
| Repotec RP-UB344EX* | 4 | 1.1 | 1 | No | None | VLI |
| Astrotek CPEU3F2 | 1 | 1.1 | 1 | Yes | None | Fresco |
| Vantec UGT-PC312 | 2 | Unknown | 1 | Yes | Molex 8981 | NEC |
| Turbo Leopard UP-312C | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | Yes | Molex 8981 | Renesas |
* Repotec card not test due to lack of availability of drivers.
PC Hardware Configuration
| OS | CPU | USB3.0 Controller Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| Windows XP (32-bit) | Intel E8400 | No USB 3.0 |
| Windows 7 (64-bit) | Intel i7-2600 | Asmedia |
| Windows 8 (64-bit) | AMD E-350 | Renesas |
Test Information
The flash drive test was done using PerformanceTest's advanced disk test with the following settings.
- 1 minute duration
- 2GB test file size
- 2mb blocks
- Win32 Uncached
- 100% reading, then 100% writing (seperate tests run at independently)
- 100% sequential
- 50% random data
The loopback plug test was done with the USB3Test software using the following settings.
- 1 minute duration
- Read test and write test done seperately (not using the 'Read&Write' or 'Read then Write' test options)
- In No 1
- Out No 1
- Burst Length 16
- Constant 170
Observations
- The results on XP are overall lower, it's unclear wether this is due to the OS or the older hardware present in the system.
- Attempts to locate the driver for the Repotec card were unsuccessful. The card did not come with any media and the drivers were not available from the manufacturers website. Attempts to contact the manufacturer went did not yield any response.
- The loopback plug failed to connect on the Astrotek card under Windows 7. We speculate there may be a bug in the 64-bit driver for this card. The plug powered on and displayed the correct information, but failed to be recognized by the system in any manner.
- Flash drive write speeds were more limited by the physical nature of the flash media than the USB bus speed.
- The USB3.0 ports on the Gigabyte motherboard of the Windows 8 PC only appeared as USB2.0 to the system. Both the Loopback plug and the flash drive therefore only ran at 2.0 speeds. The cause of this is unknown, possibly lack of appropriate Win 8 drivers.
- USB3Test Isochronous mode failed to work on both the Vantec card in Windows XP, and the Gigabyte motherboard ports on Windows 8..