I decided to order a USB 3.0 board for my now old (after all, I assembled it in 2012 from a budget kit) computer. Not that I really needed it, but for example, there was a need to test the speed of microSD cards, but I could not do this.
During the next order for Ali, I decided to satisfy my Wishlist. Searching at the lowest prices, I found a couple of options: with two 3.0 ports and a 19-pin output for connecting additional ports to the front panel, or a 4-port one, but without a 19-pin output. I was already about to order the second option (the output to the front panel was still not going to be ordered), as Ali noticed this board in the links offered to me. I read the reviews and decided to stay with her.
Pros: the price is relatively low - $ 7.94 with delivery; 4 USB ports, 1 internal USB port + 19-pin output for usb connections 3.0 on the front panel.
Minuses: judging by the reviews, the seller is one of those fearless guys who sends a fragile item without any protection, just in a package; the molex connector looks towards the roof of the system unit; there is no mounting screw in the kit, but it is necessary, otherwise the board hangs.
In general, I decided to order. The item was sent using China Post Registered Air Mail and arrived in my Postal office 3 weeks after ordering. It took another day for the department to sort it and put the status: "Arrived at the post office."
The board came not so well packaged, but there is minimal protection - an envelope with a bubble wrap, a board in a sealed antistatic bag, and even a disk not only lies with the board facing it (as was described in the reviews), but also packed in your bag. However, this did not prevent him from getting a few noticeable bumps during delivery (although the seller might already put them like that). In general, the quality of service is improving and, perhaps, someday it will reach a normal level.
I immediately put the board in a free pci-e connector, connected the power, closed the lid and turned on the computer. He pushed, strangely squeaked and did not turn on. After trying a couple more times, I was in the mood to swear with the seller, again removed the cover, pulled the board out of the connector, put it back in, disconnected and connected the molex, and again tried to turn on the machine. It started up, deleting the hibernation files along the way (just like mysku deleted all my typed text now and I have to type it a second time). Because Since my system is the seventh Windows, the board did not pick up and I had to install the drivers manually. Without further ado, I inserted the attached disc into the drive, however, not particularly hoping that it would be detected. However, the disk was identified and I was able to install the driver from it. After that, a board appeared in the dispatcher: 
I have few USB 3.0 devices, a couple of flash drives and two external hdd-ssd boxes. And then I ordered the latter not for the sake of speed, but only because usb 3.0 uses a normal, not Y-shaped cable. So I decided to check them out. The speed seems to correspond to usb 3.0: 
I did not take photos of the device before installation in the case, because the device is identical to the photos presented on the product page. However, I will add a couple of screenshots obtained from the unboxing video:
Attention! Contraindicated for people who are not tolerant of bad photos in low resolution!
I plan to buy +15 Add to favorites Liked the review +17 +28
Hello dear readers, lately the high-speed USB 3.0 connector has become more and more popular, gradually replacing its previous version, but not all motherboards are equipped with it. Many users are already missing the standard speed of USB 2.0 and want something faster. Buying a new motherboard is often too expensive, so the only way out is to install an expansion board, which we will make in this review.
Externally, the difference between USB 3.0 and 2.0 is that the USB 3.0 connector is blue, and also has large quantity contacts. USB 3.0 is also backwards compatible with devices based on its previous version.
Benefits of USB 3.0
1) The USB 3.0 connector has 8 pins, while the USB 2.0 only has 4, this increases the throughput to 5Gbps.
2) Also, the controller can simultaneously receive and send data, which increases the speed of operation.
3) USB 3.0 has a higher current rating. HDD, which did not run on USB 2.0, will work quite stably. Also, those devices that normally lacked USB 2.0 current will charge faster.
4) USB 3.0 is compatible with its previous versions. If you connect old usb 2.0 device, it will run at the maximum speed possible for it.
Packaging and equipment
The controller comes in a red and white cardboard box. All information on the box English language. The manufacturer assures us of the excellent quality of its product, which is written on the box as many as 4 times. The box erroneously depicts a controller that is different from what comes in the package.The controller is designed for installation in a PCI Express x1 slot
The set itself consists of:
1) USB 3.0 controller
2) mini-CD disk with drivers
3) User manual
Installing the controller in a PC
First, remove the cover from the case
Now you need to remove the plug from the connector in which you are going to put the controller
Inside view
We "clear" the place for the controller (for example, I need to move the wires) and insert the card. Card inserted easily and evenly
View of the controller from the back of the case
Now you need to find a screw in order to fix the controller. Unfortunately it is not included in the kit.
Everything, the screw is in place, the installation of the controller in the PC is completed.
Driver installation
After installing the controller and turning on the computer, operating system Failed to install drivers...
…so we'll use the CD that was included.
There are 6 folders on the disk, among which we need VL800
We go into this folder, run the installation (setup.exe), then sequentially press the button next.
Note: if you are missing local disk C, the installation will fail until you insert any USB stick. However, the drivers will still be installed on the system drive.
Installation completed.
We check if everything is in order. To do this, go to the device manager.
Now you can see that the drivers were installed correctly and the device was detected.
The user manual contained separate sheet dedicated to installing drivers on Windows 7 x64, containing many complex actions for the average user. It offered to open a special file for editing drivers manually, but no such file was found on the entire driver disk. I had to install Windows 7 x64 specifically for the test and check it on it. Similar steps were taken as described above, and the drivers installed without problems. Accordingly, the instructions in the user manual can simply be ignored.
Also check new version driver downloaded from via-labs.com
The installer successfully detected the device and installed the drivers. However, after restarting the computer at its request, we see this:
When connecting any USB devices there was no response to the controller. There were attempts to install drivers over the old ones, as well as when complete removal previous version drivers. Changing PC didn't help. Hence the conclusion: new drivers are not always better than old ones, the main thing in them is not novelty, but stability.
The third version of the USB standard was finally adopted in 2008. Then the development companies, which included Intel, NEC, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, agreed on the final specification. new standard retained compatibility with USB 2.0 connectors and allowed the correct use of devices that corresponded to it. In addition, the throughput of the connection was significantly increased. Now the transfer rate was 600 megabytes per second. The changes also affected the current strength: it was increased to 900 mA.It seemed that high-speed devices would soon appear. Copying files will be 10 (!) times faster, which means that flash drives and external hard drives will become much more convenient to use. But in 2009, data appeared that one of the world's leading manufacturers Intel does not plan mass implementation USB support 3.0 in chipsets until early 2011. There is a strange situation: there is a standard, but there are practically no motherboards with its support.
Meanwhile at the market computer technology devices capable of working with USB 3.0 began to flicker more and more often. At the same time, a number of manufacturers have motherboards with an appropriate controller only in the higher price range. What if you want to use high speeds, but there is no port on the computer? It turns out there is a workaround.
The need for invention is cunning, or how to get USB ports without a USB controller
The point is that there is PCI Express port, which provides sufficient bandwidth compared to USB ports. And at the same time, such connectors are available on almost any motherboard, regardless of model, cost and release date. Of course, if you do not consider very outdated devices, dating back a couple of decades active use for the benefit of the owner. The reason is that this connector has become actively used to install graphics cards. Accordingly, manufacturers cannot ignore it. This means that there is a high probability of finding a free PCI-e slot on the motherboard. Especially if the integrated graphics subsystem is used.It remains to solve the problem of transferring a free PCI Express connector to convenient and affordable USB ports with support for the 3.0 standard. Of course, no one will manually solder the adapter - the times are not the same. And the complexity of the technological process no longer allows you to cope with such tasks at home with minimal training and a soldering iron. But you can purchase the corresponding device in the online store.
As a rule, it is a board installed in a PCI Express slot. It has a controller that provides the functioning of the USB connectors. In this case, there are usually a couple of outputs that, after installation, are on the back of the system unit. Actually, installation USB adapter 3.0 PCIe allows you to immediately resolve the issue.
Pitfalls of the most comfortable way
But there are also some inconveniences. Often system unit set in such a way that the outputs on the rear side become inaccessible. Or, in order to get close to them, you need to regularly push it from its usual place. Therefore, the best option would be output of USB 3.0 connectors on the front face of the block. For example, using a special panel that has one or more USB ports of the third version.To implement such a setup, you need to find USB 3.0 controller with corresponding internal connector. Then it remains only to stretch the wire from the expansion board to the front panel with ports inside the case. But here lies one insidious moment. The fact is that the connecting connectors of the adapter and the panel with USB ports can be designed for use various types cable. For example, the internal connector is different from the standard external output. So special attention must be paid to taking exactly the components that correspond to each other.
A good option would be to purchase a ready-made kit. In this case, the component manufacturer guarantees the possibility of connecting the panel to the adapter. Naturally, the cost in this case may differ upwards.
Deceptive simplicity
At first glance, the solution is simple and elegant. But you need to understand that not everything is simple with PCI Express slots. Sometimes there are two of them on the motherboard, and one is occupied by the video card. It seems that you can safely use the second one to install the adapter. But sometimes it turns out that the second connector only formally complies with the PCI Express standard. But in fact, the speed of such a slot is much less. This means that data transfer via the USB port will be limited. Not everyone can understand the intricacies of the motherboard device. So for USB 3.0 adapter installation in a free slot, it is better to contact a competent specialist. Then you won't have to watch with chagrin how the 3.0 standard port works at speed conventional USB 2.0 exit.Until recently, I quietly managed USB 2.0 ports on my devices, but with the purchase of a two-terabyte external hard Toshiba drive my computer needed an upgrade.
The board has 7 ports - 5 external and 2 internal. Plugs into PCI-E X1/X16 slots on the motherboard.
Details in the review.
The box with the board was in the same package as the Toshiba drive. DHL-Express delivered safe and sound.
A cardboard box with good printing, but not an individual one, but for any similar expansion cards. 
Complete set - the board itself, drivers on a CD, screws for fastening, power cable and user manual. 
Compact disc. 
SATA to Molex adapter cable. 
Cable with Molex connectors. 
Consider the board itself.
Back side. 
Facial. 
Looks good. The soldering is clean. Plate with connectors of solid thickness.
Items closer.
The VLI VL8912-Q7 chip acts as a hub. 
datasheet
USB 3.0 controller NEC D720201
datasheet 
Pm25L0512 - judging by an Internet search, this is a Single Operating Voltage Serial Flash Memory. 
A capacitor is soldered next to each of the connectors. 
This is what USB 3.0 connectors look like from the outside. Everything is neat. 
Internal two USB 3.0 connectors and Molex power plug. 
Install the board in the computer.
maternal Intel board Dragontail Peak DP35DP.
I so rarely change anything inside that I mixed up the connector at first. In the PCI slots I have a TV Tuner and an internal Dial-Up modem. 
Deciding that I no longer needed them, I removed them from the connectors, but immediately realized that the board was being installed in another slot. 
Got the body back. 5 external USB.3 ports appeared on the back of the computer. 
I checked two internal ports by connecting a USB flash drive via an extension cable. The drive is recognized, the contents are available. I did not test the speed, since I do not have USB 3.0 flash drives, because there were no suitable ports before.
We will check external ports using an external hard drive Toshiba Canvio Connect II 2TB.
But first, I'll tell you about installing the controller in the system.
Insert the CD into the drive.
Content. 
We go to the folder for Windows. 
Then to the first folder. 
Runs setup and driver installation begins. 
After installing the drivers, the Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller appears in the system.
Device Manager. 
Everest program
As we can see, it turns out that the architecture of the board is not entirely trivial: NEC 0720201 is actually a 4-port USB 3.0 controller, and a 4-port VLI VL812-Q7 hub is already included in one of its ports. A total of 7 ports, 3 directly, external, those that are farther from the mounting screw of the bar, and 4 through the hub. 
Since you can charge your devices from USB ports, let's check what voltage and current can be obtained from one of them.
Idling. 
Load switch in position 1A. 
2A. 
Somehow it's all very sad. I will not even charge 1 A devices from these ports.
Let's move on to testing the data transfer rate.
We connect an external drive Toshiba Canvio Connect II 2TB and run some tests in CrystalDiskMark 5. 
Now we connect the disk to USB 2.0 on the motherboard. 
As you can see, the difference in data transfer rate is almost 4 times.
Since the device has not one port, but as many as 5 and even theoretically all 7 can be loaded, it would be nice to check if the simultaneous use of several ports reduces the transfer rate.
But, unfortunately, I have only one device with USB 3.0 available.
I'll try to connect two USB 2.0 flash drives Kingson Data Traveler 32 GB.
I copied the same video file from my computer's hard drive to external drives.
Toshiba hard drive.
I throw off from the disk to the hard drive. The maximum speed was up to 122 MB/s 
Then from the hard drive to the disk. The maximum speed was up to 155 MB/s. But when preparing the review, it turned out that the screenshot was not taken.
Now I start copying to two flash drives. 
Simultaneously start copying to external HDD(right window) 
The speed has dropped. But not much. The difference in speed with flash drives is simply colossal.
And finally I tried to copy by connecting an external drive to the USB 2.0 connector.
At first, the speed jumped up to 100 MB/s. 
But then it began to decline rapidly - 80-70-60 and stopped at 34 MB / s.
Which is in good agreement with the results of preliminary testing.
I can make a simple conclusion - the expansion board really works. Now I can move data at a speed three to four times faster than before.
For complete convenience, it would not hurt to attach an extension cable with leads to the front panel of the computer to the internal connectors.
That's all.
Thank you for your attention.
The product was provided for writing a review by the store. The review is published in accordance with clause 18 of the Site Rules.
I plan to buy +35 Add to favorites Liked the review +47 +63The situation with USB 3.0 is still complicated today. Of course, the benefits are undeniable - the interface provides up to 10X faster speeds than USB 2.0, controllers are unlikely to be more expensive for large volumes, and backwards compatibility is also provided - but it will be some time before USB 3.0 becomes really mainstream. We have already tested USB 3.0 flash keyfobs , external USB 3.0 accessories for 2.5" hard drives, considered different implementations of USB 3.0 support on motherboards and also tested several external drives USB 3.0 As might be expected, hard disks now they can work without bottlenecks, that is, the infrastructure is ready to support speeds of 300-400 MB / s.
Intel is waiting
One of the biggest players in the market decided not to add a USB 3.0 controller to the next generation of chipsets. The successor to the P55 line, codenamed Cougar Point, with a slightly modified LGA 1155 socket (one pin less, canceling compatibility) will support 14 USB 2.0 ports, but there is no Superspeed USB 3.0 support. Although such a solution remains a mystery to most users, it does make sense from an economic standpoint: Intel waited for ICH4 in 2002 to add USB 2.0 support, although the company implemented USB 1.1 support quite early in the late 90s, but it was not very successful. brought. Since the addition of USB 3.0 root controllers will result in a major design change and the market won't transition from USB 2.0 to 3.0 in a few months, it really makes sense for Intel to stay conservative - though of course most of us would clearly prefer a more aggressive strategy since the LGA socket 1155 can last longer than LGA 1156.
New controllers
Several companies are currently working on USB 3.0 controllers, namely Asmedia (Asus), Texas Instruments and VIA. We believe that all three companies will present their solutions before the end of the year, and we hope that different implementations will increase competition in this market. Today, NEC is the only supplier of USB 3.0 controllers, so their prices remain too high for the mass distribution of controllers - as a result, low-cost motherboards will not be equipped with USB 3.0 support anytime soon.
Options?
On the this moment you have two options for adding USB 3.0 support: either buy a motherboard with a USB 3.0 controller and two ports, or look for an add-on card that uses the same NEC PD720200 controller. There are also Express Cards that use the same NEC PD720200 but add USB 3.0 support to laptops. Please note that all cards require a x1 PCI Express slot that complies with the PCI Express 2.0 specification. This means that high-speed USB 3.0 solutions will bottleneck if cards/controllers operate in PCIe 1.1 slots limited to 250 MB/s forward and reverse directions. This applies to all Intel platforms that have additional interfaces PCIe is brought out via southbridges as well as older PCI Express systems. If today this is not such a problem, the situation may worsen in the future.
Asus Crosshair IV Formula (NEC PD720200)
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Asus Crosshair IV Formula is the top motherboard for AMD processors Socket AM3, including models from the Athlon II X2 up to the six-core Phenom II X6, which offers the best performance for the money today. The motherboard uses AMD's latest 890FX chipset with the SB850 southbridge. Like all other products in our review, it is based on the well-known NEC controller located close to the ATX panel, while providing two USB port 3.0. The fee also provides USB ports 2.0, which gives the USB 2.0 controller of the chipset, so if you need a USB 3.0 interface, then connect the plug to the blue ports.
We found that this motherboard's USB 3.0 implementation is quite fast, with the integrated controller reaching 150 MB/s. However, if you take an expansion card and install it, you will get more high speed A: We measured 172MB/s with the WD expansion card and 173MB/s with the Gigabyte card. All other solutions, both integrated and with expansion cards, were limited to between 113 and 168 MB / s, so the difference is quite significant. We will not delve into the implementation of controller support on the motherboard, since the shortcomings are clearly visible. Add-on cards seem to be better able to benefit from a PCIe connection, as all of the 890 chipset's PCIe lanes are fully PCI Express 2.0 compliant.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Gigabyte P55A-UD6 and UD7 (NEC PD720200)
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Gigabyte is very aggressive in promoting USB 3.0 controllers on its motherboards for the enthusiast and upper end of the mainstream market. During Computex, the company made it clear that it wanted to be the leader in USB 3.0 adoption. Two motherboards based on the P55 chipset, namely the P55A-UD6 and UD7, can be considered clear evidence of this. If the UD6 motherboard has USB 3.0 support via the NEC controller, you need to enable the Turbo option in the BIOS to get full performance - otherwise the system will give all the PCI Express 2.0 lanes to the graphics card. However, such an implementation still gives a throughput of only 113 MB / s and the most poor performance input/output.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
The P55A-UD7 motherboard uses a PCI Express switch that distributes the available PCIe 2.0 lanes across different slots. Click on the picture to enlarge.
The second Gigabyte P55A-UD7 motherboard uses a more flexible implementation. The PCI Express 2.0 lanes are provided through a PLX switch, which works like an Ethernet switch: the available bandwidth is dynamically allocated to the devices that request it. As a result, we got maximum performance 168 MB / s, which is almost as fast as in the case of the motherboard asus boards Crosshair IV Formula with an external controller, and parallel read and write operations are performed at the same speed. The Gigabyte USB 3.0 expansion card provided significantly lower IOPS performance on the P55A-UD7. AT this case an integrated solution gives clearly higher performance.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Gigabyte USB 3.0 Expansion Card (NEC PD720200)
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Gigabyte's USB 3.0 Expansion Card is one of many third-party PCI Express solutions that allow you to add USB 3.0 support to virtually any computer with PCI Express slots. Best to install this card and all similar solutions into a slot with PCIe 2.0 support, but even PCIe 1.1 slots can provide much higher speed USB ports than USB 2.0. We chose to test this expansion card only on the Asus Crosshair IV Formula motherboard, but we also used a Western Digital kit with a different design expansion card on Gigabyte motherboards to avoid over testing. In this system, the card provided the highest throughput, although not the highest performance in a concurrent read/write scenario, but I/O performance was above average.
Western Digital MyBook 3.0 Kit with expansion card (NEC PD720200)
Click on the picture to enlarge.
The last product in our testing consists of an external 1TB hard drive and add-on cards with an NEC controller included, which upgrades desktop PCs to USB 3.0 support when equipped with PCI Express slots. Again, the controller is the same here, with the expansion card delivering the same performance as the Gigabyte USB 3.0 card. However, in this case we got a slightly longer access time, but for external drives this is not so important.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Unfortunately, this controller didn't give the best throughput on both Gigabyte motherboards. Depending on the configuration, we got from 128 to 145 MB / s - and this difference cannot be explained by the differences between the PCI Express 1.1 and 2.0 slots. We got better results on the P55A-UD7 motherboard with PCI Express 1.1 interface. The exception with this motherboard was the integrated NEC USB 3.0 controller, which was faster than the WD expansion card.
However, the combination of high-speed hard USB disk 3.0, which works as fast as if it was directly connected to the system, as well as expansion cards with a USB 3.0 controller in the box, it still makes sense today.
Test drive: Super Talent RAIDDrive 64GB (USB 3.0)
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We have already carried out Super Talent RAIDDrive tests a few weeks ago - today it is still one of the fastest USB 3.0 drives. Thanks to its internal RAID configuration, it can achieve speeds up to 177MB/s, benefiting from the speedy USB 3.0 interface. The speed is really high, but the USB stick gets quite hot.
Test hardware
| Hardware | |
| CPU AMD I | AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (45nm, 3.2GHz, 6x 512KB L2 Cache & 6MB L3 Cache, 125W TDP, Rev. C3) |
| Motherboard (Socket AMD3) | Asus Crosshair IV Formula (Rev. 1.0), chipset: AMD 890FX, BIOS: 0701 (04/02/2010) |
| CPU Intel | Intel Core i5-750 (45 nm, 2.66 GHz, 2x 256 KB L2 cache and 8 MB L3 cache, TDP 95 W, Rev. B1) |
| Motherboard (Socket LGA1156) | Gigabyte P55A-UD7 (Rev. 1.0), chipset: P55, BIOS: F3 |
| DDR3 memory | 2x 2GB DDR3-1333 (OCZ3G2000LV4GK 8-8-8-24) |
| HDD | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500 GB, ST3500320AS, 7200 rpm, SATA/300, 32 MB cache |
| USB 3.0 storage | Super Talent RAIDDrive 64GB USB 3.0 |
| USB 3.0 controller | USB 3.0: NEC D720200F1 |
| video card | Sapphire Radeon HD 5850, GPU: Cypress (725 MHz), graphics memory: 1024 MB GDDR5 (2000 MHz), stream processors: 1440 |
| Power Supply | PC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750W |
| System software and drivers | |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate |
Tests and settings
Test results
The interface performance test allows you to evaluate the maximum throughput. As you can see, both expansion cards provide the best performance when installed in a system with an AMD 890FX chipset and the SB850 southbridge, which provides full-fledged PCI Express 2.0 lanes. Two motherboards based on the Intel chipset, namely models from the Gigabyte P55A series, provide only PCI Express 1.1 lanes for expansion cards, or 2.0 lanes if you choose to use one of the physical x16 slots. The built-in controller on the Gigabyte P55A-UD6 motherboard is disappointing, but the switched solution on the UD7, on the other hand, is viable.
Here we see a different situation: if you are doing reads and writes in parallel, then the best performance will be observed on the Gigabyte P55A-UD6 motherboard with a WD expansion card, followed by the integrated controller on Asus UD7 and Crosshair IV Formula motherboards. Although we do not want to focus on this, but the expansion cards in this case turned out to be a little slower.
Access time is not very important for external drives, but, as we found, PCI Express 2.0 solutions are slightly faster.
For some reason, both Gigabyte platforms weren't the best environment for a Western Digital expansion card in a file server I/O scenario - they both produced significantly lower I/O results with this card.
Gigabyte's integrated solutions weren't the best for the web server scenario. In this case, expansion cards proved to be the best, even if this test is hardly of practical value.
In the script workstation we see the opposite of the file server scenario: the WD expansion card on Gigabyte motherboards is the best, proving that performance can vary significantly depending on the type of workload.
Conclusion
You probably thought that identical host controllers provide the same performance - as is the case with storage controllers integrated into chipsets. However, existing implementations of USB 3.0 can give different performance for two reasons: on the one hand, there may be differences in drivers and firmware, and on the other hand, performance depends on how the controller is connected to the host system.
Expansion cards can run into old PCI Express interfaces, and this is typical for almost all systems based on Intel chipsets, whose PCI Express 2.0 lanes are provided only graphical interfaces. If you install an expansion card in a PCIe 1.1 slot, then you may encounter bandwidth limitations. However, this is not always observed. We got the lowest throughput of 133 MB / s from the motherboard Gigabyte boards P55A-UD6 with an integrated NEC USB 3.0 controller, as well as the highest throughput of the Asus Crosshair IV Formula motherboard with PCIe 2.0 expansion cards from Gigabyte or Western Digital. The combined read and write throughput was the highest for expansion cards with sufficient throughput, as well as the integrated Gigabyte P55A-UD7 controller, which benefits from PCI Express switching.
As a result, we cannot unequivocally speak out "for" or "against" PCI Express 2.0 expansion cards for USB 3.0. They provide sufficient performance for modern devices, such as Super Talent's RAIDDrive. But we highly recommend installing these cards in "true" PCI Express 2.0 slots, as this will give you the best performance. If you want to purchase a motherboard with an integrated USB 3.0 controller, then you should check out motherboard reviews that include USB 3.0 performance tests, as some designs, such as the use of a switch on the Gigabyte P55A-UD7 motherboard, give much better USB performance. 3.0 than the same UD6 model.
In addition, it is quite reasonable to buy a set of a hard drive and an expansion card with a controller, such as the WD MyBook 3.0. Until now, all products are based on the NEC controller, and, fortunately, we have not come across a frankly bad implementation.
