Generic Versus Brandname USB Card Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter jm
  • Start date Start date
J

jm

I wanted to know if Belkin is worth the extra money over Startech.
The item is a USB 2.0 PCI Card. I have 1.1 built on the motherboard.
I want to add the card to have the 2.0 for better video capture
capability. Thank you.
 
I wanted to know if Belkin is worth the extra
money over Startech. The item is a USB 2.0
PCI Card. I have 1.1 built on the motherboard.
I want to add the card to have the 2.0 for
better video capture capability. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Both cards probably use the same chipset, reference design
and/or OEM. Both Belkin and Startech have fairly decent
warranty coverage and technical support. So, IMHO, no.
 
You get the quality that you pay for ...
Click to expand...

_________________________________________________________

Not always. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. The trick is to
know the difference.
 
I wanted to know if Belkin is worth the extra money over Startech.
The item is a USB 2.0 PCI Card.
Click to expand...

The most important thing is the particular USB 2.0 chip used by the
card, and according to www.usbman.com there are four brands: ALi,
NEC, SiS, and VIA. He likes the NEC much better than the others, and
I found it to be compatible with everything I tried, while cards using
the ALi and VIA chips had problems, even with some USB 1.1 devices.
Also my Soyo VIA card wouldn't allow a 486 mobo and a VIA-based Socket
7 mobo to boot at all (no picture, no video response), but a slightly
odler VIA-based S7 mobo worked fine with it.

Sometimes card makers cover the USB chip with a label so you can't
tell which brand it is, but the NEC chip is square and the largest,
with 40 pins on each of its four sides. The ALi chip is also square
and I believe has 16-20 pins per side (driver software will require
Win98SE or later and will work only in USB 1.1 mode with Win98 or
earlier), while the VIA chip is rectangular. I've never seen the SiS
chip. Sometimes the picture on the box doesn't accurately portray
what's inside.

Belkin, Maxtor, and Adaptec USB 2.0 cards are some that use the NEC
chip, and www.4linkcomm.com once sold a card exactly the same as the
Maxtor for just $10.

The most expensive USB card I ever bought, the VIA-based Soyo BayOne,
a whopping $5 after rebate, was my most troublesome. On the other
hand the IOGear cards that were free after $10 rebate have been
flawless (unfortunately IOGear now uses only the ALi USB 2.0 chip).
 
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