Intel hindering USB 3.0 adoption, alleges industry insider
SuperSpeed won't hit the mainstream until 2011
Intel has decided to wait until 2011 before it introduces PC chipsets with integrated USB 3.0 controllers. So a senior mole at a major PC maker has claimed, at any rate.
The insider this week told EETimes the move will push demand for the 4.8Gb/s bus technology back a year.
Even if Intel is anticipating that USB 3.0 chipsets won't debut until 2011, that doesn't prevent other chipset makers doing so themselves, or third-party silicon designers implementing suitable controllers that bridge the new bus and a computer's system logic.
The USB 3.0 - aka SuperSpeed USB - specification was finalised almost a year ago, in November 2008. Some months earlier, Intel released an initial eXtensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI) specification which, it said, will allow chipset makers to develop hardware that can communicate with USB 3.0 in a standardised, consistent way. It was subsequently revised in the light of the release of the final SuperSpeed spec.
The XHCI was something chipset makers AMD and Nvidia had been crying out for, stating they needed it to jumpstart support for USB 3.0 in their own chipsets.
Right now, both NEC and Fujitsu are shipping SuperSpeed controller chips, and devices have already begun to be announced. These are likely to come with ExpressCard USB 3.0 adaptors, at least initially.
That will suit some early adopters, but the mole's argument is that widespread adoption won't take place until SuperSpeed is in the chipset. He claims Intel's chipset designers are focused on improving the Nehalem CPU architecture's new QPI and DMI buses, and on implementing double-speed, 5GHz PCI Express 2.0 and 6Gb/s Sata. Intel believes USB 3.0 is less of a priority than these, the mole claimed. That, he says, is wrong.
But Intel may not be alone. AMD hasn't said much about its own chipset roadmap, but alleged leaks earlier this year claimed its SB800 southbridge chip, which is due out this quarter in the RD890 chipset, is designed to support 6Gb/s Sata but only USB 2.0. AMD won't support USB 3.0 until 2011, it was claimed, with the SB900 part. ®
Special Report Inside USB 3.0
COMMENTS
USB 3.0 is for the retailer
People are forgetting that USB 3 will be a success purely because it is x10 faster than USB 2.
Once the shops discover they can resell USB host cards, enclosers and new Hi-Res webcams to us they'll be forcing it down our throats.
what about the USB4 power
its all well and good talking about if intel dont do it, what ai want to know is weres the 3rd party add-ins today, what power does this new standard work at and can i FINALLY plug my Wireless USB stick into my 3 meter USB lad and have it get more than enough power from the generic cards output.....
right now i cant get a fully relaable working USB stick to work at that length, how about pluging in two USB leads and getting a generic USB device to actually work, such things are used for extending my Wireless USBs in server/master mode so i can far better control my wireless USB devices as use them as APs on a stick remotely IF the USB card wold just power them at longer lengths upto 50 feet preferably....
peope seem to also be wondering whats the point of faster USB3, its simple, the 3d partys ethernet OEMs DO NOT SEEM Interested to giving us end users On Mass anything faster than the antiquated 1 gigabit/s wired LAN, USB3 has the potential IF they will again power over a longer length to give us faster file transfers, and its not going to be hard to write a software patch to interface the USB3 stack into the Ethernat stack so bypassing the RTLs and other etehrnet OEMs of this unwillingness to give us what we want to buy, far faster ethernet AND Generic MS ethernet card Binding for the SOHO/Home LAN.
i always wished 3rd partys would have made cheap external ethernet hard drive cases and provided a power over Ethernet line as standard for all home LAN users to buy but they dont seem interested in that profile line and thats a shame...
For small high power devices?
As devices get smaller and smaller, how is that USB 3 cable going to work well? It has more wires than Cat 6 and it's going to take a good amount of power to send 5Gbps down a long twisted pair. If USB 3.0 isn't targeting small devices, it has strong competition from existing cable designs. I can see why Intel would want to skip USB 3 and work on its successor.
@Flocke Kroes & Jon999
"A modern hard disk can use all the bandwidth in USB2" - which is why I use eSATA for *my* modern hard disk when doing backups.
Jeez, people, a decent eSATA dock is only US$80 on NewEgg, not too much more expensive than a decent USB enclosure.
Everything else I have (memory sticks, cameras, scanner, printer, WinTV-PVR USB2) doesn't need USB3 speed. I can understand Intel's attitude that this isn't as important as other things.
Re: External USB3 port
What good would that do? If you plug a USB3 hub into a USB2 port, the best you'll get is USB2 throughput.
