Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: USB Bandwidth Question - PCMCIA card to USB 2.0

  1. 07-09-2004, 03:55 PM #1
    timwiththebo
    timwiththebo is offline
    Low Bitrate
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    63

    USB Bandwidth Question - PCMCIA card to USB 2.0

    Hi Guys,
    I am going down the laptop route - (Dell Insprion 5000, 500Mhz, 384Mb, 12GB) and am planning on using a USB 2.0 external hard drive (eg. 60Gb) and sound card (eg. SB MP3+).

    The problem is that my old laptop only has a 1.1 USB port.
    So I plan to have a PCMCIA card to x2 usb 2.0 port converter.

    My question is:
    1) Assuming powering the devices is not a problem (I think both device are externally powered) will there be enough bandwidth to run both devices together - read mp3 from external hdd, process it and play through sb soundcard.
    2) Am I waisting my time trying to update an old laptop to take new peripherals? I thought if I had this laptop I might as well try to use it for this project, but is it going to turn out more expensive?

    Any advice would be appreciated.
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  2. 07-09-2004, 04:47 PM #2
    Seth
    Seth is offline
    Maximum Bitrate Seth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Athens Greece
    Posts
    836
    Send a message via MSN to Seth
    Assuming that your laptop has a 32-bit PCMCIA Type II (Cardbus) interface, the available bandwidth is 132MByte/sec peak depending on what other devices use the same PCI bus(Link for more info here )

    That means that you're limited by the USB 2.0 bus bandwidth at 480Mbit/sec aka 60MByte/sec peak. This should be plenty for what you want to do but you wont exploit your hdd's full potential (somewhere at 60 - 70 MByte/sec peak).

    It's a tricky situation but I think that you can work your hdd and your sound card together with no problems. Just that your hdd will be a little slower than if it was alone on a pcmcia --> firewire interface for example.

    Cheers.
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Similar Threads

  1. USB 2.0 to ide adapter, anybody got one of these working
    By Batmanatthenewb in forum Input Devices
    Replies: 39
    Last Post: 08-16-2004, 03:23 AM
  2. Powering USB 2.0 Hub off HDD +5v Rail - Any problems?
    By sq_geek in forum Power Supplies
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 06-07-2004, 10:11 PM
  3. How many devices on a USB 2.0 hub?
    By sohr in forum General Hardware Discussion
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 06-04-2004, 07:13 PM
  4. USB 2.0 vs. Firewire... keeping a low profile
    By gregulator in forum General Hardware Discussion
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 12-11-2003, 08:08 AM
  5. New powersupply! Question about PCI riser card.
    By jssaggie in forum Power Supplies
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 08-30-2001, 09:34 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Forum Rules