USB 3.0 (USB Superspeed)

What is USB 3.0?

USB 3.0 is new specification for USB, known as USB SuperSpeed. The new specification has made many improvements on the USB 2.0 specification including:

Data transfer rates
Data throughput rates
Available power

Currently, there are only a limited number of USB 3.0 devices on the market. First generation USB 3.0 devices will not be capable of full throughput. Hardware and chipsets have not yet reached the full potential of the USB 3.0 specification. Also, overhead from protocol, hardware limitations, and chipset limitations prevent file transfer at 4.8 Gbps. The "real world" is the throughput, which is 600 Mbps. It is also important to note that USB 3.0 utilizes new connector types. These new connectors will not work with older USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices.

When should USB 3.0 be used?

USB 3.0 is designed for data transfer from large mass storage devices. A few examples would be transferring data from a large hard drive, HD video for video editing or Blu-Ray authoring or high resolution photos for editing and storage.

USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Comparison

	USB 3.0	USB 2.0
Data Transfer Rate	4.8Gbps	480Mbps
Data Throughput	600Mbps	60Mbps
Communication	Full duplex	Half duplex
Unconfigured Device Power	150mA	100mA
Configured Device Power	900-1000mA	500mA
Power Standby Regulation	Host and Device	Host

This white paper is for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. C2G makes no guarantees, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information found in this document.