USB and FireWire have become the standard for connecting our stuffs to our computers, well more USB than FireWire now, but there's still a lot out there for it. Since so much stuff uses these ports it's very easy to quickly run out of ports, so we've got to purchase an additional expansion card to add more of these ports to our computer. So today I've got a solution for you, an inexpensive one at that, it's from our friends at USBFever and it adds eight more ports for you, five USB and three FireWire. The interesting thing about this care is that it has both external and internal connections on the card making it a bit more useful that other card of this type.

Product Name: IEEE FireWire 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Sponsor: USBFever

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

IEEE FireWire 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card

Product Code#:AL397-B062

Price: US$19.99

Features:

- Additional 5 USB Ports (4 external + 1 internal)

- Additional 3 1394 / Fire Ports (2 external + 1 internal)

- USB 2.0

- Via Chipset

- PCI Interface adapter

USB 2.0 Specifications:

- Compliant with USB Specification Revision 2.0 fully backward compatible to USB 1.1

- Compliant with OHCI Specification Rev. 1.1

- Compliant with EHCI Specification Rev. 0.96

- Data Transfer can be high-speed (480Mbps), full-speed (12 Mbps) and low-speed (1.5Mbps)

- 32-bit 33MHz host interface compliant to PCI Specification Revision 2.2

- Support up to 127 devices

- Support devices hot swap and wake-up

- Support Windows 2000 or Windows XP

IEE1394 FireWire Specificaitons

- Compliant with IEEE 1394A OHCI specification Revision 1.1

- Data Transfer rate can be 100 / 200 / 400Mbps

- 32-bit 33MHz host interface compliant to PCI Specification Revision 2.2

- 8 isochronous transmit DMAs and 8 isochronous receive DMAs supported

- Power output:

24W (12V, 2A) per port when on-board DC jack is connected to the PC power supply

5W (12V, 0.5A) per port without on-board DC jack connected

- Support Windows 2000 or Windows XP / Vista

Approvals:

- CE

- FC

- RoHS

Package Contents:

- IEEE FIREWIRE 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card x 1

- 1394 / FireWire 6 pin to 1394 / firewire 4 pin Cable (around 6 feet) x 1

- CD Driver x 1

A Better Look at Things:

There's not much too look at with this product, it's an expansion card after all, so it's not very exciting. The box is for several versions of the card so it's sort of generic in terms of information and pictures.

Inside we find the card itself, driver/software disc and a FireWire cable.

The card is red in color with two internal ports and six external connections. It's a PCI card of course, so it installs just like any other card.

Installation, Testing and Comparison:

There's not much to the installation, if you've ever installed any expansion cards then you'll have no problem with this one. Just stick it in a free PCI slot and use a screw to secure it to your case and you're done. You'll need to go into to Windows and install your drivers of course.

There's not much to testing this card really, it works just like the USB and FireWire ports on your computer, they just work. The speeds appear to be the same as those built into the motherboard so there's nothing to report there. It's an easy way to add more connections to your PC especially if you have a system that is limited in that area.

Summary and Comments:

The IEEE FireWire 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card is a great product to add more connections to your computer, it seems most devices out there today use USB ports and we can quickly run out of them, this product adds more so you won't run out.

DragonSteelMods gives the IEEE FireWire 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.

Pros:

-Inexpensive

-Adds lots of ports

-Easy to install and use

-Internal and external ports

Cons:

-None really

I would like to thank USBFever for the chance to review the IEEE FireWire 1394 & USB 2.0 8-port Combo PCI Card and for their continued support of DSM.

review# 554

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