Adding usb sockets via pci card??

[The Road Crew]

Right, old ish desktop pc (Intel i5 runs windows 10 just fine though)
Motherboard only has one PCI-E slot which is in use (graphics card)

How can I add a couple of USB 3.0, or USB-C socket?

I have a couple of spare pci slots on the motherboard but I cannot find an expansion card suitable. Is pci just too old? Or my searching not good enough?!

Or do I need to add something to the front panel instead?

I'm loath to replace a pc just for this as it does everything else we want perfectly!

[babelfish]

They're not cheap compared to PCI-E but they are out there:

e.g.

https://cpc.farnell.com/startech/pciusb3s4/card-4-...

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/usb-cards/1383580

[Arnold Cunningham]

Ebuyer looks to have stock of that startech one too

[JimbobVFR]

PCI doesn't have enough bandwidth for USB 3. You can still find USB2 PCI cards easily enough.

A company called Startech do make a pretty expensive PCI USB 3.0 card but it's about a quarter of the speed of proper USB3.0 but about double the speed of USB 2.0

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/usb-cards/1383580

What motherboard or PC are you using, I had an old desktop of a similar era that had used the single PCIEx1 slot for a sound card which doesn't really need PCIE bandwidth so should have been freed up by going for a different sound card or USB for audio

[silentbrown]

Does it have to be USB3/USB-C?

Most of the USB crap I have attached to my PC works just fine on a USB2 port, even USB-C stuff with the right cable. Unless it's a storage device, speed probably isn't an issue.

If USB2 is OK have a poke around on the motherboard - quite likely you'll find a bunch of unused USB headers and you can just add one of these. https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Port-USB-Back-Plate...

[Nimby]

You may also need a spare power lead (Molex / disk drive type) from the PSU.

[Arnold Cunningham]

Silent brown makes a really good point.
I’ve just put together a PC, I had a specific requirement that made it “self build”

Anyway, there was a bucket load of USB connections on the board, mostly unused. Think I used 2 of them, with maybe another 4 left unused

[The Road Crew]

I'll investigate what board it is...can those usbs that go direct to the board be usb3? (I guess that depends on the motherboard?)

I was hoping for a cheap upgrade to USB C/3. £100 is a bit spicy!
Power supply has additional spare molex so no worries there.

It's got some spare 2.0 ports but they take ages to transfer big files to/from my phone and/or external hard drive.

[Arnold Cunningham]

The Road Crew said:

I'll investigate what board it is...can those usbs that go direct to the board be usb3? (I guess that depends on the motherboard?)

I was hoping for a cheap upgrade to USB C/3. £100 is a bit spicy!
Power supply has additional spare molex so no worries there.

It's got some spare 2.0 ports but they take ages to transfer big files to/from my phone and/or external hard drive.

Check the motherboard manual. So for example, I just checked mine has up to 17!!!! USB ports of various flavours in 2,3 & 3.2.

That said, it'd be a surprise if it's not got a USB 3.0 connection on the back but then turns out to support it. I think you might be able to get more USB 2 ports, or do the PCI thing above - suspect that'll be your choices.

[The Road Crew]

Awesome, thanks gents. Much appreciated.

Motherboard does give usb 3 support to those pins so I'll run something to the front of the case, that'll do the trick.

[xeny]

Seems odd if there are USB 3 headers on the board that none of the ones on the back panel are USB 3.0?

If they are, a powered USB 3 hub may be easier - it's not as if external USB drives tend to use full USB 3.0 bandwidth.