USB 2.0 upgrade question.

[Chris]

I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to computers and I have a question
regarding the possibility of upgrading to USB 2.0. I have a box
running the following:

Win98 (which I need to upgrade to 2000 or XP)
Pentium III 550 processor
256 mb ram
20 gb hard drive (of which only about 5 is used)

I have two USB 1.0 ports on my motherboard and I'm being led to
believe that I need a new mother board to upgrade to USB 2.0. That
seems crazy to me. Is this true? Is it not possible to buy a card I
can install that will give me the ports I need (for mp3 loading)? If
so, is there a specific brand or type to look for? I have a few PCI
and AGP slots open.

Any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Chris

 

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

Look at the Adaptec "Duo-Connect" adapter card. It gives you 3 USB2.0 ports
and 2 firewire ports.

 

[Antonio Rodriguez]

Yea they do sell USB 2.0 add-on cards. I believe they go in PCI slots.
Anyway if you are planning to upgrade to 2000 or XP you'll probably also end
up getting a new motherboard and processor. And that new motherboard will
likely have built in USB 2.0 support anyway.

 

[Pavel]

Most people will tell you that you should upgrade your motherboard which
then means you need to upgrade your processor and memory. If you do not play
high resolution games and do not use high resolution/high power/memory
hungry painting or whatever program then what you have is just fine. You can
get USB 2 card for under $10.00 and do not be too concerned about brand,
they all work about the same.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the help guys. Much appreciated-

Chris

 

[Gene K]

The motherboard question I cannot answer. As to upgrading to USB 2.0, all
that takes is a open PCI slot and a PCI card which which you can buy at
Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and about anywhere that sells computer
stuff. I have seen them in configurations which will give you from 2 to 4
external USB 2.0 Ports. They are made by Belkin, etc, and sell for $20 to
$30. I just purchased a PCI card made by Sandisk will give me one internal
and 3 external USB 2.0 Ports plus one internal and 2 external Firewire
(i-Link; IEEE 1394) Ports. It also provides a cable for direct connection to
the Power Supply.