USB3.0 Controller Benchmarks

With the release of our USB3.0 Loopback Plug, we wanted to test the performance of various USB 3.0 host controllers currently on the market. To do this, we carried out the following benchmark with a USB 3.0 flash drive and with our USB 3.0 loopback plug. Testing was done on some on board host controllers and a number of PCI-e USB 3.0 expansion cards.

usb3flashbenchmark
usb3loopbackbenchmark

* Motherboard USB3.0 Controller.

PCI-e Card Specifications

Name No. Ports PCI-e Ver PCI-e Lanes Driver on Website Power Controller Manufacturer
Silverstone SST-EC04-P22.01YesMolex 8981Renesas
Repotec RP-UB344EX*41.11NoNoneVLI
Astrotek CPEU3F211.11YesNoneFresco
Vantec UGT-PC3122Unknown1YesMolex 8981NEC
Turbo Leopard UP-312C 3.021YesMolex 8981Renesas

* Repotec card not test due to lack of availability of drivers.

PC Hardware Configuration

OS CPU USB3.0 Controller Manufacturer
Windows XP (32-bit) Intel E8400 No USB 3.0
Windows 7 (64-bit) Intel i7-2600 Asmedia
Windows 8 (64-bit) AMD E-350 Renesas

Test Information

The flash drive test was done using PerformanceTest's advanced disk test with the following settings.

  • 1 minute duration
  • 2GB test file size
  • 2mb blocks
  • Win32 Uncached
  • 100% reading, then 100% writing (seperate tests run at independently)
  • 100% sequential
  • 50% random data

The loopback plug test was done with the USB3Test software using the following settings.

  • 1 minute duration
  • Read test and write test done seperately (not using the 'Read&Write' or 'Read then Write' test options)
  • In No 1
  • Out No 1
  • Burst Length 16
  • Constant 170

Observations

  • The results on XP are overall lower, it's unclear wether this is due to the OS or the older hardware present in the system.
  • Attempts to locate the driver for the Repotec card were unsuccessful. The card did not come with any media and the drivers were not available from the manufacturers website. Attempts to contact the manufacturer went did not yield any response.
  • The loopback plug failed to connect on the Astrotek card under Windows 7. We speculate there may be a bug in the 64-bit driver for this card. The plug powered on and displayed the correct information, but failed to be recognized by the system in any manner.
  • Flash drive write speeds were more limited by the physical nature of the flash media than the USB bus speed.
  • The USB3.0 ports on the Gigabyte motherboard of the Windows 8 PC only appeared as USB2.0 to the system. Both the Loopback plug and the flash drive therefore only ran at 2.0 speeds. The cause of this is unknown, possibly lack of appropriate Win 8 drivers.
  • USB3Test Isochronous mode failed to work on both the Vantec card in Windows XP, and the Gigabyte motherboard ports on Windows 8..