USB 3.1 & Type C - It's finally here!
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,484 words · ~7 min read
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of course to the most astute youtube viewers usb 3.1 and the type c connector
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aren't exactly going to be anything new but what is new is having actual
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hardware to play with and try it out so here's the kit i got from MSI so i guess
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the next step then is to bring you guys along for the ride while i take it for a
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test drive
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the Corsair hx 1200i power supply delivers 80 plus platinum efficiency for
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quiet efficient power and Corsair link digital for advanced monitoring and
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control click this place right here to learn more so much of the hype about the
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usb 3.1 update is the all new type c
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connector we've gotten updated usb connectors before micro b compared to
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mini b was more difficult to orient by eye and
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theoretically rated for more insertions but in my experience much more fragile
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so its only real benefit was being smaller usb 3.0 type a added more pins
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deeper in on the connector and came in a new sexy blue compared to the black or
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white of previous usb standards but never have we gotten anything as
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paradigm shifting as this the type c
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connector is smaller than anything but a proprietary lightning or mini or micro b
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connector all of which can only handle usb 2.0 yet it contains all the pins
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necessary for 3.0 or 3.1 transfer speeds
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a 5 gigabit or 10 gigabit per second while being significantly more durable
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than previous connectors that were optimized for thin devices like phones
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tablets and ultrabooks not to mention it's reversible on top of all of that so
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you'll never have to guess what goes where and in what orientation while
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fumbling around in the dark and lord knows that kind of thing would come in
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handy for me if you know what i mean and there's more cool stuff too usb 3.1 will
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allow some of the pins to be used for power with the usb power delivery v 2.0
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specification up to 100 watts allowing
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not just smartphone or tablet charging but even laptop charging and an
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alternate mode that will let the type c connector be used on a per approval
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basis to carry alternate signals such as displayport along with usb data so
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that's cool you could plug your monitor in with one cable for display power and
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the built-in usb 3.1 hub but
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while these are super sweet techs and together allowed apple to build the 2015
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macbook with only a three and a half millimeter headphone jack and a usb 3.1
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type-c port for all its external storage displays and charging although whether
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or not apple should have built such a device is an entirely separate matter
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this is where the waters also get a little bit muddy when discussing usb 3.1
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and the type c connector usb 3.1 works
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with the old connectors which has the benefit of making it physically
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backwards compatible with 3.0 2.0 or heck even 1.1 devices if you can find
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drivers for anything that old but the drawback of being basically just a speed
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bump then from 5 gigabit to 10 gigabit with supported 3.1 devices that's right
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guys without the type c connector power
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is limited and there's no support for alternate modes to carry those other
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fancy signals so then with that out of the way
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let's see what's inside that care package from MSI we've got an Intel 750
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series PCIe SSD to ensure we've got no bottlenecks on the other side of our
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file transfer tests a custom controller board that can be connected to two ssds
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in raid 0 to remove bottlenecks on that side of the usb 3.1 connection two Intel
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730 series SATA three six gigabit per second ssds a cable with usb 3.1 type-c
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connector on one side and the horrendous
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and hopefully soon to be completely forgotten to everyone but samsung note
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users usb 3.0 micro b connector on the
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other and finally a z97a gaming 6
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motherboard complete with usb 3.1 and a
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type c connector for all that functionality which leads us to
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benchmarks i am completely out of space in the office right now so i actually
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ended up being set up in the hallway where i've also been working on performance numbers for the network file
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servers that we're deploying at the new office stay tuned because those videos will be coming soon i hope and got to
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work i'll be honest with you guys between the driver that Windows 8.1
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picked up on its own the one in MSI's page for the board and the slightly
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newer one i found on plugable.com performance actually wasn't as good for
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me as i found people reporting elsewhere on the web now to be clear i'm not
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accusing other publications of posting bogus numbers and i don't think that
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they are i think it's more of a reflection of the early state of this
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hardware and the software drivers that go with it that from one revision to
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another i can see improvements in random read and write performance at the cost
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of sequential reads and writes or the other way around it just seems like
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they're in the process of doing a lot of fine tuning right now
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so even if we were getting the same numbers as everyone else the point is it's not
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the improvement we saw going from 2.0 to 3.0 but that was never what it was made
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out to be it's just a minor rev i mean if it was going to be 10 times faster
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again i'm sure they'd have called it usb 4.0 what usb 3.1 is though is a
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wonderful technology for the future it's an obvious replacement for the previous
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mini and micro connectors whether you've got the power and the additional data on
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the other side or not and in the longer term i think it's also an outstanding
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competitor for Thunderbolt a faster and
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in many ways more advanced technology that i've always found interesting in a
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geeky sense i mean who doesn't want you know six 20 gigabit connections on their
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pc but one that appears will never overcome the limits imposed on it by its
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cost that puts it up against 10 gig Ethernet in any kind of professional
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setting with more than a couple of users and its inability to handle more than
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point-to-point connections which makes it uncompetitive with the aforementioned
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10 gigabit Ethernet in my mind so right
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now it looks like it's poised for huge
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success the decoupling of the 3.1 speed
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standard from the type c connector will undoubtedly lead to some confusion and
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unnecessary trips back to best buy once folks realize they brought they bought
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the wrong usb 3.1 cable but it's a small
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price to pay since this way phones or
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any devices that won't have any need for 10 gigabit transfer speeds for now won't
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be made more expensive not to mention hotter and more power hungry buy
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additional chipsets to handle usb 3.1 speeds
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for no apparent reason but they can still benefit from the better connector
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until such time as they're ready for turbocharged data transfer speed
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something i suspect will actually just never happen since it's not like the
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wireless standards bodies are sitting with their thumbs up their collective
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butts either speaking of having a thumb up your butt
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nick i guess since we don't have a sponsor spot for today way to go nick now my
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children will starve just kidding you work hard bro so thanks guys for
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