Adding a USB Card

fharris770

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I have a HP a6712f running Win 7 home premium 64 bit. I want to add a 5 port USB card. The documentation indicates I have 2 PCI Express x1 slots available. I'm looking at a Belkin f5u252 for about $58 at Buy.com. Looks like this card has a connector for power. Anyone know if there is an available supply cable inside the CPU? Any other suggestions, etc would be appreciated as this would be my first time to open the CPU (I have added cards and memory and hard drives to older PC's).
 
Any reason why you want to add a 5 port USB card? Why not just get a USB Hub? They're considerably cheaper, and you don't need to open the case. You already have the USB 2.0 ports, so adding a USB 2.0 hub is definitely going to be easier. Just get a hub that is powered (i.e. NOT "bus powered") and you should be in great shape.
 
I already have a powered usb hub. Seems like about 50% of what I want to plug in will not work with the hub. In my research, I read somewhere that the hub shared a single port (subject to slow down as well as power drain)while a card functioned as 5 separate ports each with enough power to drive most any usb equipment. I'm far from an expert, so I'm open to any advice. I want to add a second printer as well as a wireless keyboard/mouse. I know the second printer will not connect from my hub and neither will the keyboard. I had to pull another piece of equipment and connect the keyboard to one of the usb ports on the back of the CPU.
 
i agree a usb hub seems like a better choice. A PCI card will be hard to plug things in to as its located at the back of your PC
 
I already have a powered usb hub. Seems like about 50% of what I want to plug in will not work with the hub. In my research, I read somewhere that the hub shared a single port (subject to slow down as well as power drain)while a card functioned as 5 separate ports each with enough power to drive most any usb equipment. I'm far from an expert, so I'm open to any advice. I want to add a second printer as well as a wireless keyboard/mouse. I know the second printer will not connect from my hub and neither will the keyboard. I had to pull another piece of equipment and connect the keyboard to one of the usb ports on the back of the CPU.

The only time a USB hub won't have the ability to do what you're asking is if you buy a cheap, unpowered module (i.e. bus powered) device. The reason for this is when you get an unpowered hub, your devices are trying to get that 5 volts from your motherboard, and it can only go so far. With a powered hub, you're adding the ability for each device to get power from the hub, and not the PC, which increases device stability and usability extensively. Get a powered hub with some real reviews/ratings on it and you'll never notice. We have a multimedia system here at work which has 10 USB 2.0 devices attached to it, 5 of which are on a USB 2.0 powered hub, and it works great. I can go get the maker/model off of it if you need some ideas.
 
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