- Joined
- Mar 7, 2011
- Messages
- 237
- Motherboard
- Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe
- CPU
- Core i7 3770S
- Graphics
- Intel HD 4000
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
For those that might be interested, I have some interesting results with the USB 3.0 ports from the Intel Z77 chipset on my Asus Sabertooth Z77 board. This particular board supports a total of six USB 3.0 ports, two using an ASMedia USB 3.0 controller and two using the Intel Z77 chipset along with an additional USB 3.0 header on the board driven by the Intel Z77 chipset.
With PXHCD.kext loaded, both sets of ports work with USB 2.0 devices. In addition, two separate USB Super-Speed Bus sections appears in System Information under USB. Interestingly, if I plug a USB 2.0 flash drive into the ASMedia ports, it mounts and appears under USB Super-Speed Bus.
If I do the same with the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports, the USB 2.0 flash drive shows up under USB High-Speed Bus. If I disable PXHCD.kext, the Z77 ports still work just fine as USB 2.0 ports while the ASMedia ports do not function at all in any form.
I was also able to easily boot from UniBeast on the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports just like I would be able to from USB 2.0 ports. So, for those of you who are intent on upgrading to a Z77 board, those USB 3.0 ports driven by the Intel Z77 chipset will work just fine as USB 2.0 ports.
The next step is to test USB 3.0 functionality. I don't currently have any USB 3.0 devices but will be ordering an enclosure promptly.
Update on 04/24/2011
My Icy Dock USB 3.0 enclosure arrived today. I stuck a Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM 2.5-inch drive in the enclosure and proceeded to test using all three sets of USB ports with PXHCD.kext loaded. This is all being tested on my Asus Sabertooth Z77 system.
Results for Z77 USB 2.0 ports:
As expected, the enclosure shows up under the USB High-Speed Bus in System Information and I got an average of 28.3 MB/s write speed and 32.3 MB/s read speed. This result is pretty much inline with typical USB 2.0 speeds although I've gotten a little faster on some other enclosures.
Results for ASMedia USB 3.0 ports:
Connecting the enclosure to one of the ASMedia USB 3.0 ports caused the enclosure to show up under the USB Super-Speed Bus under the ASMedia controller in System Information. I got an average of 45.8 MB/s write speed and 47.9 MB/s read speed. Although USB 3.0 is capable of much faster speeds, this drive is probably fairly slowly, especially since it is a 2.5-inch drive and a slightly older drive at that. The bridge chip in the enclosure may also be somewhat inefficient. In any case, the USB 3.0 speed is definitely faster than USB 2.0 would be. I'll be getting an SSD to stick in the enclosure at some point to get a better benchmark as to how fast it can actually be.
Results for Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports:
The final test was connecting the enclosure to one of the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately, the enclosure shows up under USB High-Speed Bus and not under USB Super-Speed Bus. That was not a good sign but I went ahead and ran the tests. I got an average of 26.8 MB/s write speed and 32.9 MB/s read speed. This result is similar to the Z77 USB 2.0 port result so we can conclude that the System Information output is correct and the drive is not being seen as a USB 3.0 device meaning PXHCD.kext does not correctly work with Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports.
Bottom Line
It looks like we will most likely have to wait for an Ivy Bridge Mac so we can have native Intel USB 3.0 support. In the mean time, USB 3.0 ports seem to work fine when driven by the ASMedia ASM1042 USB 3.0 controller. Obviously this test could not possibly indicate the overall throughput that the ASMedia ports are capable of but that will have to wait for another day. The other conclusion from previous testing is that Intel USB 3.0 ports work just fine as USB 2.0 ports in every way.
Testing methodology:
For those that might be interested I simply ran diglloyd's DeskTester with the Sequential Test command. The Sequential Suite would likely have given more complete testing but wouldn't have changed the result substantially. I do suspect that USB 3.0 speeds would be better given a full Sequential Suite since block size is varied and best speeds on my SSD tests seem to be with 16MB block sizes or larger.
With PXHCD.kext loaded, both sets of ports work with USB 2.0 devices. In addition, two separate USB Super-Speed Bus sections appears in System Information under USB. Interestingly, if I plug a USB 2.0 flash drive into the ASMedia ports, it mounts and appears under USB Super-Speed Bus.
If I do the same with the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports, the USB 2.0 flash drive shows up under USB High-Speed Bus. If I disable PXHCD.kext, the Z77 ports still work just fine as USB 2.0 ports while the ASMedia ports do not function at all in any form.
I was also able to easily boot from UniBeast on the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports just like I would be able to from USB 2.0 ports. So, for those of you who are intent on upgrading to a Z77 board, those USB 3.0 ports driven by the Intel Z77 chipset will work just fine as USB 2.0 ports.
The next step is to test USB 3.0 functionality. I don't currently have any USB 3.0 devices but will be ordering an enclosure promptly.
Update on 04/24/2011
My Icy Dock USB 3.0 enclosure arrived today. I stuck a Hitachi 100GB 7200RPM 2.5-inch drive in the enclosure and proceeded to test using all three sets of USB ports with PXHCD.kext loaded. This is all being tested on my Asus Sabertooth Z77 system.
Results for Z77 USB 2.0 ports:
As expected, the enclosure shows up under the USB High-Speed Bus in System Information and I got an average of 28.3 MB/s write speed and 32.3 MB/s read speed. This result is pretty much inline with typical USB 2.0 speeds although I've gotten a little faster on some other enclosures.
Results for ASMedia USB 3.0 ports:
Connecting the enclosure to one of the ASMedia USB 3.0 ports caused the enclosure to show up under the USB Super-Speed Bus under the ASMedia controller in System Information. I got an average of 45.8 MB/s write speed and 47.9 MB/s read speed. Although USB 3.0 is capable of much faster speeds, this drive is probably fairly slowly, especially since it is a 2.5-inch drive and a slightly older drive at that. The bridge chip in the enclosure may also be somewhat inefficient. In any case, the USB 3.0 speed is definitely faster than USB 2.0 would be. I'll be getting an SSD to stick in the enclosure at some point to get a better benchmark as to how fast it can actually be.
Results for Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports:
The final test was connecting the enclosure to one of the Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately, the enclosure shows up under USB High-Speed Bus and not under USB Super-Speed Bus. That was not a good sign but I went ahead and ran the tests. I got an average of 26.8 MB/s write speed and 32.9 MB/s read speed. This result is similar to the Z77 USB 2.0 port result so we can conclude that the System Information output is correct and the drive is not being seen as a USB 3.0 device meaning PXHCD.kext does not correctly work with Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ports.
Bottom Line
It looks like we will most likely have to wait for an Ivy Bridge Mac so we can have native Intel USB 3.0 support. In the mean time, USB 3.0 ports seem to work fine when driven by the ASMedia ASM1042 USB 3.0 controller. Obviously this test could not possibly indicate the overall throughput that the ASMedia ports are capable of but that will have to wait for another day. The other conclusion from previous testing is that Intel USB 3.0 ports work just fine as USB 2.0 ports in every way.
Testing methodology:
For those that might be interested I simply ran diglloyd's DeskTester with the Sequential Test command. The Sequential Suite would likely have given more complete testing but wouldn't have changed the result substantially. I do suspect that USB 3.0 speeds would be better given a full Sequential Suite since block size is varied and best speeds on my SSD tests seem to be with 16MB block sizes or larger.
