USB 3.0 ports fully backwards compatible in new Haswell/Mavericks build - Thoughts?

[B-San]

I've done a good number of 7 series/Ivy Bridge builds in the past, but was pretty much resigned to the fact that the USB 3.0 ports would only work with USB 3.0 devices...

I just completed my first Haswell build; GA-Z87X-UD5 TH, i5 4670K, 16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM, 250GB Samsung EVO SSD for both OS X and Windows 7.. Oh yeah the case is a Rosewill Legacy MX2-S... coupled with a Cooler Master GeminII M4 made out to be my quietest build ever!

The silent operation is much needed, as the build is for audio recording and mixing purposes.

The interface being used is a Universal Audio Apollo which is running via Thunderbolt.

Thanks to the following thread I was able to get Thunderbolt working smooth, but the last pleasant surprise from this build is that all the USB 3.0 ports are backwards compatible with my USB 2.0 devices!

I am wondering if Mavericks improved support for USB 3.0, or if it's a different USB 3.0 chipset in the motherboard, or if it's improved USB 3.0 drivers which I had loaded up on the system's Windows partition...

I wouldn't have considered the 3rd scenario, except loading Thunderbolt drivers in Windows is needed to achieve TB functionality in OS X...

Any thoughts?

 

[B-San]

Just tested a USB 2.0 drive on a Z77 running Mavericks & just as I thought, no dice.. so I'm thinking it must be a change in the USB 3.0 hardware for the current gen MOBOs..

Any additional thoughts, insight provided by the Tonymac community would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Uwillparish]

Just tested a USB 2.0 drive on a Z77 running Mavericks & just as I thought, no dice.. so I'm thinking it must be a change in the USB 3.0 hardware for the current gen MOBOs..

Any additional thoughts, insight provided by the Tonymac community would be greatly appreciated!

Interesting,I'm going to say this how I interpreted the post
USB 3.0 is natively backwards compatible with 2.0.
Thee only reason I think USB 3 wasn't compatible on the Z77 is that the correct drivers weren't installed, as USB 2 devices works on my Z87-ud4h
Thoughts?
- uwillparish

 

[B-San]

^ When you are referring correct drivers needing to be installed for a 7-series mobo, do you mean the USB3.0 one in multibeast?

I never installed that driver and every build I had done would only have USB3.0 devices working in the USB3.0 ports (except for things like mice, keyboards, bluetooth, logitech dongles)...

 

[Uwillparish]

^ When you are referring correct drivers needing to be installed for a 7-series mobo, do you mean the USB3.0 one in multibeast?

I never installed that driver and every build I had done would only have USB3.0 devices working in the USB3.0 ports (except for things like mice, keyboards, bluetooth, logitech dongles)...

Yes, For my current install I have the driver and I can plug in say my Xbox controller or my Blu mic

 

[B-San]

^ Great.. thanks for the reply!