Old PC Upgrade #3: USB 3.0 Ports

If you enjoy this episode of ExplainingComputers, you may also be interested in my related videos:

Explaining PCIe slots:

SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD:

More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:44 The USB 3.0 Advantage
03:16 Card & Bay
06:59 Installation
11:55 Bay Watch
13:57 Performance
18:42 What Next?

[scheimong]

Interestingly, I did exactly this about ten years ago when USB 3.0 was the coolest new thing. It was in fact one of the first upgrades I ever did to a computer. I was a middle schooler back then.
Ten years later I have built dozens of computers, fixed dozens more, and even got myself a compsci degree. Watching this gives me nostalgia for some reason, which I know is a weird thing to feel about watching someone upgrade their computer...

[photod]

When removing front bay blanking plates, it is a much safer idea to reach in whith a screw driver and tapping the handle to eject the plate. The metal tabs in those bays are very well suited to cutting through skin. 3 stiches was enough to teach me that lession, hopefully this comment can help others avoid such accidents.

[MohsinExperiments]

This is actual helpful stuff. You are showing useful information for a normal budget user instead of showing 64 core CPU benchmark score ;)

[richardhead]

_I really liked the part where you explained how the older PCIe spec and chipsets curtail the speed of the USB 3.0 card!_

[blacksmock]

I've had a quick look through the comments and I don't think anyone has mentioned one point about this upgrade, When I added a USB3 card, similar to the one you used, to a 10 year-old Mesh computer, I noticed that the USB3 card was not recognised by the BIOS. The USB3 drivers were supplied by the operating system, Windows or Linux. If you regularly try out Linux distros by booting from USB drives you still need to use the USB2 ports. The same would apply to a Windows Recovery USB drive. You can use USB3 for creating the USB boot drive as you already have an Operating System running. Otherwise it's a very worthwhile addition and, as usual, your explanations were very clear.

[tobie]

As you can see on the pcie card, the manufacturers provide a gap to get your cables under the card for a better cable management. I discovered that not so long ago and can be really useful in hard cable management situations :)
You can see the gap pretty well at 9:15

[tonyelsom]

I recently got hold of 4 Tyan m/b's dated back to 2008, with onboard Intel graphics, 2 pcie slots, 8 USB 2, 6 sata and with 2.6 gb dual core Pentium cpu's...I'm running SpaceEngine on one of those with a GTX 1050ti and 4gb ram. (not to mention the Kingston SSD) Needless to say, USB3 will be my next upgrade here, so thanks a lot for this timely bit on the subject Chris. 👍

[lawrenceallwright]

First thing I always do after watching a video from the EC upgrade series is take the panel off my PC and see what PCI slots I have available.
Thank you Chris, informative as always, and thank you for including the Amazon links in the description.
These are so much easier to watch than those videos with cuts and hops and sound effects every five seconds.

[derekgliddon]

Love your channel. Very well-planned and produced videos. The range of topics and the video lengths are appreciated. You hit the sweet spot in your level of technical explanation.

[angelhelp]

Howdy from across the pond in Houston, Texas! I had been unsure if it was possible to install a 3.0 port on my old computer motherboard and also have ports on the front of my case. Your video answered every one of my questions flawlessly. The views you showed in your video were excellent and the description was "spot on". I really liked the honesty when you showed that you had to figure out how to reroute the cables. That has happened to me so many times. Throughout the years I have used YouTube videos hundreds of times to do all sorts of repairs around my home and yours was one of the very best I have ever seen. Thank you very much for making this video. I wish you and your family a blessed life.

[jeffreyjoshuarollin]

"Bay Watch" ROTFL. Informative and entertaining as ever, Mr. Barnatt.

[Zactivist]

I like your videos because they are real-world situations I've often had to deal with in friends and family computers. A lot of tech videos are only dealing with brand new hardware, perfect cable management, in cases that cost more than the entire computers some people have. I'm hardly ever dealing with brand new bleeding edge stuff- it's so often things like this- adding USB 3 to an old computer and dealing with 'how to get power to a new component" from some old PSU with all those red, black and yellow wires- NOT some nice modular 1000W PSU that's a week old! Anyway, thanks for a fun video on a real world upgrade!

[tedcalouri]

I have also become a big fan of the hook and loop fasteners for cable management as well. If you swap things out with any frequency at all the re-use ability is so nice.

[perrymcclusky]

Wow, there’s a lot of technical factors to take into consideration on a fairly simple project like this. Looking forward to your next video!

[jefffarrington]

As a complete IT novice, it took me several weeks to find the courage to attempt to install the SSD I had already bought. I looked at many YouTube videos but it was this one by Chris which finally enabled me to install the SSD. Everything is calmly explained with just a touch of humour and the various components and connections are shown so very clearly. I shall consider upgrading my usb slots next,
Many thanks indeed Chris. I shall recommend you to the Which magazine computer staff.

[TheTechieScientist]

Loved the "Stanley of a knife " cameo😀

[cromulence]

Chris, you mention in the next video that you'll be upgrading the motherboard and CPU. I wonder if it's worth mentioning different upgrades that can be done, depending on a budget. For example:

- If strapped for cash, a CPU upgrade to a quad core chip for the existing motherboard could bring about excellent performance gains. A Core 2 Quad computer is still perfectly serviceable for most web browsing, email, and media playback needs.
- Upgrading the CPU and motherboard, but re-using the existing RAM
- Going all out and upgrading the CPU and motherboard with ones that will also require newer RAM (in this case DDR4).
- Adding other affordable upgrades as required for the users needs. For example, installing a graphics card would allow for things like 4K video playback, even on a machine this old, as the card would be doing hardware decoding.

Just food for thought anyhow. Great informative video as always!

[robginsburg]

Another immensely useful and informative episode. Thank you, Chris!

[ElmerFuddGun]

OMG get the vacuum cleaner on that mic input! - 0:57
Some of that grime looks like it has been stored in a really humid environment. I wonder what it looks like in the power supply.

[G--A-R-Z]

I love the Old PC upgrade series. So helpful for those on a budget.