Any suggestions on an add-in USB card?

[Moonraker]

I'm looking to add a PCI card with additional USB ports to my Mint 20.1 box, and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a particular brand or model of card? I'm not concerned with speed (USB 2.0 vs 3.0), just connectivity.

Three of the cards that I'm considering are these:

FebSmart 7-port card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081Y4TK5H/

Tiergrade 7-port card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z34BJYH/

Inateck 5-port card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPIMJEW/

They all have mixed reviews, but each of them has some mentions of successful Mint installs.

Are there any cards that are known to work well with Mint that anyone would like to recommend, or should I just pick one of these and hope for the best?

[JTJersey]

I would imagine by now most Linux distros would support most any add in USB card. I had one installed in a system running Mint several years ago and it worked fine. I'd pick one in my price range and just go with it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I don't recommend any of these cards. All of the cards run off only PCIe x1; even though you say you aren't worried about speed, the more ports you occupy and have in use, the slower each one will get, possibly to the point one or more may be inoperative.

That first card would have power issues because it has no way to get additional power. You can get only so much power out of a single PCIe slot despite the claims made for the card.

It is disgusting how many manufacturers put out cards like this. They all should be prosecuted (or at least persecuted) for fraud.

[Moonraker]

I don't recommend any of these cards. All of the cards run off only PCIe x1; even though you say you aren't worried about speed, the more ports you occupy and have in use, the slower each one will get, possibly to the point one or more may be inoperative.

Interesting, and thank you. Is there a card you would recommend?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I don't recommend any of these cards. All of the cards run off only PCIe x1; even though you say you aren't worried about speed, the more ports you occupy and have in use, the slower each one will get, possibly to the point one or more may be inoperative.

Interesting, and thank you. Is there a card you would recommend?

I wish I could but I haven't found any that used enough PCIe lanes for five to seven ports like you seem to want. Over the past two or three years, I've found a couple of cards that ran on PCIe x4 but they apparently aren't being made anymore (weird, that). Silverstone used to make one that they claimed ran on PCIe x2 but close examination of photos made of the card showed no PCB traces running to the second PCIe lane contacts (in short, they lied).

How many of what kind of ports do you need (USB type A or C; 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 20Gbps)? Generally speaking, one PCIe lane can give you 5Gbps total bandwidth and four PCIe lanes will give you 20Gbps total bandwidth.

[Moonraker]

How many of what kind of ports do you need (USB type A or C; 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 20Gbps)? Generally speaking, one PCIe lane can give you 5Gbps total bandwidth and four PCIe lanes will give you 20Gbps total bandwidth.

What I need is more USB type A ports to connect low power, low bandwidth stuff like mice, keyboards and a few other gadgets that need either a USB data link or minimal amounts of power, basically just enough power to get them to light up.

For example,

- an HDMI to Displayport dongle. It doesn't do any data transfer, it just needs 200mw or so to bump a 3v signal to 5v.
- a bluetooth headset switch. No data transfer, just 5v to power an LED and the switching circuit. Maybe 100mw, if that.
- a bluetooth dongle (~10mw or so, very low power).
- a data connection for a rarely-used scanner (the scanner itself has a separate power dongle).

All of these work now through a USB hub that's hanging off the back of the PC. I'd just like to get rid of that and just plug everything into the back of the box.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

How many of what kind of ports do you need (USB type A or C; 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 20Gbps)? Generally speaking, one PCIe lane can give you 5Gbps total bandwidth and four PCIe lanes will give you 20Gbps total bandwidth.

What I need is more USB type A ports to connect low power, low bandwidth stuff like mice, keyboards and a few other gadgets that need either a USB data link or minimal amounts of power, basically just enough power to get them to light up.

For example,

- an HDMI to Displayport dongle. It doesn't do any data transfer, it just needs 200mw or so to bump a 3v signal to 5v.
- a bluetooth headset switch. No data transfer, just 5v to power an LED and the switching circuit. Maybe 100mw, if that.
- a bluetooth dongle (~10mw or so, very low power).
- a data connection for a rarely-used scanner (the scanner itself has a separate power dongle).

All of these work now through a USB hub that's hanging off the back of the PC. I'd just like to get rid of that and just plug everything into the back of the box.

Power isn't the only thing you need to worry about.Your power needs appear to be low enough (although I'm a bit baffled by that HDMI to DP dongle; can you provide a link to what it is?) so you should be OK although I still recommend getting a card that also has a connector for a PSU (Power Supply Unit) cable to ensure the card gets enough power (keep in mind a card will also consume power).

You also need to consider the mount of data that needs to be transmitted through the card at any given time. The amount of bandwidth available determines that. If your dongles, etc. are USB 2.0, the bandwidth from even a PCIe x1 connection will probably be enough (again, I'm wondering about that HDMI to Displayport dongle).

[Moonraker]

Power isn't the only thing you need to worry about.Your power needs appear to be low enough (although I'm a bit baffled by that HDMI to DP dongle; can you provide a link to what it is?)

This is it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JQORLCG/

I can't find any specs on the actual power draw but it works on any port (not just charging ports) and it runs stone cold, you can't feel even the slightest bit of warmth from the dongle.

I still recommend getting a card that also has a connector for a PSU (Power Supply Unit) cable to ensure the card gets enough power (keep in mind a card will also consume power).

That was my thought as well. I have plenty of unused power connectors on my PSU and it makes sense that it would work better than a card that just draws power through the PCIe slot.

You also need to consider the mount of data that needs to be transmitted through the card at any given time. The amount of bandwidth available determines that. If your dongles, etc. are USB 2.0, the bandwidth from even a PCIe x1 connection will probably be enough (again, I'm wondering about that HDMI to Displayport dongle).

Most of the stuff is low bandwidth, like mice and keyboards. The HDMI to DP dongle doesn't consume any bandwidth itself as far as I know, it's basically just a 3v to 5v control signal booster. The scanner doesn't need a lot of bandwidth but I could use a native port for that if necessary. Another item is a teeny tiny USB LED lamp that uses 18mA according to the specs (about 0.09w), a negligible amount of power overall.

I'm thinking the Tiergrade card should work. It has a split PSU connection, 7 ports (5 external), and it's USB 3.0. I'm going to get one and I'll update this post with the results.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I would prefer a better known brand, such as Startech, but the Tiergrade will probably work fine for your use. I'm wondering why they supply that power splitter cable, though, unless it's to allow you to steal power from another device instead of directly from the PSU.

[Moonraker]

Maybe it's so you can connect it to another device if you're down to your last PSU connector.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Maybe it's so you can connect it to another device if you're down to your last PSU connector.

That's more or less what I said. It's odd that a manufacturer would include a cable for something like that, though. Usually, they would include something like an old four pin power (aka Molex) connector to SATA power connector cable.

[Moonraker]

Just a short follow up...

The Tiergrade card looked fine, but when installed if borked the PC so hard that it wouldn't even boot. Nothing, zip, zero, zilch.

That scared the snot out of me to be honest, lol. I thought it might have fried the PC but removing it allowed the PC to boot normally.

I tried it in 3 different slots but it always froze the box and wouldn't boot. Maybe it's a defective card, maybe it's just a shoddy piece of drek, maybe there's something really weird with my PC, but regardless, it wouldn't work. (I'm guessing it was a dud card, but who knows.)

Soooooo, it's going back and I'm going to try this one next:

StarTech.com 7 Port PCI Express USB 3.0 Card
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UK3X5CW/

It's weird- the $30 Tiergrade card has over 1600 ratings with a 4.3 out of 5 score. In other words, it's gotta be working for someone out there.
The $65 StarTech card has fewer than 50 ratings and a 4.1 out of 5 score.

In short, I have no idea what the deal is, the world is confusing, and I'm going to bed. I'll update this post after I try the StarTech card.

[Moonraker]

I'm happy to report that the StarTech works fine, the system booted up normally, no problem.

Well, one problem, but it's not the card. It turns out the the slots on the back of my (admittedly) cheap case are just wee bit too narrow to allow a standard USB plug to go in. I laughed because it's so dumb- another 1/16th of an inch would do it, but nooooooooo.

So it's time to get out the Dremel tool and shave away at the sides of the slot. I'll stuff the case with some fabric and plastic sheeting etc etc so no metal particles get in, but damn- it's always something, lol.