USB 3.0

[impar]

Greetings!

USB 3.0 brings optical connection in 2008
...
In an interview after the speech, Gelsinger said there's typically a one- to two-year lag between the release of the specification and the availability of the technology, so USB 3.0 products should likely arrive in 2009 or 2010. A prototype shown at the speech is working now, and USB 3.0 will have optical and copper connections "from day one," he added.

The current USB 2.0 version has a top data-transfer rate of 480 megabits per second, so a tenfold increase would be 4.8 gigabits per second. Many devices don't need that much capacity, but some can use more, including hard drives, flash card readers and optical drives such as DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. The fastest flash card readers today use IEEE 1394 "FireWire" connections that top out at 800 megabits per second.

In addition, USB 3.0 will offer greater energy efficiency, Gelsinger said. It will be backward compatible, so current USB 2.0 devices will be able to plug into USB 3.0 ports.

[Seawolf]

Nice find.

[MiniMax]

Unless it is wireless, I don't see the point.

[powerarmour]

Because it's 10x USB2.0 speed = 600MB/sec, it could be useful for basic external graphics adapters (~ AGP 2x speed) for Laptops or something.

And it's a lot faster than Gigabit network for file transfers etc

Even still, I doubt it'll run anywhere near the 600MB/sec peak, as USB2.0 doesn't get anywhere near 60MB/sec either, but a solid 300-400MB/sec should be a realistic aim for USB3.0.

[nForcer]

What about wireless USB 1.1?
http://www.macuser.com/hardware/usb_30_is_gonna_be_4_gbps_big_1.php

[olmari]

if usb 3 is going to be percentually as demanding on CPU as usb 2 it is stupid... I mean for example comparing say external harddisk with USB2 and Firewire, Firewire wins, because it has it's own controller instead if USB using CPU, and at those speeds, CPU usage can be utterly high.

[impar]

Greetings!

Faster USB 3.0 Is Coming
USB 3.0 should deliver more than ten times the speed of the existing USB 2.0 standard.

Intel and other companies have formed a group to promote the USB 3.0, which should deliver more than ten times the speed of the existing USB 2.0 standard.
The third-generation Universal Serial Bus interconnect will transfer data at speeds up to 4.8Gbit/s, ten times faster than USB 2.0's 480MBit/s. It will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0, which is backwards-compatible with the first USB 1.1 definition.
Intel stated that the USB 3.0 specification would be optimized for low power and improved protocol efficiency. The USB 3.0 ports and cabling will be designed with both copper and optical cable capabilities, meaning even higher speeds will be possible in the future.

[impar]

Greetings!

USB 3.0 in the flesh

Get ready, speed freaks. USB 3.0, the oft-rumored, much-discussed, rarely seen new standard heading our way has been spotted, sliced, chopped, and diced at CES 2008.

[impar]

Greetings!

Intel plays games with USB3.0

THERE IS ANOTHER power game brewing over USB3.0 and it looks like the user is going to pay the price once again.

If you remember the OHCI/UHCI mess that made USB1.0 worthless, Intel is about to provoke the same thing for USB3.0.

It is power games, user be damned.

The problem this time is that USB3.0 is basically an Intel spec, think PCIe2.0 over external cable and you are 98 per cent of the way there. Intel is the driving force here, and it did the bulk of the work, so fair enough.

If you are making the usual widgets for it, memory sticks, rocket launchers and sex toys, you can get the specs now. If you are competing with Intel, that is, you are making a chipset or anything with a CPU in it, you have to wait six months. Don't take this to just mean x86 either, ARM, MIPS or PPC and device vendors get equally shafted.

This behaviour is not what defines 'standard', it is what defines 'proprietary'. Basically if you are competing with Intel, or are perceived to be competing with it, you have to wait and suck down a six-month disadvantage. The last time this happened was USB1.0. Intel played the same games and the standard was so broken it never worked.

[Seawolf]

We'll see. The standard will be basically useless for the first six months anyway. It may be they're not actually going to be putting it in chipsets until that's done anyway, for all we know.