USB 3.1 review: 10 Gbps USB with the ASUS Z97-A

Memory (DDR4/DDR5) and Storage (SSD/NVMe) 367 Page 2 of 6 Published by

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USB SuperSpeed+

USB 3.1 - SuperSpeed+

As mentioned on the previous page, Usb 3.1 now has increased bandwidth of up-to 10 Gbps, that is twice the number of Usb 3.0. Next towards the increased bandwidth and performance possibilities there are more advantages. 

Usb 3.1 has a more efficient encoding mechanism: USB 3.0 had a lot of overhead with 8/10-bit encoding, with Usb 3.1 that has changed dramatically towards 128/132-bit encoding. Let me explain, for Usb 3.0 every eight-bits transmitted requires a total of 10 bits to compensate for error-correction, that means that thus bus 25% overhead. This is why USB 3.0 caps out at roughly 400 Mb/sec.

With Usb 3.1 that improves dramatically, for every 128 bit of data transmitted 132 are bits used (error-correction), that's what 4% overhead and this offers a heck of a lot more bandwidth. If you do some quick math you'd be looking at just over 1200MB/s. However that remains a theoretical number as you need to deduct software overhead, protocol overhead, inefficiencies, count in latency and at this time tweaking -- the USB 3.1 performance is simply just not yet at such numbers. However I do believe that in the near future we can can already reach up-to 1000 MB/sec.

Another new benefit is that the new Usb 3.1 port can deliver much more power, a nice 100 Watt to be precise. In theory this new connector can charge even a laptop, so you can see where the future is headed to. Next to that a new benefit is daisy-chaining, you all have heard from this with Thunderbolt, with one cable you can connect to a device, and from that device you can connect another device and so on. In theory Usb 3.1 offers this feature as well. A plausible implementation that i can think of here is utilizing a monitor that can function as HUB by using just one USB 3.1 cable for everything.

Btw USB 3.0 was called SuperSpeed USB, and SuperSpeed+ USB will be the name for USB 3.1

Compatibility

This one is simple, ALL USB solutions are backwards compatible, meaning you can use USB 1.x, 2.0 and 3.0 on this USB 3.1 device just as well. Below we placed the specifications in-between USB standards in a chart.

 USB 1.xUSB 2.0USB 3.0USB 3.1
Branding Full Speed Hi-Speed SuperSpeed SuperSpeed+
Bandwith 12 Mbps 480 Mbps 5.0 Gbps 10.0 Gbps
Encoding 8b/10b 8b/10b 8b/10b 128b/132b
Data speed 1,2 MB/s 48 MB/s 625 MB/s 1250 MB/s


The new C-type connector

There are several types of USB connectors normal and mini sized. With Usb 3.1 there will be a new connector, this is called the USB type c-connector.  And while it unfortunately is yet another USB cable, this one is good though.
 

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Interesting is that you can flip the connector 180-degrees and you can still insert it so there is no up or downside to the connector, you just plug it in. In blue to the bottom of the photo you can see your normal Type A USB 3.0 connector, above it with the rounded edges, the new mini type-C USB 3.1 connector. It looks quite a bit like the Micro USB Type-B connector (left) commonly used with SmartPhones.

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