Internal Card readers - Help

MOREGONE · Jan 21, 2014

Not sure if this is the right place for this but..

I am beefing up a PC I was given with an SSD and RAM and will be ordering a 3.5" card reader in the near future.

Are there any things I need to look out for? I would like to maximize the speed of offloading photos and could use some help on things to look for.

I believe the standard card readers use eSata? My motherboard doesn't have USB 3.0 but I would be willing to add a USB 3.0 via PCIe if it made sense to.
Is eSata faster than USB 3.0?

Thanks

bratkinson · Jan 22, 2014

My biggest concern is will your processor 'hack it'? As your motherboard doesn't support USB3, I'm guessing it's either a single processor computer or perhaps a 3mhz dual processor. If so, it likely has only SATA I on board, or, if lucky, SATA II. My thinking is no matter how speedy the SSD is (I think they're all SATA III these days) and how much RAM you add (will it even handle 8gig?), you may not see much of an improvement for the money.

Then I have to ask how many MP is your camera(s)? I was quite satisfied with Photoshop and even PS Elements on a 3.2ghz single processor, 4 gig, Windows XP machine when I had only a 5mp camera. It was OK with an 8mp camera, as well. That's my backup machine these days. I now have a slightly-overclocked quad processor 4.6ghz computer with 16 gig RAM that works quite well with importing 200 or so RAW files into Lightroom (from/to SSD) in less than a minute. Just for kicks, I copied a couple of JPG files from my 23 MP, 5D mark iii over to the 'old computer' and tried importing it with Lightroom 3.x. I don't recall how long it took, but it was at least 2 minutes per picture to import! Adjust the clarity? Wait 30 seconds for it to process, etc.

So, before you spend good money upgrading your external hardware capabilities, make sure that you're not throwing good money at something that cannot give a good 'bang for the buck'.

Edit: By the way, just as an FYI...Although the slower RAM you buy today may fit into a newer motherboard sometime later, it may end up slowing down the computer if a newer, faster processor has to keep waiting for RAM to respond. I've also discovered that the RAM itself is no longer compatible with newer motherboards about every 5 years or so. So thinking todays' RAM will work just fine in tomorrows computer...don't bet on it. And I go back to nine 8K (that's KILObytes!) RAM chips (total 64K w/parity check), in the hand, were $150 for my 2.88mhz (not ghz) 8088 powered PC-XT.

MOREGONE · Jan 22, 2014

Thanks for the feedback, not really what I was looking for... regardless of which PC it is, it needs a card reader...

The computer was a business workstation retired after the company decided to standardize all their equipment and start fresh. It is less than 2 years old from what I am told and has an i5 clocked a 2.66, I know not the fastest machine. It does accept DDR3 1600 which I will be ordering a single 1x8, to upgrade the 2x2 it has now. It has 4 RAM slots. My plan is to upgrade the mobo and processor and add another 8gb RAM in the near future. I will also start looking into redundant storage, something like 2 x 2TB, but that's for another day and thread. If I could just get a speedier processor I would probably keep the mobo. It has a 550w PS and 1gb Nvidia card. I don't know tons about PC building but for the price of free, I think I will have a pretty solid start.

I don't believe imports are slow with my current laptop, I was just asking because I want to make sure my purchase is future proof. I shoot with a 24mp D600.

lambertpix · Jan 22, 2014

As far as card readers go, USB 3.0 will be a lot faster than 2.0, and it's (very roughly) comparable to eSata. Card readers are most commonly going to be USB -- not eSata. I know you said you were interested in an internal reader, but I tried that once upon a time and wound up going back to external. In my case, I bought a cheap 2.0 internal reader, and I found that it got fouled up from time to time, and the only way I could get it working again was to unplug the USB connection at the MB and re-seat it. Needless to say, this got old after a while, and for my most recent build, I wound up just getting an external 3.0 reader. Bonus: I can use it on my laptop, too.

Obviously, you could spend more money on a better 2.0 reader, and you'd probably have better luck than I did, but for close to the same money, I bet you could pick up a USB expansion card and an external reader, and then when you upgrade your PC (whenever that happens), you can take the reader with you, or use it with a laptop, or whatever. Even if you stick with your Core i5 system for a while, you'll really appreciate having USB 3.0 as more and more devices show up.

As far as upgrading the processor, give it a little time and do some research. You might find the i5 is ok in the short term, and when you do upgrade, consider jumping to a MB that supports a newer Haswell (or whatever's out at the time) processor, as you'll gain power efficiency and have all sorts of SATA and USB (2.0 and 3.0) ports. A final note: DDR RAM runs faster when it's paired, so that single 8G stick will be happier once it's got a buddy. Make sure you consult a diagram / user manual for the MB to make sure you're pairing 4 w/ 4 and 8 w/ 8. With 4 slots, you'll probably set them up as 8 / 4 / 8 / 4.

MOREGONE · Jan 22, 2014

lambertpix said:
As far as card readers go, USB 3.0 will be a lot faster than 2.0, and it's (very roughly) comparable to eSata. Card readers are most commonly going to be USB -- not eSata. I know you said you were interested in an internal reader, but I tried that once upon a time and wound up going back to external. In my case, I bought a cheap 2.0 internal reader, and I found that it got fouled up from time to time, and the only way I could get it working again was to unplug the USB connection at the MB and re-seat it. Needless to say, this got old after a while, and for my most recent build, I wound up just getting an external 3.0 reader. Bonus: I can use it on my laptop, too.

Obviously, you could spend more money on a better 2.0 reader, and you'd probably have better luck than I did, but for close to the same money, I bet you could pick up a USB expansion card and an external reader, and then when you upgrade your PC (whenever that happens), you can take the reader with you, or use it with a laptop, or whatever. Even if you stick with your Core i5 system for a while, you'll really appreciate having USB 3.0 as more and more devices show up.

Thank you, I am pretty set on going USB 3.0, I really wasn't considering the fact that I have a USB 3.0 External Drive and will be using it to transfer some stuff over to the new machine.

Side question, my current laptop (Dell XPS 15z) does have USB 3.0, would it be likely for the built in Card Reader to be 3.0 or 2.0 based? I have been assuming my experience would be the same, but now I am thinking and would have for it to be slower on my new machine if the laptop I have has been pushing 3.0 speeds all along unknown to me.

lambertpix said:
As far as upgrading the processor, give it a little time and do some research. You might find the i5 is ok in the short term, and when you do upgrade, consider jumping to a MB that supports a newer Haswell (or whatever's out at the time) processor, as you'll gain power efficiency and have all sorts of SATA and USB (2.0 and 3.0) ports. A final note: DDR RAM runs faster when it's paired, so that single 8G stick will be happier once it's got a buddy. Make sure you consult a diagram / user manual for the MB to make sure you're pairing 4 w/ 4 and 8 w/ 8. With 4 slots, you'll probably set them up as 8 / 4 / 8 / 4.

I am pretty sure I know what you're talking about with the 4 w/ 8 etc., fortunately for me the computer is coming from one of their techs so he works with the machines all the time. I believe we were considering doing something like leaving the 2gb sticks in slot 1 and 3 as they are now and adding the 8gb into slot 2 for 12gb to start, then once I got the other 8gb stick to scrap the 2x2 and just put one of the 8gb sticks in slots 1 & 3, does that sound right?

Thanks for your help!

Fox_Racing_Guy · Jan 22, 2014

Here you go AFT Pro 37U 3.5 USB3 internal card reader AFT PRO-37U Card Reader - Newegg.com
If you need it PCIE USB3 4 port adapter ( 2 internal, 2 external) SEDNA - PCI Express USB 3.0 4 Port Adapter ( 2E2I) - Newegg.com

I use the AFT Pro 57U 5.5 USB3 internal reader and there is a night & day difference between USB2 & 3 transfer speed.

Dao · Jan 22, 2014

I was using USB2 reader in the past and I upgraded to USB3. And that really make a different in transfer speed from my CF cards to PC. I bought the Rosewill brand 3.5 inch multi reader with USB3 port from Newegg. At one point (after a month or 2 usage), the CF port was bad and I contacted Newegg for RMA. They just sent me a replacement and told me not to send the defective one back to them. And I got the replacement within 2 days.

lambertpix · Jan 22, 2014

MOREGONE said:
Side question, my current laptop (Dell XPS 15z) does have USB 3.0, would it be likely for the built in Card Reader to be 3.0 or 2.0 based? I have been assuming my experience would be the same, but now I am thinking and would have for it to be slower on my new machine if the laptop I have has been pushing 3.0 speeds all along unknown to me.

I did a quick search for this, and I couldn't see it indicated specifically as one or the other. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say it's probably USB 3.0. If you're experiencing lackluster speeds with this reader, you might be hitting the limit of the card.

MOREGONE said:
I am pretty sure I know what you're talking about with the 4 w/ 8 etc., fortunately for me the computer is coming from one of their techs so he works with the machines all the time. I believe we were considering doing something like leaving the 2gb sticks in slot 1 and 3 as they are now and adding the 8gb into slot 2 for 12gb to start, then once I got the other 8gb stick to scrap the 2x2 and just put one of the 8gb sticks in slots 1 & 3, does that sound right?

That seems right -- all the MB's I've ever seen pair 1&3 and 2&4. If the 4GB sticks aren't drastically slower than the 8's, there's no reason not to keep both pairs for 24G total, as long as the MB will support that. That's a pretty decent photo editing setup. You're running a 64-bit OS, right?

lambertpix · Jan 22, 2014

Dao said:
I was using USB2 reader in the past and I upgraded to USB3. And that really make a different in transfer speed from my CF cards to PC. I bought the Rosewill brand 3.5 inch multi reader with USB3 port from Newegg. At one point (after a month or 2 usage), the CF port was bad and I contacted Newegg for RMA. They just sent me a replacement and told me not to send the defective one back to them. And I got the replacement within 2 days.

The internal reader I had problems with was a Rosewill, too. I'm not a fan.

MOREGONE · Jan 22, 2014

Well thanks for the heads up. I was definitely looking at the Rosewill, I'm such a Amazon fanatic and its everywhere.

I will be running Windows 8 64bit on it as of now, though I may just keep 7 on it. Ill give it a test run on 8 and see how it goes. Should have this pig up and running over the weekend!

MGRPhoto · Jan 22, 2014

I haven't had a chance to read through everything here but I'll backup Fox_Racing_Guy's suggestion to go with the AFT Pro 37U (3.5") or AFT Pro 57U (5.25"). They are literally the only internal readers worth buying. Not only are they worth buying but they will outperform all of the external readers as well and they will be more reliable. Stay away from the Rosewill readers internal or external.

Don't add a single stick of RAM to your PC. Put the sticks currently installed in the closet in case you ever need them in the future for troubleshooting and just pick up a new 8GB kit: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - Newegg.com

If you need a PCIe to USB3.0 card then I'd suggest this one: Newegg.com - HooToo HT-PC002 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 2-Port PCI-E Add-On Expansion Card with Internal USB 3.0 19-Pin Motherboard Male Header & 5V 4-Pin Molex Power Connector (VIA VL800 Chipset, Solid Capacitors)
Solid performer, reliable with low likely hood of hardware conflicts.

If you need a PCI to USB3.0 then you should just plug the internal reader into USB2.0 ports you already have.

Fox_Racing_Guy · Jan 22, 2014

If you go with that PCIe USB3 card that MGR linked then you might like the AFT Pro 77U just released this week as it it has a 19 pin connection V the standard USB3 plugs and 19 pin adapter that the Pro 57U comes with. Atech Flash Technology
The Pro 77U is a 5.25 bay and it has 4 USB3 plugs, I use Corsair cases and none of them have provisions for 3.5 bays.

vimwiz · Jan 22, 2014

All of the internal card readers ive ever seen dont use eSATA, just USB2 via motherboard header pins.

bratkinson · Jan 23, 2014

MOREGONE said:
I will be running Windows 8 64bit on it as of now, though I may just keep 7 on it. Ill give it a test run on 8 and see how it goes. Should have this pig up and running over the weekend!

Cheapskate that I am, on some things, why give Microsoft your money for Win 8? While I have no actual statistics, every version of DOS and Windows I've ever used is more of a CPU and RAM hog than the previous versions. In short, if the computer has Win 7 (64 bit) up and running, why upgrade it?

And yes, I've been building/upgrading computers since DOS 2.1!