USB 3.0 addresses the needs of large inexpensive storage by adding an even higher transfer rate to match these new devices. The new name for the USB 3.0 standard is "SuperSpeed USB " and it is backwards compatible with Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports. Data transfer speeds are being spec'd at 5000 Mbps for USB 3.0, a significant speedboost from 480 Mbps for USB 2.0 and 12 Mbps from the initial USB 1.1 standard. In other words, USB3.0 is about 10x as fast as USB2.0. Nice!

PCSTATS first look at USB 3.0 comes via a new PCI Express x4 drop in card manufactured by ASUS called the U3S6. It features two USB 3.0 ports powered by the NEC D720200F1 USB 3.0 host controller, a PLX Technology PEX8613-BA50BC PCI-E bridge chip and two SATA 6G ports care of the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 chip. No details yet on what ASUS will be charging for this little wonder-card, but $30 is likely. With Seagate Barracuda XT SATA 6G hard drives now available me thinks it will be a popular upgrade for existing Intel P55 motherboard owners.

The search for USB 3.0 devices begins! As is usual for new standards, USB 3.0 won't be broadly adopted till Intel and AMD natively include it on their motherboard chipsets. Buffalo apparently have the first USB3.0 external hard drive, but we're secretly waiting for Corsair, Supertalent, OCZ and PQI to release a 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive.