StarTech.com 4 Port USB 3.0 PCIe Card w/ 4 Dedicated 5Gbps Channels (USB 3.2 Gen 1) - UASP - SATA / LP4 Power - PCI Express Adapter Card (PEXUSB3S44V)

This product came recommended through a few YouTube videos and some online VR forums. I was having problems running more than two sensors with my current usb 3.0 5 port card.. and as it turned out, even though there were 5 ports, only two controllers so there was always a conflict. This card absolutely solved my issue because each port has its own controller so it allowed all my room sensors to run at full speed usb 3.0 capacity. For refer, I am using a 3 sensor setup with an Oculus Rift CV1 setup, two up front on either side of my tv in my living room, and one on the back wall in the center facing down. I played for about two hours to test, and never lost connectivity with any of the sensors. Well worth the price paid to have all my equipment work as it should!

These four dedicated USB 3.0 channels immediately solved all my problems with Virtual Reality (VR). I run both an HTC Vive and an Oculus Rift from the same desktop. Though it is a powerful machine, the USB 3.0 ports left a lot to be desired. With the four dedicated bus USB 3.0 slots provided by this card, both VR sets run flawlessly. I also appreciated the low-profile design, which enabled me to insert the card in a PCI Express slot under the cooling apparatus for my two liquid-cooled GeForce 1080 video cards (a tight fit). Recommend you also get the SATA power connector (a separate purchase), to insure all four USB slots are fully powered. The only potential problem with this card is the horizontal placement of the USB slots (see photo), which makes plugging in cables very difficult. I had to use a small screwdriver to slightly pry up the slot covering on the computer case backplate when plugging in my cables, but this is a price paid for the extremely low profile of the card (vertical slots would necessitate a taller card).

I'm going to be installing my fourth of this card because the first three all failed. I'm hoping this next card does the trick because when this card works, it works incredibly well and is exactly what it's advertised to be. Having four dedicated USB controllers in a single card really helps in certain environments. Basically, what seems to happen is the controllers just burn out and stop passing data. The card will still pass power to your devices but if you try to poll the ports you end up getting errors. And my experience with three separate cards, the issues don't start until about a month or two in and then the ports die one by one over a period of another four weeks. I primarily use this card because VR comes with a lot of USB bandwidth issues with the number of devices that are required for a full body kit. Running SteamVR diagnostics shows the ports come up as "general failure". I've had this happen now with three cards in a row and it seems like there's a couple of other reviews where this has happened as well. Support has been fantastic as they typically just tend to swap the card out but since I've had so many fail now they're trying to point the finger at me (even though nothing else in my system is having even remotely similar issues.) Depending on how support continues and if the next card actually has some staying power I'll update my review.

I have this installed on an ASUS ROG Maximus IX running Windows 10. It seems to be working alright without installing any special drivers. I only have two issues with this board: 1. It requires a secondary power connection. I wasn't thrilled to have to run a new power cable through my rig just for this card. 2. The molex connector easily pops off the board when attaching or detaching a cable. While I was able to remount it, it could easily pop off the board and damage its connection to the board in the process, so be careful or use the sata power connection instead. The main benefit of the this card is that it uses a separate USB hub for each port, resulting it much better bandwidth and response times across devices. In that respect, it works great!

I have been fighting with my Oculus for a week trying to get it all set up and working right, dealing with a blacklistted motherboard and errors on USB ports. This card solved all my problems. No hassle, no issues, it was great right out of the box. The only problem I had at all was that once installed, the ports on the end near the motherboard had one edge slightly behind the metal of the PC case at the edge, hiding a tiny part of the port. I am not sure if this is a design flaw of my case or the card, but I was able to push things around a bit to flex things so I could plug things in. After that point, the cables held it all in place. If you are trying to figure out which card to get to make our Oculus problems go away, it is this one.

I bought this specifically to upgrade my Rift to a 4-sensor setup, and it works flawlessly. Installed super easy: shove into the appropriate motherboard slot, plug in a power connection from your PSU (technically not mandatory, but I highly recommend), and then just use the default drivers that Windows 10 finds (FYI: I've read from others that it actually messes up if you search out and manually install the drivers, or use the ones on the CD. So... don't do that). I plugged all four Rift sensors into this StarTech card, with the headset USB plugged into the motherboard. Works absolutely amazing! My tracking is so good now that I've been getting turned around/disoriented; used to I could tell when I was backwards in the room because the tracking would start to get glitchy, now I can't tell which way I'm facing because the tracking is great in every direction! XD For reference, I'm using the following cable extenders and wall mounts with excellent results: CableCreation (Long 16FT) Super Speed Active USB 3.0 Extension Cable, USB 3.0 Extender USB Male to Female Repeater Cable with Signal Booster for Oculus Rift,Xbox,PS4 and more, Black Security Metal Wall Mount- Adjustable Indoor/Outdoor Mount Compatible With Arlo, Arlo Pro, Arlo Pro 2 and Other Compatible Models - by Wasserstein (3 Pack, Black)

Like many others, I purchased this card for the separate USB controllers for my Oculus Rift to hopefully cure the USB errors and crashes from overtaxing the system. Well I'm happy to report that it worked ...at a cost. I first mounted it into my PCIe x4 slot hoping it would work there and plugged all 3 sensors and the Oculus headset into it. However upon testing, PCIe X4 wasn't enough to run the Oculus headset. It kept disconnecting/crashing and reconnecting over and over. I had no choice but to try the unused PCIe x16 slot above it. In this slot everything was green and worked great. However, the trade off is it drops the graphic card's PCIe x16 slot to an X8 when anything is plugged into the PCIe slot below it, exactly where I had to put the USB card. So it works, but there is a trade off. Because it is a 4 port card, I assumed wrongly that PCIe X4 would be enough to handle it...and it may for other purposes. Sadly, Oculus headsets require much more bandwidth and is why it causes so many USB problems to begin with. I deducted a star for this and because, like many others have said, the USB slots are vertical which may cause problems with some cases getting in the way of plugging in. Why these weren't made horizontal, I can't figure out. I found that plugging in your usb's before tightening the case screw down to hold it in helps, giving you a little extra wiggle room. I first thought my case was in the way until I moved the mounted card up slightly which allowed my usb's to plug in, ...barely.

I tried 3 other less expensive PCIE to USB cards and they all had issues with drivers, throughput, or both! This card just works and really does deliver bandwidth! It also handles multiple hubs and high power devices perfectly! 0 drop outs, 0 latency issues, instantly recognizes anything plugged in! It also has better build quality with the vertical ports - they aren't obstructed by different cases like some other cards I tried! I don't know why I bother with other brands - I always end up back with StarTech. It also has 2 standards for providing power instead of just 1 odd one (floppy power on one that I tried). I highly recommend this card!