USB 3.0 speed comparison

What is USB 3.0 (aka. SuperSpeed USB)? USB 3.0 is the next major revision of the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus, created in 1996 by a consortium of companies led by Intel to dramatically simplify the connection between host computer and peripheral devices.

Fast forwarding to 2009, USB 2.0 has been firmly entrenched as the de-facto interface standard in the PC world for years (with about 6 billion devices sold), and yet still the need for more speed by ever faster computing hardware and ever greater bandwidth demands again drive us to where a couple of hundred megabits per second is just not fast enough.

Just how fast is USB 3.0?

The USB 3.0 specification guarantees an increased performance of 10 times compared to the capabilities of the current USB 2.0, providing a bandwidth of 600 MB/s second.

In comparison, USB 3.0 has a theoretical peak throughput of 5Gbps. This means that USB 3.0 is capable of transferring a 25GB file in approximately 70 seconds.

If that doesn’t warrant a shout of “whoosh!” then what does? In contrast, USB 2.0 would take around 14 minutes to perform the same task. And you’d be twiddling your thumbs for around 9 hours if you used USB 1.1.

This speed boost makes USB 3.0 ideal for the sort of large-scale file shunting we all do today, such as copying large images, MPEG-4 video clips, or making data backups to portable hard drives.

At a glance:USB 3.0

Faster: 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and six times faster than FireWire 800

Greater power efficiency: New interrupt driven protocol optimizes power management.

Better Power Output: Power output bump to 900 milliamps from 100 milliamps allows more devices to be charged faster via USB.

Backward Compatible: New connectors and cables will work with work with devices running the older USB 2.0

Pour on the Speed

The new spec will support data transfers at 4.8 gigabits per second, or Gbps, nearly 10 times faster than the current standard’s 480 megabits per second and six times faster than FireWire 800. It’s also 400 times faster than the 12 Mbps offered by the original spec, USB 1.0.

USB 2.0 is also known as "Hi-Speed USB," while USB 3.0 will have the confusingly similar moniker "SuperSpeed USB."

The new USB 3.0 connectors and devices will be compatible with older USB ports (on devices using USB 2.0 and 1.0) but they will be limited to the older ports’ slower speeds.

Performance comparison: Transfer of 25GB HD movie:

USB 1.1: 9.3 hours

USB 2.0: 13.9 minutes

USB 3.0: 70 seconds

Speed Table

USB1.1 = 12 Mbps
FW400 = 400 Mbps
USB2 = 480 Mbps
FW800 = 800 Mbps
SCSI160 = 1280 Mbps
SATA1 = 1500 Mbps
SCSI320 = 2560 Mbps
SATA2 = 3000 Mbps
USB3 = 4800 Mbps
HDMI1.2 = 4950 Mbps
SATA3 = 6000 Mbps
HDMI1.3 = 10200 Mbps