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1271
September 24th, 2022 09:00
Installing a new PCIe USB card in my Inspiron 3880
Inspiron 3880
Hi there!
I need to add a USB root hub / more 3.0 ports to my Inspiron 3880, and was recommended a PCIe USB card.
How could I find out if there is any PCI that would be supported by this Dell model? And what would be the best way to understand the compatibility between the Desktop and a PCIe USB card that I could buy off Amazon e.g.?
Is power supply something I should be concerned about here?
As it is probably obvious by my noob questions, I don't understand much about this subject, but before considering taking the Desktop to a professional, I would like to at least understand if adding a PCIe USB card to the Inspiron 3880 is even possible.
Thank you so much!
No Events found!
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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September 24th, 2022 18:00
This is a bit of a puzzle...
The specs for Inspiron 3880 say it has one PCI-e x1 expansion slot available on the motherboard (not counting the PCI-e x16 slot used for a video card).
BUT...the motherboard picture doesn't mark that slot. I presume it's the gray slot to left of the blue PCI-e x16 slot (#10) used for a video card.
So assuming that is the PCI-e x1 slot, that's you're only option. In theory, the PCI-e x1 slot should be compatible with a PCI-e x1 USB 3.2 card. You do want a card that only needs power from the slot and doesn't also require a direct connection to the PC's power supply.
Which size PSU do you have, 200W or 260W? PSU size might be a limiting factor, especially if you're going to use a lot of power hungry USB devices (printers, scanners, etc) at same time.
Would it be easier to get a USB 3.2 hub with its own external power supply? Connect the hub to one of the four USB 3.2 (Gen 1) ports on this PC and plug its power adapter into the wall. Then plug some of your extra devices into the hub. A 4-port USB hub would net you an increase of 3 USB ports, since the hub will use one of the four ports on this PC.
sam55todd
2 Intern
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243 Posts
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September 25th, 2022 18:00
Motherboard of Inspiron 3880 has 4 USB 3.2 (Gen1, which is rather USB 3.0 standard in previous terminology) ports - two on front and two on back of the case.
As RoHe has mentioned this PC model has two PCIe slots: one x1 (going into chipset) and another x16 (I suspect connected into CPU PCIe bus)
You can install USB adapter into PCIe x1 card with multiple USB slots (even if it says it's 3.0) but B460 chipset has PCIe Gen3 standard which is limited to a speed of 1GB/s per lane, USB 3.0 (or new name USB 3.2 gen1) bandwidth is 5 Gb/s (or 625 MB/s).
Therefore maximum this x1 PCIe slot can provide for simultaneous USB device use at full bandwidth - is only one USB 3.0 port (other devices will be waiting for overloaded channel release).
USB adapter in x1 PCIe lane can have multiple USB 3.0 devices attached as long as you don't have requirements for full speed simultaneous transfer.
Another option is using x16 PCIe slot (Gen3) with maximum bandwidth of 16GB/s (that's enough for simultaneous transfer from up to 13 USB 3.1 ports or 6 USB 3.2 {2x2} devices or 25 USB 3.0 devices).
There are expensive PCIe x16 cards (mostly for servers) but the same slot can accept cheaper x1, x4 and x8 PCIe USB 3.0 adapter cards
B460 chipset has up to x16 PCIe Gen3 lanes, Inspiron 3880 has single PCIe x1 slot, 2 lanes goes for WiFi card (M.2 slot E-key has 2 PCIe lanes as per specification),1 lane goes for media card (I've next gen and it's PCIe, not USB device) and 4 lanes goes to NVMe (M.2 slot M-key, I think it's PCH-bound slot and not CPU bound since it's Gen10 only and those have x16 PCIe lanes on CPU {mainly for graphics})
That's 8 PCIe lanes in total with another 8 (out of 16 in total) not used/implemented in this MB design.
As previously mentioned by RoHe - if extra USB ports are needed for non-concurrent use then getting an external USB hub (I've built-in into my PC monitor) might be much easier option (and won't need any installation by PC workshop technician).
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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September 26th, 2022 16:00
Dell typically restricts use of the PCI-e x16 slot to a video card. And if @LiCaoli already has an add-in video card installed, that slot isn't available, even if it's not restricted to a video card.
LiCaoli
3 Posts
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September 27th, 2022 08:00
Thank you so much for the replies RoHe and sam55todd!
I checked and found out that the PSU is 260W and that I have an available PCIe x1, but not a PCI-e x16 since it is already being used by an add-in video card.
Extra ports are not only what I need, I have enough ports right now, but once I connect everything I need to the ports, there's always at least one device that won't work properly* (I have one 2.0 USB mic and two 3.0 USB video capture devices that are very "hungry" apparently, plus other minor devices such as a mouse, audio output and keyboard).
Is an external USB 3.2 hub with its own power supply likely to solve this issue assuming that I do need full-speed simultaneous transfer when all the devices are plugged into the desktop?
*Before I got the USB mic, the two video capture devices were working fine with everything else. After I added the mic to the setup, one of the video capture devices will always stop working.
Thank you so much for your time and patience!
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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September 27th, 2022 11:00
No promises that a powered USB3.2 hub will solve the problem. And you might have to test connecting different devices to the hub to see what config solves the problem.
You could consider ordering a hub that can be returned for "free" if it doesn't solve the problem. You don't need the fanciest, most expensive one with the most ports, but make sure it's USB3.2, has its own power adapter, a decent warranty, etc.
Like I said, no promises...
LiCaoli
3 Posts
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October 7th, 2022 09:00
Thank you!
I ended up buying a mid-range external hub and after playing around connecting different devices to the hub my problem was solved! I still plan to get a PCIe in the near future to make it a more reliable solution.
RoHe
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45.2K Posts
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October 7th, 2022 11:00
Glad the powered USB hub solved the problem.
Keep in mind a PCI-e USB card will draw power from PSU via the motherboard slot. So you might still have the same problem, possibly even worse, because the PCI-e card needs power for itself and then to provide power to USB devices. So the load on PSU could be higher...
As long as the powered hub is working, it's a perfectly reasonable solution...