USB 2.0: How much faster ?

L
Posted By
Liz
Oct 2, 2004
Views
598
Replies
18
Status
Closed
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

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R
RSD99
Oct 2, 2004
"…
any recommendations for a PCI card ?
…."

Adaptec

"Liz" wrote in message
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is
1.1; how much do I
really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth
it ? if so, any
recommendations for a PCI card ?

L
Liz
Oct 2, 2004
"RSD99" wrote in message
"…
any recommendations for a PCI card ?
…"

Adaptec

ok … but am I going to scan much faster if I throw this in the machine ??
B
bhilton665
Oct 2, 2004
From: "Liz"

but am I going to scan much faster if I throw this in the machine ??

USB 2.0 is, in theory, 40x faster than USB 1.1 … however, in real life with real devices the speed improvement is typically much less. Just how much less depends on the actual speed of the devices. As one example, I compared USB 1.1 vs 2.0 compact flash memory card readers and the 2.0 reader was about 5x faster.

Dunno about your scanner, many of them are pretty slow so the data is transferred in the background while the next line is scanned. So you may or may not see a big improvement. One way to check is to ask if anyone has this same scanner running on USB 2 and see if they’re running a lot faster.
L
Liz
Oct 3, 2004
"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
From: "Liz"

but am I going to scan much faster if I throw this in the machine ??

USB 2.0 is, in theory, 40x faster than USB 1.1 … however, in real life
with
real devices the speed improvement is typically much less. Just how much
less
depends on the actual speed of the devices. As one example, I compared
USB 1.1
vs 2.0 compact flash memory card readers and the 2.0 reader was about 5x faster.

Dunno about your scanner, many of them are pretty slow so the data is transferred in the background while the next line is scanned. So you may
or
may not see a big improvement. One way to check is to ask if anyone has
this
same scanner running on USB 2 and see if they’re running a lot faster.

well, you’re right, Bill … but I figured I’d be lucky if I got a few answers at all … much less from a bunch of Epson Perfection 3170 Photo scanner owners who had switched from 1.1 to 2.0 and done timings 😉

I don’t know what the relative percentages of time spent scanning vs. transferring might be … and, though your point seems well taken about "interlinear transfer," if the scanner has a limited buffer (and of course it DOES have some limit) then I assume that the scan process will wait for the buffer to be sent … if not, where is your data going ??

in any case, thanks for responding !
J
jjs
Oct 3, 2004
I may be wrong, but I think that scanner requires USB2. In any event, it is unlikely that the scanner is sending data fast enough to challenge your USB
1.1
L
Liz
Oct 3, 2004
"jjs" wrote in message
I may be wrong, but I think that scanner requires USB2. In any event, it
is
unlikely that the scanner is sending data fast enough to challenge your
USB
1.1

no, it works fine with 1.1; my question is whether it’s worth installing USB
2.0 on my host machine
DL
Donald Link
Oct 3, 2004
On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 20:39:44 GMT, "Liz" wrote:

Epson 3170

If you use 2.0 you will have a very noticable increase. I found when I upgraded an epson usb 1.1 scanner to a usb 2.0 Canon the speed was at least 75% faster.
BW
Bob Williams
Oct 3, 2004
Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?
You might check with Epson tech support on this device specific question. They will certainly know.
I got some good/fast responses from them recently re: my printer. Bob Williams
W
Waldo
Oct 3, 2004
Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

Dunno about the Epson, but my Canon 1250 is able to scan A4 @ 600 DPI in 26 seconds (24 bits) via USB 2. With USB 1.1 is took ages.

As stated in another reply: Adaptec is excellent, but brands like Sitecom etc. will also do. They may be a little slower.

Waldo
AM
Andrew Morton
Oct 4, 2004
Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

If you’re using Mac, then note that USB2 support was only added with OS
X.

Andrew
DL
Donald Link
Oct 5, 2004
On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:22:03 -0700, Bob Williams
wrote:

Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?
You might check with Epson tech support on this device specific question. They will certainly know.
I got some good/fast responses from them recently re: my printer. Bob Williams

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.
L
Liz
Oct 5, 2004
"Donald Link" wrote in message
Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much
do I
really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so,
any
recommendations for a PCI card ?
You might check with Epson tech support on this device specific question. They will certainly know.
I got some good/fast responses from them recently re: my printer. Bob Williams

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.

yes, if it didn’t I wouldn’t be asking … let me try once more: with regard to scanning operations — in general — is there enough speed improvement to make it worthwhile to get a USB 2.0 card ?

or, to put it more generically, is USB 2.0 worth a damn in terms of scanning ? never mind what scanner, OS, etc is involved …
BW
Bob Williams
Oct 5, 2004
Donald Link wrote:
On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:22:03 -0700, Bob Williams
wrote:

Liz wrote:

I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

You might check with Epson tech support on this device specific question. They will certainly know.
I got some good/fast responses from them recently re: my printer. Bob Williams

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.

The 3170 has USB 1.1/2.0 support
His computer presently has USB 1.1 speed.
He can purchase a USB 2.0 PCI card which will allow his computer to support USB 2.0 devices.
The Question is, will installing a USB 2.0 PCI card allow him to scan
1.5X…2X…3X…4X faster?
Nobody in this NG knows for sure.
Epson knows….Ergo,ask them.
Bob Williams
L
Liz
Oct 5, 2004
"Bob Williams" wrote in message

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.

The 3170 has USB 1.1/2.0 support
His computer presently has USB 1.1 speed.
He can purchase a USB 2.0 PCI card which will allow his computer to support USB 2.0 devices.
The Question is, will installing a USB 2.0 PCI card allow him to scan
1.5X…2X…3X…4X faster?
Nobody in this NG knows for sure.
Epson knows….Ergo,ask them.
Bob Williams

actually, Bob, SHE comes here looking for better advice than whatever Epson has in the script book …

but thanks for the summary 🙂

Liz
H
Hecate
Oct 6, 2004
On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:59:52 GMT, "Liz" wrote:

"Donald Link" wrote in message
Liz wrote:
I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much
do I
really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so,
any
recommendations for a PCI card ?
You might check with Epson tech support on this device specific question. They will certainly know.
I got some good/fast responses from them recently re: my printer. Bob Williams

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.

yes, if it didn’t I wouldn’t be asking … let me try once more: with regard to scanning operations — in general — is there enough speed improvement to make it worthwhile to get a USB 2.0 card ?
or, to put it more generically, is USB 2.0 worth a damn in terms of scanning ? never mind what scanner, OS, etc is involved …
Hi Liz,

Yes, it is. Cards are cheap – you don’t need a named brand to get the extra through put. I needed to get an extra USB/Firewire card for one of our computers and it cost GBP10 for a card with 2 x Firewire and 3x USB 2 (with separate controllers built-in of course) The make was Innovision and it works well and has caused no problems whatsoever.



Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui
BW
Bob Williams
Oct 11, 2004
Liz wrote:
"Bob Williams" wrote in message

Why would anyone check if usb2.0 is faster than 1.1 if the hardware supports usb2.0. That is the question. Assuming he has to add a 2.0 card it can be assumed the computer is older. Does the 3170 have usb
2.0 support.

The 3170 has USB 1.1/2.0 support
His computer presently has USB 1.1 speed.
He can purchase a USB 2.0 PCI card which will allow his computer to support USB 2.0 devices.
The Question is, will installing a USB 2.0 PCI card allow him to scan
1.5X…2X…3X…4X faster?
Nobody in this NG knows for sure.
Epson knows….Ergo,ask them.
Bob Williams

actually, Bob, SHE comes here looking for better advice than whatever Epson has in the script book …

but thanks for the summary 🙂

Liz

Mea Culpa!
With so many responses, it’s hard to keep track of "who said what to whom". I’d still give Epson a shot. This is a device specific question. Epson’s input is likely to be more reliable than guesstimates from our colleagues who do not have this particular scanner.
Bob
S
Stuart
Oct 14, 2004
Liz wrote:

I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

Not sure about particular PCI cards but if your scanner is USB 2.0 capable then, yes, I think it would be worth the cost of a new card.

Stuart
LM
Larry Miller
Oct 22, 2004
"Liz" wrote in
news:kmE7d.1943140$:

I’m scanning with an Epson 3170; my machine USB port is 1.1; how much do I really gain in speed by putting in a USB 2.0 card ? worth it ? if so, any recommendations for a PCI card ?

If your scanner head is stopping and starting during the scan, then you most likely have a communications bottleneck and will notice great differences in scanning speed with USB 2. I *suspect* that "head shuttling" also affects scanning accuracy and wears the scanner faster, too…

–Larry

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