Silverstone SST-EC03B-P

The specifications for the EC03B-P from Silverstone as as follows.

The first thing to note is there are two models, one contains a silver face plate one comes in black. Compatibility is universal on windows, from XP to 7 and 32 or 64 bit drivers are available. The controller actually lists the USB3 Controller, the Renesas (NEC) uPD720202 which is an updated controller over the EC03 we had reviewed previously and is said to offer up to 10% speed improvement over the previous generation. USB compatible goes all the way back to USB 1.1 “Hi-Speed” at 12Mbit, so attaching an archaic PC device will not be a problem.

The package is very large mainly because it houses not only the card by a 3.5” front external plate for adding front panel USB 3.0 ports into your computer case. The package lists the product as including a “Free USB 3.0 Front IO” which is an accurate description. Most cards in the price range of the EC03B-P are the old style (10% slower) Renesas controller cards and do not come with any front panel device. The Silverstone front panel device take it a step further.

The 3.5” expansion bay device will actually support two cards, for up to 4 devices total. The mounting mechanism for the 2 USB ports does not match up with the 2 PCI expansion style brackets we have on hand from motherboard testing, so purchasing a second Silverstone EC03 or even contacting Silverstone about an additional cable might be a good idea. The miniCD most likely contains drivers and perhaps another version of the installation manual. This was not checked, it is always recommended to download the latest drivers from either the production company (Silverstone), the OEM (TeraTrend) or even the chip manufacturer (Renesas). We used drivers from Silverstonetek.com for this review and recommend using this drivers for your system as the TeraTrend website is inconsistent in its driver support and the Renesas website may be difficult to manage for most people.

There is one more thing of note in the box for Small form factor fans or server builders. The Card is low profile by design, and included in the package is a low profile bracket for mounting the card in cases that require it. Great forethought from Silverstone and such a simple inexpensive piece is often overlooked by manufacturers.

The card itself looks fairly similar to the original EC03 that was reviewed over a year ago. The major difference is the updated controller which was mentioned previously.. There is a design change as well. In order to fit into low profile cases, the 19pin header and the 4pin peripheral power port are both forward facing, where as the old style EC03 used a top mounted 19 pin header. This is beneficial not only for Low profile to be allowed but with USB 3.0 Super Speed cable being fairly thick and inflexible, less lateral pressure is exerted on the header providing a better connection than the previous generation card.

For the internal design the MAcronix serial flash Rom appears to be unchanged, but it looks like the current control has really been beefed up with the inclusions of a super cap. Many hours wasted trying to identify it hopefully this information will become more apparent soon. The Nomenclature reads N24 000 BA20P D. While the cards specifications point out 5vDC and “unlimited current” identifying this capacitor we think is important.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6