Inateck Power Supply USB PCIe Card Total 16 Gbps Bandwidth, USB 3.2 Gen 2, with 8 USB Ports KU8212

About the Use of OculXX VR Headset

Some users might find the display transfer speed in the Quest2 software just reaches up to 2.9Gbps when the VR headset is connected via this PCIe card, even lower than the speed of the original USB 3.0 port of the computer. Regarding this, we ran some tests and here's our theory and conclusion:

1. All of Redcomets PCIe cards are compatible with VR devices including Quest2 and OculXX RifX S and can work with them properly.
2. It's confirmed that the display speed, when the VR device is connected to the USB 3.2 expansion card, might be lower than the speed when it's connected to the USB 3.0 port on the motherboard directly. The VR display speed reaches up to 2.9G in the motherboard port and up to 2.0G in the expansion port.
3. When the VR headset is connected to the USB 3.2 port and the USB 3.0 port on the X299 motherboard directly, the speed shows at 1.9 G in the USB 3.2 port and at 2.5G in the USB 3.0 port.
4. The VR headset can work without any issue even when the speed shows at 1.x G.
5. The USB cables make little difference on the change of the display speed based on the test results of USB 3.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 cables ranging from 15 cm to 200 cm.We attempted to contact OculXX several times but failed to get any effective response. Based on the information above, we speculate that the Quest2 software testing algorithm conflicts with the USB 3.2 Gen 2 main controller chip so that the transfer speed measured by the system is lower than the actual speed. Please rest assured that this won't affect your gaming experience.

USB 3.2 Gen 2 High Speed Expansion Card with PD Charging

Inateck KU8212 is a multifunctional PCIe to USB expansion card with 8 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. The 2 USB C ports support USB PD protocol and each one can provide up to 30W charging power. The 6 USB A ports support USB BC 1.2 protocol and each one can provide up to 7.5W charging power. Compared with similar products, Inateck KU8212 can reach faster data transfer speed and provide higher charging power.

Note: This card is powered by the PCIe slot and can provide up to 100W of charging power. Since the actual power is related to the chassis power supply, please check whether the chassis power supply can bear additional power consumption before use.

For an assembled PC, you can use the total power of the chassis power supply minus the power of the motherboard, CPU, GPU and other components.For a branded PC, you can contact the computer manufacturer to get the reserved power of the chassis.

Due to the limitation of charging protocol, if the device being charged does not support PD or BC 1.2 charging protocol, some problems might occur such as slow charging speed or device not in charge. The USB C expansion ports support 4 output voltage grades (5V/9V/12V/15V), and the USB A expansion ports support up to 5V output. To ensure the charging effect, please make sure that your device supports PD or BC 1.2 charging protocol.

16Gbps Sharing Speed

Inateck KU8212 can expand 6 USB A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and 2 USB C 3.2 Gen 2 ports from a PCIE×16 slot. Each port can reach up to 10 Gbps transfer rate when used solely and these 8 USB ports share a 16Gbps transfer rate.

Note: The bandwidth allocation of this product is as follows.To reach up to 16 Gbps data rate, please make sure that both the connected devices and USB cables support USB 3.2 Gen 2. Since the USB 3.0 protocol caps bandwidth at 5Gbps, following the buckets effect, the USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports cannot provide faster speed when the connected storage devices, computers, adapter cables, and adapters are with USB 3.0 specifications.

Product Dimensions

This item is applicable to motherboards supporting PCIe 2.0/3.0/4.0 and works with PCIe x 16 slots.

Product dimensions: 14.8*10.8*2.1cm (5.8*4.3*0.8 in)

Bracket dimensions: 12 * 2.4cm (4.7*0.9 in)

Overcurrent Protection

Equipped with overcurrent protection chip, this card requires less response time for overcurrent protection than those with traditional fuses. Once the PC power output becomes abnormal, the protection chip will cut off the current output, and at the same time (if the system supports) an overcurrent protection prompt will come up, which can help you resolve problems in time to secure your computer and devices.

Having passed the IEC61000-4-2 Ed.2 ESD test, this PCIe card can effectively prevent long-term damage to electronic components from static electricity.

Why does the total bandwidth just reach 16 Gbps when KU8212 is plugged into a PCIe ×16 slot?

KU8212 has an ASM3142 host controller chip which supports up to PCIe 3.0 x2, and the remaining lanes are mainly used for power supply. Thus, the bandwidth can only reach up to 16 Gbps, the transfer speed of PCIe 3.0 ×2, even when KU8212 is plugged into a PCIe ×16 slot in the host.PCIe 3.0 uses 128b/130b encoding, which improves the utilization of PCIe bandwidth compared to the 8b/10b encoding used by PCIe 2.0. Therefore, KU8212 can reach a total data rate of 1.969 GB/s theoretically.

Note: According to the actual test result, the total data rate achieved by KU8212 is around 1.6 GB/s. The speed difference is caused by the bandwidth loss during the PCIe to USB conversion.

Why is the physical interface made ×16 for the KU8212 supporting PCIe 3.0 ×2? Is it to save thermal pads?

The PCIe ×16 interface is neither for heat dissipation nor for saving thermal pads. Actually, the cost of making the PCB larger for heat dissipation is much higher than that of adding a thermal pad directly. The PCIe ×16 interface is mainly to ensure that the KU8212 can obtain a maximum of 70W from the host (the ×4 interface of some hosts only has a maximum power of 25W), thus meeting the demand for a total of 60W PD charging power for the 2 USB C ports.

Why does KU8212 adopt an ASM3142 chip instead of a more advanced chip ASM3242?

Initially, we intended to manufacture a product with a total bandwidth of 20Gbps and chose the ASM3242 chip which utilizes x4 lanes of the PCIe 3.0 bus to make the card capable of speeds up to 32Gbps. However, the data transfer speed of the expansion card is not only affected by the host controller chip. The chip of the hub determines the output bandwidth of the expansion card. At that time, there was a bottleneck in terms of the hub chip. On the one hand, the chips were in short supply. On the other hand, most hub chips on the market only supported 10Gbps, which meant that the single-port bandwidth could only reach up to 10Gbps and the product performance failed to be improved even if the ASM3242 chip was used.