To confirm the rather cryptic specs for this item, it's a low-profile, PCI-e x1 USB card with 6 external ports and one internal port. It ships with useful instructions, a CD (unnecessary with Windows 7), and a regular mounting bracket as well as the low-profile bracket, so it will fit a PCI-e x1 slot on a normal tower as well as on a slim tower (e.g., my Dell Inspiron 580s - "slim"). Because the stacked USB ports span the entire width of the expansion slot opening, align the card carefully so that the USB connectors can be inserted.
The card can be powered so that it will support a mouse, keyboard, USB-powered portable drive, etc., as it has an on-board fitting for an SP4 power cord. My Inspiron 580s has one unused SP4 cord, but it is too short to reach any of the expansion slots (nice work, Dell). It would have been nice if StarTech had included an SP4 extension cord in anticipation of such a problem. I installed my card unpowered rather than attempt to obtain this obscure item, and it works fine with external hard drives and optical readers that have their own power supplies, and with a self-powered USB hub plugged into one of its ports, USB-powered devices would also be supported. (Not sure why I'd want to connect a portable device to the back of a tower anyway, where the connection would be difficult to access.)
A 5-star device, but minus one star for the lack of a power cord extension at such a substantial price.
Update as of 01/27/11 - Turns out the SP4 power receptacle on this card is redundant, at least on my PC, as the PCI-e x1 connection appears to provide power to the USB ports on the card. The card can provide power to at least some USB devices that require it, as I discovered accidentally. So now it's 5 stars.
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 4 |
|---|
