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Bill Kinkle · Jan 6, 2006, 04:08 AM

I just got my quad today but I need more usb ports. Anyone know where I can buy a card that will work in this machine? I have an older dual 450 g4 and a PCI card in it for extra usb ports, will this work in a quad? Thanks in advance.

RevEvs · Jan 6, 2006, 05:11 AM

If the card fits and there are drivers then i would think so.

Captain Curt · 10:43 AM

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but your old usb card will not work in your quad. The PCIe (PCI express) in your quad is not backward compatible with PCI or PCI-X. Another option you have is to get a usb 2.0 hub. Usb 2.0 is backward compatible with the usb 1.1 in your old computer. I'll let others more knowledgable than I comment on PCIe cards providing usb 2.0.

tooki · Jan 6, 2006, 04:53 PM

Just use a USB hub.

tooki

mduell · Jan 8, 2006, 12:06 AM

I'll second the "use a hub" opinion. Unless you have something like an external hard drive and you need all the performance you can get, it will be easier and cheaper.

MacOS-Fan · Jan 8, 2006, 07:41 PM

I too use a USB hub!

Theodour · Jan 13, 2006, 04:14 PM

I bought an ADS usb 2/firewire 400 hub at either Circuit City or Best Buy. It was around $30. I haven't had any trouble with it (except that the included firewire cable wouldn't stay plugged in--I have a couple extra's, though).

All the hub's firewire ports are in use, and the USB ports are filled as well ... in fact, one port goes off to an older USB 1.1 hub, so it has 7 devices on it ...

The only problem is the vast, endless sea of wires ... everywhere I look ....

Leonard · Jan 13, 2006, 04:33 PM

There are PCIe cards out there that are compatible - this company http://www.koutech.com/ says their's is but I've never heard of them. You could contact the vendors of USB and Firewire PCIe cards and see if they have one that is compatible. Belkin or somebody should have one.

bbales · Jan 15, 2006, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by Theodour

I bought an ADS usb 2/firewire 400 hub at either Circuit City or Best Buy. It was around $30. I haven't had any trouble with it (except that the included firewire cable wouldn't stay plugged in--I have a couple extra's, though).

All the hub's firewire ports are in use, and the USB ports are filled as well ... in fact, one port goes off to an older USB 1.1 hub, so it has 7 devices on it ...

The only problem is the vast, endless sea of wires ... everywhere I look ....

OK, a dumb question. Is it possible to ADD usb2.0 to an older computer? Just adding a hub won't create fast speeds, as far as I can tell. How about cards to somehow get USB 2 instead of the old, slow usb 1?

P · Jan 15, 2006, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by bbales

OK, a dumb question. Is it possible to ADD usb2.0 to an older computer? Just adding a hub won't create fast speeds, as far as I can tell. How about cards to somehow get USB 2 instead of the old, slow usb 1?

Sure it's possible. For Powermacs, you can get a PCI-board - I know Adaptec has some with Mac-support out of the box. For Powerbooks, there are PC-cards for the same purpose. Just be sure to check the system requirements when buying.

Captain Curt · Jan 23, 2006, 04:57 AM

I added USB 2.0 to my quicksilver by installing a Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0 pci card. The only hitch is you may need to reinstall drivers for your printer, scanner ,ect to jump from USB 1.1 to 2.0. The card is cheap. I've been happy with it. The only quirk I've had is after I loaded 10.4.4, my epson scanner was inert and my mac crashed. I loaded the scanner driver again and all has been well. Good luck.