Beyond Limits: USB4 Soars Beyond 3700 MB/s Transfer Speed!

USB4 Device Compatibility

With its most current USB4 Add-In-Card, which provides remarkable transfer speeds, MSI included it with their Z790 MAX motherboards, which were just released.

MSI’s USB4 Add-In-Card Outperforms Thunderbolt 4 in Performance with Surprisingly Fast Transfer Speeds

Introduced in 2019, the USB4 standard is compatible with TB3, USB3, and TB4 requirements. Often found on the I/O ports of many PC motherboards, laptops, and gadgets like portable gaming PCs and storage devices, the interface is a common sight. AIC or add-in cards provide additional USB4 functionality. These cards can provide additional IO access to your PC by being connected via a PCIe connector.

With their Z790 MAX series motherboards, MSI chose to include their most recent USB4 AIC, ASM424X controller line. AICs are shipped with the MSI MPG Z790 CARBON MAX WIFI, which retails for $479.99 in the US and is considered a high-end device based only on price.

The USB4 Add-In-Card has two DP 1.4 connectors, two USB 4.0 Type-C connections, 40 Gbps transfer speeds, and 100W power charging capability. The 100WPD auxiliary power is supplied using a single 6-pin connector. It should be noted that Thunderbolt 4 provides a 3.0 x4 interface in addition to the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface on the device.

In performance tests, the Samsung 980 M.2 SSD operating inside an external enclosure using the ASM2464PD was used to test the MSI PD100W USB4 AIC. The motherboard allowed for transfer read speeds of up to 3745 MB/s over the same USB4 Add-In-Card.

Additionally, the card produced some remarkably outstanding results in Benchlife’s testing, which you can view here. Additionally, they were able to surpass the max 3000 MB/s (~24 Gbps) that Thunderbolt 4 ports can attain by more than 3700 MB/s (~29 Gbps).

While there are a few USB4 enclosures available on the market right now, there aren’t many expansion cards. With its Z790 motherboard, MSI was the first to introduce and sell a USB4 AIC. Since many PCs are not equipped with USB4, they want to see this option made available as a stand-alone product as well.

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