14 DAY TRIAL // USB 3.0 still hasn't begun to see wide availability, even though companies like ASUS and Gigabyte have each released several motherboards supporting the new standard, as well as the SATA 6Gbps. Still, even despite such efforts, the two new standards are still largely out of reach, or unusable, because most motherboards still do not support them. To alleviate this problem, ASUS has been working on a PCIe adapter, known as the U3S6, which leverages the bandwidth of PCIe x4 or PCI2 x8 slots to give mainboards both of these capabilities.
According to a report by DailyTech, ASUS has been working on this device since the beginning of November 2009, which is around the same time when the company's USB 3.0 motherboards were officially detailed. More conveniently, however, the device does not only provide ASUS PCs with two USB 3.0 ports, but also with two 6Gbps SATA ports. This means that end-users wishing to upgrade to the new standards don't have to buy an entirely new system.
DailyTech reports that ASUS has already finished testing the product and has pushed it into the mass-production stage. As such, the U3S6 PCIe adapter should start shipping in about a week, with online retail availability expected at about two weeks from now. The device has only been officially validated on ASUS motherboards, but, given the adapter's compliance with the PCIe specifications, it should also be compatible with motherboards from other manufacturers.
Among the products that end-users will be able to fully utilize thanks to this upcoming product are the My Book 3.0 external hard drive from Western Digital, Buffalo's USB 3.0 Blu-ray burner and even regular SATA hard drives when employing the Brando UNITEK USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter. Examples of SATA 6Gbps devices are Seagate's Baracuda XT hard drive and the Micron SATA 6Gb/s RealSSD C300.
It is unclear how wide an initial availability the U3S6 will have, but the price will be as low as $30.