▷ Usb 2.0 vs usb 3.0 vs usb 3.1?

USB has been the reference interface for peripherals for many years

Universal Serial Bus (USB) have been used for 20 years. These ports have constantly seen a cycle of evolution and will only continue to develop as the years go by. Many people simply think that this is an upgrade to the USB ports and nothing else, but there is much more to it than that. With more and more devices that support USB support, it is important to learn how to keep up with the improvements, revisions, and evolutions that come with the latest developments. This includes developments with the port itself and the cable, as ports are important parts that come with motherboards today.

Differences between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0

The Universal Serial Bus is an industry standard that was first introduced in January 1996. Basically, this standard establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for the connection, communication and power supply between personal computers and their peripheral devices . Basically, this is the way that your devices, such as USB keyboards, mice, controllers, microphones, headphones and other types of devices are used to connect and perform input / output communications with the PC.

The USB ports themselves have seen a generational evolution since they were conceived. Each number is a generation of the evolution of USB. With USB 1.0 it becomes the foundation of the USB standard that you would only see more improvements later. It was in April 2000 when the second generation of USB 2.0 was introduced. This became the standard for computers of the generation and also added some advantages, such as a higher maximum signaling rate of 480 Mbit / s, along with some other advantages that would make it the standard for USB devices not only that. generation but also the previous one.

Now, we advance to November 2008, almost a decade ago, and the time when the arrival of the USB 3.0 standard for ports and cables occurs. USB 3.0 basically became the new standard for USB devices with a substantial amount of improvement over the previous 2 generations of USB standards. This also came with the now known bluetongue port that is now commonly seen on most motherboards. USB 2.0 was only capable of a theoretical maximum data transfer rate of 480 megabits per second, while USB 3.0 was capable of 5 gigabits per second, or 10 times faster. While this took a while to become a general standard, it quickly gained appeal and became the standard for many devices.

USB 3.0 adds a SuperSpeed transfer mode, with backwards compatible plugs, receptacles and cables. SuperSpeed plugs and receptacles are identified by a different logo and blue inserts on standard format receptacles.

USB 3.1 further improves performance

USB 3.1 made its first appearance in January 2013. The Universal Data Bus Group made an announcement with plans to upgrade USB 3.0 to 10 Gbit / s, increasing its speed by twice the previous amount instead of the previous 5 Gbit / s.. The USB 3.1 specification takes control of the SuperSpeed USB transfer rate from existing USB 3.0 and is now known as USB 3.1 Gen 1. Soon after, a faster transfer rate appears called SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps, known as USB 3.1 Gen 2, and it becomes the USB 3.1 standard.

This new structure comes with a new logo called SUPERSPEED +. This also comes with a new standard that is basically an increase in the maximum data signaling speed of up to 10GBit / s. This is basically done to compete with the first generation of Thunderbolt slots. Another feature offered by the new USB 3.1 standard is to reduce line encoding overhead to 3% by changing the encoding scheme itself to 128b / 132b. This is also compatible with older generation cables. As such, it can be compatible with both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cables.

The future goes through USB 3.2

The latest standard in USB technology belongs to 3.2. This started making its rounds in 2017 when the USB group announced a pending update to the USB Type-C specification. This would double the standard of USB 3.1 speeds. While USB 3.1 manages to reach speeds of up to 10 Gbit / s. The new standard would actually double this by going up to transfer rates of 20 Gbit / s. As such, this was a more powerful drive that actually promised to have much faster rates than any other USB drive on the market.

Like any previous revision, USB 3.2 slots are compatible with USB 3.1, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cables. However, this is only compatible with Windows 10 and Linux Kernel 4.15 computers. Therefore it will not work on previous operating systems or the difference in speeds will not be so tangible. While USB 3.2 makes great promises, it hasn't actually been implemented in public circles, and there is nothing but speculation and a public demonstration of the standard with a Windows 10 machine.

Technically, USB 3.2 does not exist as more than a theoretical standard, at least at the time of this writing. However, USB 3.2 has yet to be associated with higher transfer rates and more voltage delivery, as well as backward compatibility with earlier versions of USB 3.x.

Different generations of USB
Standard	USB 1.0	USB 2.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.1	USB 3.2
Speed	240 Mb / s	480 Mb / s	5 Gb / s	10 Gb / s	20 Gb / s

What if you don't have USB 3.0 or 3.1 ports

Many users are likely to wonder what they can do if their PC doesn't meet the standards that other computers have in terms of USB ports. It is important to note that they are not completely out of the game and that they can actually upgrade their PCs through a PCIe slot on the motherboard. The market offers us a list with the following USB 3.0 expansion cards that can work perfectly for your PC in case you need USB 3.0 / 3.1 slots.