Recommendations Please for a PCI card w/ two USB 2 Ports and FireWaire Ports

Hi, I just bought my first digital camera and I need a PCI card to upgrade
my Dell 8200 PC to USB2 and Firewire
until I build a new PC in a few months. USB2 will be used with high speed
xD card reader and Firewire will be used for external HDD.
I stopped by Best Buy and CompUSA but didn't want to spend $79.95 for a
Belkin USB2 & FireWire
PCI card. Also need a card reader for Olympus xD memory cards or a multiple
format card reader including
Olympus xD cards.

Thanks,

Mike

On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 05:00:59 GMT, "Mike" wrote:

Hi, I just bought my first digital camera and I need a PCI card to upgrade
my Dell 8200 PC to USB2 and Firewire
until I build a new PC in a few months. USB2 will be used with high speed
xD card reader and Firewire will be used for external HDD.
I stopped by Best Buy and CompUSA but didn't want to spend $79.95 for a
Belkin USB2 & FireWire
PCI card. Also need a card reader for Olympus xD memory cards or a multiple
format card reader including
Olympus xD cards.

Thanks,

Mike

If you have two PCI slots open, a Firewire card + a USB card are far
less expensive than that.
Here's a combo card for under $25:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_g...ire+card/skd=1

--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

On 2/20/06 12:00 AM Mike consulted a Magic 8 Ball and declared:
Hi, I just bought my first digital camera and I need a PCI card to upgrade
my Dell 8200 PC to USB2 and Firewire
until I build a new PC in a few months. USB2 will be used with high speed
xD card reader and Firewire will be used for external HDD.
I stopped by Best Buy and CompUSA but didn't want to spend $79.95 for a
Belkin USB2 & FireWire
PCI card. Also need a card reader for Olympus xD memory cards or a multiple
format card reader including
Olympus xD cards.

Thanks,

Mike



Hi,

I am also in the process of upgrading. But just to let you know, I've
been doing photo editing and archiving on an old SuperMicro based
homebuilt system with a Pentium - III 600 system under Windows 98SE. I
have 320 mb ram. Believe it or not it's efficient enough for editing
and processing still digital images. What I am getting the upgrade for
is A) I've had this Pentium based system long enough, B) it's not
powerful enough for video processing.

Some tips: HP Photosmart line of printers come with a digital card
reader that will read all the major cards out there. Unless you've just
bought a photo printer, you might want to look into getting one of these
babies on e-bay. ADAPTIC makes reasonably priced usb and firewire PCI
cards. Try another Best Buy, that's where I got mine. I use a Western
Digital External HDD; it can interface with USB 2.0 or Firewire. For now
I have it connected to my existing system via usb. If I can get a good
deal on a barebones system, I'll opt for one with firewire connector.

Here's a few places I rely on as online sources for computer parts,
cards, memory, chips etc for more nuts and bolts additions. JDR
Computer Products. I got some inexpensive but really rad case lights
from them. (For cosmetic reasons, I didn't like the lights that came
with a case I bought - but I liked the case)

Dalco and Cyberguys are other good nuts and bolts resources.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Koutech makes a nice solution: a PCI card plus a front panel
(3.5" drive bay insert) that has 5 USB 2.0 ports and 3 Firewire ports.
Nice having them on the front of the machine. ~$45. Koutech part number
F7002.

-- stan

Hi Mike,

I have a ZoneT, model # ZUC2400:

- Three external USB2 + two external Firewire
- One internal USB2 + one internal Firewire

The internal ports are really nice. I used the internal USB port to map
into my front panel USB slot because the mobo didn't have USB headers.
Works great.

I don't know what you are going to do about your OS. If you are
sticking with 98SE then you'll have to install the drivers for the
card. If W2K you'll need SP 4, if XP Pro you'll need SP 2 to get the
USB driver stack. Don't install the drivers that came with the card.
Let Windows install its own drivers. I had many problems with
proprietary drivers. Once I uninstalled and let Windows install its own
things were fine.

Also . . .

You will find much debate on the merits of the various USB controllers,
i.e. NEC vs. VIA vs. ALi. Some say NEC is the only stable controller
and that all others can give rise to issues. The ZoneT is VIA, but I've
never had a problem. I also have a USB/Firewire cardbus that is ALi,
never had a problem. Maybe I'm just lucky.

M.

Mike wrote:
Hi, I just bought my first digital camera and I need a PCI card to upgrade
my Dell 8200 PC to USB2 and Firewire
until I build a new PC in a few months. USB2 will be used with high speed
xD card reader and Firewire will be used for external HDD.
I stopped by Best Buy and CompUSA but didn't want to spend $79.95 for a
Belkin USB2 & FireWire
PCI card. Also need a card reader for Olympus xD memory cards or a multiple
format card reader including
Olympus xD cards.

"http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetail&item=CRD10187"
"http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/main.aspx?p=ItemDetail&item=ACC10839"

In article f2cKf.13886$dO2.13628@trnddc07, Mike
wrote:

If you'd bought a Mac in the first place, you'd have USB & Firewire -
plus an OS that didn't suck.

Stanley Krute wrote:
Koutech makes a nice solution: a PCI card plus a front panel
(3.5" drive bay insert) that has 5 USB 2.0 ports and 3 Firewire ports.
Nice having them on the front of the machine. ~$45. Koutech part number
F7002.

There are also combination floppy drives/card readers if there are no
free open 3.5" drive bays, though I haven't seen one that supports xD.

I prefer having the card reader built in as it's good to reduce cable
clutter, and separate devices all over the desk.

Randall Ainsworth wrote:
In article f2cKf.13886$dO2.13628@trnddc07, Mike
wrote:

If you'd bought a Mac in the first place, you'd have USB & Firewire -
plus an OS that didn't suck.


lol...Randall has to protect his mac because it's inferior.

In article , l e o
wrote:

lol...Randall has to protect his mac because it's inferior.

Inferior to what - your e-Machine and XP?

Looks like the kiddies have the day off from school today.