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Given two motherboards, suppose these are the specs they list regarding USB.

The first one (Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3):

Chipset:
Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 10 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Renesas D720200 chip:
Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel.

Internal I/O connectors:
5 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

The second one (Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3):

Chipset:
Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 10 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

2 x Etron EJ168 chips:
Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 on the back panel, 2 via the USB bracket connected to the internal USB header

Internal I/O connectors:
5 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header

The question: Does the first one have USB 3.0, or is it just "3.0 compatible," or something? How many ports do each have and are they actually in parallel or in series? Basically I'm looking to figure out how much parallel bandwidth each motherboard has.

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  • Giving us the models you're looking at may help us answer your question. If this is purely hypothetical as this point, finding models comparable to your question will still help.
    – music2myear
    Aug 19 '11 at 21:38
  • Updated to add model numbers.
    – Neil Traft
    Aug 19 '11 at 22:11
  • Get rid of the "I'm shopping for" part or the question will be closed! It is a valid/honest question if you are just wanting clarification on specification.
    – William Hilsum
    Aug 20 '11 at 0:21
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It seems a bit silly/badly written, but, from the specifications, I understand that:

Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3 has 2 USB 3 ports on the back which are backwards compatible to USB 2.

Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 has 2 USB 3 ports on the back which are backwards compatible to USB 2. In addition, it contains 2 headers on the motherboard for an additional 2 backwards compatible USB 3 ports - so, if you get a case or media card bay/similar with USB 3 ports, you can use that header and get (up to) a couple of extra ports.

edit as per comments--

enter image description here

It is not guaranteed, but, on the second motherboard, you may get 1x back panel with 2x USB 2.0 sockets, or/and 1x front panel with 2x USB 3 (Backwards compatible with USB 2).

This is in addition to what I wrote above.

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4
  • So you think I'd have to buy something extra to expose the header as usable ports? It says up there that there is a "USB bracket" already connected to the header.
    – Neil Traft
    Aug 19 '11 at 22:47
  • I haven't seen any provided for a good few years with Gigabyte Motherboards... Let me double check the manual for you.
    – William Hilsum
    Aug 19 '11 at 22:50
  • @Neil Traft - Updated!
    – William Hilsum
    Aug 19 '11 at 23:00
  • @Neil Traft: Typically, they would say "included" bracket if a bracket came with it. On no other site does it show a bracket in the included contents. Plus it is listed under optional components. That would be a no.
    – surfasb
    Aug 20 '11 at 0:15

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