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View Full Version : FireWire S3200, USB 3.0



zonepress
12-18-2007, 02:57 PM
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071216-battle-of-the-next-gen-firewire-s3200-vs-usb-3.html

"The IEEE 1394 Trade Association has announced a new FireWire specification that the group claims is capable of delivering up to 3.2Gb per second of throughput. The new interface (officially known as S3200) is directly based upon the 1394b/FireWire 800 standard and uses the same physical connectors, arbitration, and protocols as its predecessor. In theory, this should allow vendors to roll out S3200-capable silicon in a very short amount of time."
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"Maximum theoretical data throughput will definitely be a point of contention between the two standards. Intel has stated that it expects USB 3.0 to be 10 times as fast as USB 2.0, which would give it a 4.8Gbps transfer rate. In contrast, the current iteration of S3200 will top out at 3.2Gbps. It's impossible to predict how much the throughput difference between the two standards will impact real-world device performance, but it's definitely a marketing edge that USB 3.0 proponents will lean on.

Of course, FireWire—up to and including S3200—has always offered certain advantages that USB lacks. Not only is it markedly less CPU-intensive due to its peer-to-peer nature (USB is master/slave), but FireWire is capable of delivering more power over a single cable. FireWire also allows for cable runs of up to 100 meters; USB 2 allows for a mere fraction of this, though USB 3.0 should increase cable lengths considerably. "