Best 5 Multifunction I/O Cards

FireWire 800 is a new version of the digital video and peripheral connector that doubles the speeds of the previous version. Most new computers only use the older FireWire 400 standards, so if you are looking at adding in a I/O card to your desktop with FireWire, why not support the latest versions. The SIIG FireWire 800+Hi-Speed USB card supports a total of two FireWire 800 connectors, one older FireWire 400 port plus five USB 2.0 (two external, three internal) ports. That's a large number of connectors for a small board and should be more than most people will require. The card uses the older PCI interface so it will be somewhat limited by the desktop PCs interface bus.

Since the PCI bus is fairly old and limited in its overall speed, developers designed the new PCI Express bus to greatly expand the overall speed for interface cards. The ByteCC BT-PEFWBU2 provides a solid combo I/O board for those that have an available PCI Express x1 slot. The card itself features one FireWire 800 and one FireWire 400 port for all the current versions of the interface. It also comes with a total of three USB 2.0. To add to all this package, ByteCC also includes a copy of the Ulead VideoStudio 9 SE software for digital video editing. Definitely one of the better I/O boards for PCI-Express provided you can find one.

Most devices that use FireWire still use the older FireWire 400 standards. As a result, one may not need an interface card that carries a FireWire 800 port. In addition, the port would still be limited by the speed of the PCI bus inside the desktop PC. This makes the Startech board a very good alternative to those with an older desktop system. The board actually features more port than its name implies. There are three FireWire ports, two external and one internal, and five USB 2.0, three external and two internal. This allows it to connect to a large number of peripherals even if it is limited by the PCI interface.

Like the ByteCC card, the Belkin F5U602 card use a PCI Express x1 slot in the desktop PC for a faster interface with the desktop system than traditional PCI slot. The card however features more FireWire 800 ports than the ByteCC card. It has two of these high-speed connectors on the exterior and another interior one. In addition to this, the card has a total of three USB 2.0 ports (two external, one internal). The drawback to this card is that it is more expensive than the ByteCC card and it does not come with any digital video software like the ByteCC card.

Rosewill is a company that has the goal of providing low cost peripherals for computers. The Rosewill RC-110 certainly does that as it is one of the least expensive desktop I/O expansion cards. This PCI based card provides a total of four USB 2.0 ports (three external, one internal) along with two external FireWire ports. These are the older FireWire 400 ports but that isn't a problem for most consumer peripherals. The card also has a 4-pin molex connector to supply extra power from the PCs power supply so that it has sufficient power to run all the peripheral connectors.