Answer: the vast majority of people don't use 7 USB devices at a time. You are an outlier and should have purchased accordingly
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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Also, it's generally cheap and easy to install a PC IE board for the back of your pc, if you really need it, and you'll have another 6 or 7.
Thank you. I was getting very confused.
7 ports seems like heaps. How could anyone use that many at once.
Keyboard, mouse, usb extension to have a port on my desk, wireless charger, dac, xbox wireless controller dongle and a usb microphone. That's 7 and I'd use an 8th port to charge my vr headset. So yeah, it's not that hard to use 7 ports at once.
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I mostly use 3, sometimes 4 or 5 at most.
I have 4 things plugged in permanently (mouse, keyboard, audio interface, wireless headset receiver). It used to be 5 but I haven't used my wireless controller since I built this PC.
I have a midi keyboard I plug into the front when I'm going to use it. And a USB cable in the drawer if I ever need to plug my phone in (which otherwise sits on a wireless charger plugged into AC)
My bedroom media pc (old-ass enterprise tower) has 8 on the back and 5 on the front. So 13 usb ports. It doesn’t have any wireless anything, physical ports only, and there’s no room to add internal cards for it, but plenty of usb ports for dongles!
I use 3 of those ports at most (I use Ethernet, since it’s my acquisition machine, or it’d be 4), and 2 are for keyboards and mice (one handheld with touchpad, the other a normal set).
I’m struggling to even come up with 7 things that would all need to be plugged in together.. I guess webcam, mouse and keyboard if they can’t run off a single port, and headset maybe if you got one that bypasses the audio jacks for whatever reason.. but that’s still only 4.
There's plenty of legitimate reasons to need a ton of USB ports but it's not on the PC manufacturer to appease the edge cases like OP.
It's like getting confused why your house doesn't have a 20amp outlet to the dining room for your 48U server rack.
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Those modern high speed USB controllers are not free. They used up available PCIe lanes. The more you add the less PCIe lanes available in the motherboard.
If you have a lot of low speed USB peripherals, just buy some large USB 2.0 hubs so you can reserve the high speed ports for high speed applications such as external disks.
7 seems like a pretty good amount but if you need more, you can always add them if you have a free slot (if not, there's always hubs). Alternately, you could build your own next time you need to upgrade.
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You can get an USB hub to expand that number as needed. With USB 3.2 ports you can connect all of the things you listed over a single port without any performance issues.
You could literally connect hundreds of devices to those ports, if needed.
Sure, but just like the PCIe USB port option, it's quite frustrating to add another device to a new PC.
You're the one with exorbitant usb needs. That means you'll be the one who expansions are made for. I don't have the stats in front of me, but I'd wager the vast vast majority of pc users don't use beyond 4.
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I guess I've been using laptops for so long, the concept of not having a USB hub seems alien to me. But they are really cheap and you just need to plug them in (so much easier than installing a PCIe card).
Also some peripharals come with addition USB ports. My monitors provide 3 USB-A ports each when connected over USB-C. They are only USB 2.0 ports but that's perfect for plugging in the mouse and keyboard.
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You bought a prebuilt system, which in general tend to not be very expandable and cut corners in various ways because they target the average customer, and not the enthusiast.
On a similar note, my pet peeve is the limited number of pcie slots in modern motherboards (and to a lesser extent, pcie lanes), but this is also understandable given the trend away from using those ports (except for GPUs).
I don't know if this is a gaming PC or high end etc, but for me 7 USB slots is a lot. I usually need 2, in most extreme situations I would need 4 I think. So maybe the PC is just designed for an average person who is not too tech savvy? I have to think really hard about what I would do with 7 slots.
I have to think really hard about what I would do with 7 slots.
This is roughly what is plugged to my PC
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Keyboard,
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Mouse
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Headset
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Joystick
-
Rudder pedals for flight sim (OK that one is a bit specific)
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Audio interface (OK another one a bit specific)
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Webcam (which isn't even always on)
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USB 2 wire to load/connect some devices
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USB C loose wire to load/connect some device
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USB stick/hard drive on a case by case basis
Why would you need usb headset when you have audio interface?
Audio interface is great to plug the guitar to the PC, and is used when I put sound the speaker. Headset (which is actually a wireless USB, It would make sense to update to Bluetooth) is used when doing voice call/chat(A decade back, I was living abroad, and playing TTRPG through voice chat, got the habit to use a wireless USB headset at this time, but indeed, it's something I could rationalize considering that I don't use it much anymore)
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Because the USB standard allows the number of USB ports to be significantly expanded through the use of hubs.
Try finding a simple 8 port USB hub with USB-C. It's a shitshow too!
USB-C is a shitshow, period. Whoever invented that garbage needs to be fired. Out of a cannon. Into the sun.
Depending on just the cable I plug in (all else exactly the same, same PC, same port, same electrical plug, etc), I get fast speed (from PC) and charging (from a power outlet) on device 1 and slow speed and charging on device 2, and another cable gets me exactly the opposite. And others, slow speed and fast charging or vice versa.
What the fuck.
This is not the behavior of a fucking "standard". Meanwhile, microUSB just fucking worked regardless of which of the tons of cables I used, all exactly the same.
USB-C needs to fucking die. Oh, but boohoo, people had to figure out which direction to plug in a microUSB cable. Cry me a fucking river, nobody cares, that's not a real problem.
I like USB-C. The connector is significantly better than micro USB. It forms a tighter connection and can be plugged in in either direction. It allows for significantly faster charging and significantly higher data rates than micro USB. But it is a jack of all trades with a fairly loose standard, so manufacturers can implement what attributes they see fit. Overall, I think it's a big improvement.
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Buy a USB hub buddy
Exactly. USB is designed so that you can have multiple devices attached to one port. 7 slots on the PC is plenty.
And in fact, they probably already have a hub. I can't remember the last monitor that I bought that didn't have a couple USB ports on it. Put that thing to use. Webcam, USB headset/mic, keyboard and mouse can all run perfectly well off a monitor hub as can most other accessories. Save the direct ports on the mobo for things that need the bandwidth like storage devices.
that depends on what you bought, my motherboard has 10 in the back, and my case has 5 most are usb 3
granted my case and mobo are both 250 usd individually
My x570 motherboard has like 10 usb ports lol. And then my case has 2 more on the front. I think Lenovo just sucks lol. They are the OEM for their desktop motherboards right? Like Dell?
Sorry @Ziggurat but you might be the one behind the times; keyboard/mouse/headset - Bluetooth, External Hard drive/ memory stick - cloud/ WiFi, camera - WiFi/Bluetooth, Webcam is still USB.
The true connector crime here is that single USB-C, any new PC should have more than that.
Bluetooth keyboard and mice add latency which isn't great for gaming. Bluetooth headsets aren't great either since audio quality drops when you use the mic on it. Plus there's latency too.
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It all depends on the case and mother board you buy.
My desktop has 12 USB ports with the option of installing quite a few more by using the internal headers.
Install a PCIe USB expansion card. Will give you an extra 4-8 slots.
You can buy pcie usb controllers to give you more ports.
Unless it's like the stupid HP Omens where the motherboard has only one slot and that's for the graphics card.
That's why I built my own PC, get it the way I want it.
Though even I rarely used more than 8 at a time.
- mouse and keyboard
- wifi antenna
- printer cable
- webcam (only sometimes)
the CD reader takes two, one for power and one for data, but that's only used rarely
if I'm playing games with my kids that's four controllers at most, and I don't leave those plugged in
A WiFi antenna doesn't plug into a USB port, it screws directly into the WiFi card. Or do you mean you have a USB WiFi card, instead of an internal one?
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Nice counting. Now let's do SATA ports and fan power connections. only 3 or 4 for 20 years. What's up with that?!?
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