Asmedia and Intel Corp. have started to reduce prices of their USB 3.1 controllers in a bid to gain market share. Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” chip offers Thunderbolt 3 in addition to USB 3.1, but Asmedia’s controller is significantly cheaper to make and can be sold a very low price.
Intel planned to sell its “Alpine Ridge” controller for $10 originally, but in a bid to speed-up adoption of Thunderbolt 3 by various makers of mainboards and improve its revenues, the company decreased the price of the chip to $6. As a result, Asmedia had to cut the price of its popular ASM1142 controller to below $3.
그리고 대망의 usb 3.1프론트 판넬 컨트롤러를 우리의 애즈락 연구소에서 드뎌 내놓습니다.
While there are many mainboards with USB 3.1 support available today, they feature type-C ports on their back panels and it is uncomfortable to use such connectors. Asrock this week introduced a special adapter that places one USB type-C and one USB type-A ports on the front panel of any desktop PC.
Asrock’s front USB 3.1 panel for 5.25″ bays is based on the Asmedia ASM1142 controller and the EtronTech EJ179V switch IC for type-C implementation. The EJ179V can provide 3A at 5V, or 15W of USB power delivery, which should be sufficient to charge portable devices, but is not enough to power demanding consumer electronics. The panel should be plugged to a SATA Express port.
Initially, Asrock’s USB 3.1 type-C front panel will be sold together with Asrock’s mainboards, such as Asrock’s Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard just reviewed by KitGuru. However, it is possible that the device will also be available separately.
