The 11 Best USB Cards (2023 reviews)

usb cards
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There are several advantages of having a usb card. Let’s take you step by step, type by type, and find the best usb card for you.

Our review process:

Our Top Picks:

Best Overall:
Buy: Febsmart USB Card
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Best For someone:
Buy: Tiergrade USB Card
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Best For mining:
Buy: ELUTENG USB Card
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Best With macos Operating Systems:
Buy: Startech USB Card
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Best With every platform:
Buy: Sinefine USB Card
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Best With Thunderbolt Protocol:
Buy: YEELIYA PCI Express Slot
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Best functioning Type:
Buy: Sinefine Pcie Slot
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Best For Mac:
Buy: Fanblack USB Card
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Best For Older computers:
Buy: YEELIYA USB Card
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Best With Linux:
Buy: Startech Controller Card
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Best Feature: Easy To Install:
Buy: Linkstek USB Card
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Best Overall: Febsmart USB Card

Febsmart USB Card
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Here, we review card that manages to win our hearts. It's the febsmart usb card and it's widely considered as one of best card you can buy. It is a pcie x1 interface to 4-ports superspeed 5gbps usb 3.0 expansion card. It includes a simple plug in and fire away, four new usb ports. It will work fine as long as you have one pcie slot available on the motherboard. It also comes with a low profile bracket to change the bigger one if you have a smaller case.

It is built with a black circuit board material and the other is built with a purple circuit board material. The pro is more for systems that do not have any available power connections and does the best to compensate for this shortfall. The cards are very inexpensive & the drivers are native to W2K22 Server.

Why We Like This:
  • Excellent addition and works with windows 10 release 1809 and kinect v
  • Works perfectly, no driver to install in windows
  • Works flawlessly and gives amazing speed
  • Usb plugs in horizontally once pci card is installed

Best For someone: Tiergrade USB Card

Tiergrade USB Card
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Best part: tiergrade usb card costs comparatively low and it is available to ship in 24 hours. You must have an available SATA power plug from your PSU to supply power to this PCIe card in order for it to work efficiently. It is great for systems that don’t have many usb ports. It comes with a splitter so you can unplug the one coming from your hd, plug it in to this and luug it in to both your hd and this board. It provides the same function as the power adapters for the external 7 port usb hub.

This card is made for a x1 slot but it can go into a larger slot and will function properly if you choose. It has a moment of electrical shock where the first post doesn't load but the second one does not supply the necessary power thus the need for a power source.

Why We Like This:
  • Fiddling with drivers, settings or anything and 7 usb ports are active
  • Adds lots of usb 3.0 slots
  • Definitely a must for a capable pc setup
  • Works great and was easy to install

Best For mining: ELUTENG USB Card

ELUTENG USB Card
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The eluteng usb card is specially designed for your daily usage and has all useful features. If you have an older computer w/o onboard USB 3.0 and USB-C, this is the cost-effective option to upgrade the computer to gain faster USB capability. This USB expansion card enables quick access to files and transfer of hd movies, photos, music, etc. It has a stable voltage solid capacitor to ensure a stable power supply. It can operate without an external or auxiliary power supply.

This card is easy to install, black in color so it blends in better and does not require a secondary power connection. It provides 10 times faster transmission speed than usb2. It includes the screw and a small screwdriver. This card is simple to install.

Why We Like This:
  • Great for smaller form factor pcs because it comes with two brackets
  • Simple to install, up and running in no time
  • Inexpensive and simple option for expansion

Best With macos Operating Systems: Startech USB Card

Startech USB Card
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Not everyone likes to purchase card for their daily usage, but the startech usb card would be an anomoly. It comes with higher data throughput support, this usb 3.1 gen 2 pcie expansion card is a necessity for external drives and many other usb 3.1 gen 2 peripherals and includes an optional sata power connector for high power devices. It is designed to work on systems that have an open pcie x4 slot. It provides two true gen 2 usb-c ports, easy to install, no drivers required, reliable, and an excellent desktop upgrade.

The PEXUSB312C3 is compatible with 6th Gen Intel CPUs and Windows 10 64bit. The card works with newer usb-c devices, but can easily support your existing usb-a peripherals using inexpensive usb type c cables and adapters. It is backward compatible with usb 3.0 (5gbps) and usb 2.0 (480mbps) devices. This card gets powered with a powercord in the pc so you should have no problem powering a drive.

Why We Like This:
  • Harnesses the speed of usb 3.1 gen
  • New and hot release

Best With every platform: Sinefine USB Card

Sinefine USB Card
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Sinefine is known for creating pragmatic and minimalist card for people on the go, and its line of sinefine usb card definitely falls in line with that reputation. The Pcie extension card extends 7 usb 30 type. It supports transmitting data at a rate up to 5gbps when used solely. It is easy to install and is great, overall is a great pc addon. It works with every platform and requires no drivers. The three usb type-a ports share 5gbps bandwidth together, and the rest four ports share another 5gbps bandwidth, with total bandwidth up to 10gbps.

This card handles 4x without issues. It is compatible with windows 7/8/10/11 (32/64 bit) and mac OS 10.8.2 and above.

Why We Like This:
  • Fit perfectly, worked out of the box, no setup issues
  • Works good on windows 11 plug and play
  • Easy set up, plug and play
  • To ensure a stable connection and improve data transmission speed

Best With Thunderbolt Protocol: YEELIYA PCI Express Slot

YEELIYA PCI Express Slot
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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate card. The yeeliya pci express slot is exactly that - it's a simple card that hits all the right notes. Installing the YEELIYA PCIe Expansion Card is easy and straightforward and just like adding any expansion board to your motherboard. It can theoretically provide data transfer speeds of up to 5gbps bandwidth, 10 times faster than usb 2. It works with no issues at all.

It is compatible with a variety of mainstream windows/mac os operating systems, no need to install drivers in 8/10/mac os 10.8.2 or above, plug and play. Though it has a lot of ports, it doesn't have additional power input, only maxing at 75W total from the PCIe slot, so don't expect this to fast charge a lot of devices.

The YEELIYA PCIe Expansion Card is an easy way to add some of those extra ports instead of resorting to a USB hub.

Why We Like This:
  • Works great on windows 11, using on msi board 16gb of ddr4 ram
  • Works great within the limits of the hardware
  • Works great, speeds are your standard usb and usb-c speeds
  • Installed easily and was recognized on first boot-up using windows

Best functioning Type: Sinefine Pcie Slot

Sinefine Pcie Slot
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If you often find yourself scrambling for convenient and suitable card, sinefine pcie slot is your end point. If you want to add front usb-c, this will work great. It can be used as a USB flash drive, mouse and keyboard, etc., it can. This card requires x4 bandwidth of PCI-E bus to be fully functional. It can connect multiple devices at the same time, usb 2.0 can use some devices that need power supply inside the case, usb 2.0 can be connected to the usb c interface on the front panel of the case. This could work well if you only need a front panel to use the Type-E header and don't care about the back ports.

This card installs easily with no software or drivers needed. It can be used on your new computer.

Why We Like This:
  • Works beautiful with msi x570 and corsair 4000d airflow
  • Brings more type c to the table
  • Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Mac: Fanblack USB Card

Fanblack USB Card
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The fanblack usb card is capable of outshining several other card featured in this list in overall features in its price range. It is a great expansion card for usb and usb-c. It plugs directly into the mobo in one of your free PCIe slots. The power of each port is around 5W, and the total power is 35W. The expansion card provides no SATA connector. It supports transmitting data at a rate up to 10gbps when used solely. The card can be utilized as an on-board controller.

The USB expansion card only supports data transfer. It is compatible with windows 7/8/10/11 (32/64 bit) and mac OS 10.

Why We Like This:
  • Easy install and great expansion to computer
  • One of the new comers and featured product

Best For Older computers: YEELIYA USB Card

YEELIYA USB Card
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The yeeliya usb card is capable of outshining several other card featured in this list in overall features for the price point. This PCi Express card adds 2 Type-E (internal of the pc), 2X USB-C 3.1 and 2 USB-A 3.0 to the back of the PC. It supports a variety of mainstream windows 11/10/8/7 / xp, macos ( 10.8.2 above) and linux operating systems. It features like display port, thunderbolt, and hdmi, but the usb-c won't work. It is great for older computers or motherboards to add some newer technology to them.

This expansion card can add usb c capabilities to your legacy system. It can draw power directly from the pci-e slot inside the motherboard. It is very easy to install. It is good for using this with oculus as it gets the green go mark in the test.

Why We Like This:
  • Easily add external and internal usb c ports
  • For charging and 5 gbps data transfer
  • Reasonable, basic usb c and usb 3.0 expansion card
  • More ports at the back is also a bonus

Best With Linux: Startech Controller Card

Startech Controller Card
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The startech controller card is the best suitable card on the market today. If you need a high bandwidth usb add on, this card is the one. It has two usb3 controller chips. It supports windows/linux/macos with auto driver installation on windows 8 & up. It has 2 dedicated channels so two of the usb 3.1 share one of the channels with each other. It is good for usb connections for valve index trackers.

The startech card has better random performance compared to the reference intel benchmark. It is compatible with windows, linux and macos. It is capable of speeds up to 10 gbps on each port. The card also supports uasp for improved performance with storage devices.

Why We Like This:
  • Support multiple ins to reduce bandwidth loss when multiple devices are connected
  • Varying file sizes and number of files all affect usb transfer rates
  • Powers pc camera microphone and other peripherals

Best Feature: Easy To Install: Linkstek USB Card

Linkstek USB Card
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Next on the list, we've got yet another card that manages to win our hearts. It's the linkstek usb card and it's widely considered as one of the best convenient card you can buy. LinksTek smart power distribution technology is a new solution to provide more power supply on pcie usb cards. It will allow desktop PCs or working stations to add 2x 5gbps max usb 31 gen 1 type ports for usb device data transmission which include usb hddssd enclosure, usb universal docking station, usb hub, usb kvm switch, vr.

The U302a supports many usb-a interface devices such as usb flash drive, usb nvme enclosure, pronters, vr. The transfer rate is much faster than what a USB2 port would provide. Apart from this, LinksTek Smart Power Distribution Technology built 2X Safety Fuse, 2X voltage stable capacitor and 2X current stable inductance on USB Ports will make sure users never burn the USB device.

It is designed on pcie 2.0 x1 signal, and will provide 5gbps total bandwidth for 2x usb-a ports.

Why We Like This:
  • Fast, reliable, still offering driver updates in
  • Completely painless, just works out of the box in a small lenovo thinkcentre machine
  • Provide 5gbps pcie bus connection speed