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Firewire Vs. USB: A Simplified ApproachBy Gabriel Ikram Copyright © Directron.com 2005
The following article is based on years of experience. It is provided as a free service to our customers and visitors. However, Directron.com is not responsible for any damage as a result of following any of this advice.
Copying the contents for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited without Directron.com's written consent. However, you are welcome to distribute these computer support tips free to your friends and associates as long as it's not for commercial purposes and you acknowledge the source. You are permitted and encouraged to create links to this page from your own web site.
Introduction
With the recent release of many new technologies, it has become far too easy for one to get lost in the world of computers. In the following article, I will shed some light on to the two "bad boys" of serial bus ports, the Usb 2.0 and Firewire. Are you stumped? Fear not because before proceeding I will give a little history on both ports.
Firewire
Around 1987, in the research labs of Apple, Firewire was born. At the time, its primary use was to transfer data and connect hard drives inside of the early Macintosh computers, and in turn, reduced the complexity of the cabling inside of them. Seeing the potential of this technology to connect external peripherals, Apple took it to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in hope of making Firewire into an industry standard. Who is the IEEE, they are a group of electrical and electronics engineers who set standards for telecommunications and computing applications.
| In 1995, IEEE christened the name IEEE-1394 High-Performance Serial Bus to Firewire and it immediately hit the big market. Boasting a performance rate of 100-megabytes per second, it easily mopped the floor with any competition and became the best in its class. Knowing the value of Firewire, companies such as Microsoft and Intel soon began to use it. |
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As jealousy is the main downfall for humans, as greed was for Apple's dominance of the serial data bus ports. In 1998, Apple, knowing their position of superiority over many motherboard manufacturers and owning the primary IP for Firewire, began charging a licensing fee of $1 per port—so if a motherboard had 2 Firewire ports, it would have cost an extra $2 to construct. Although this may not seem like a very large amount of money, the electronic industry runs a specific budget for the amount of money spent on component production. For example, if it takes $5 to produce a motherboard and Intel produces 10,000 of them, then their production costs will end up being $50,000. Now under Apple's licensing fee of $1 per port (lets just say the motherboards include two Firewire ports), the production price will be $7 per motherboard ending with a total production cost of $70,000, a $20,000 difference. See how it adds up?
Once this news hit Intel, they quickly abandoned Firewire, switched to Usb 1.1, and began to work on the prototypes of Usb 2.0. Because of Apple's mistake, Firewire shrunk down to Macintosh systems and select computer companies such as Sony who called Firewire the I-Link. But this doesn't mean that Firewire's popularity decreased. In a way, it increased the sales of Macintosh because many of the hardcore media-editing enthusiasts needed a fast Firewire port to connect their DV camcorder or camera to their computer and so they began to choose Mac over Pc.
Yet, recently, Firewire has begun to emerge back onto pc with their newest technology, Firewire 800. Many motherboard companies such as Gigabyte, Asus, FIC, Abit, and ECS support Firewire800 and more are to come. You can also find a large amount of Firewire 800 motherboards here at Directron by using their "search" function on the top right of their page. Just type in Firewire motherboard and you got it! An important fact that you must understand is that IEEE 1394 and Firewire are different names for the same thing. IEEE- 1394B and Firewire 800 are the also referring to the same port but are faster than their predecessor the plain IEEE-1394 (it really becomes a mouthful to say) and Firewire. The FirewareA only supports 400 mbps/second while the newer Fireware 800 supports transfer rates of up to 800 mbps/second.
Usb
| The history of the Usb is a straightforward one. Usb was developed by many IT companies including Compaq, DEC, Microsoft, Intel, NEC and Nortel in the early 90s. In 1996, USB ports began to appear in computers and motherboards. Originally, Usb was developed for low bandwidth gadgets such as keyboards and mice and provided Firewire with little competition. Not until Usb 2.0 was introduced around 1999 did it become a possible contender to Firewire. |
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USB 2.0 was originally projected to go only as fast as 240Mbps, but the USB 2.0 Promoter Group increased the speed to 480Mbps in the October of 1999. Remember, there is a difference between Full-Speed Usb and High-Speed Usb. High-Speed refers to the much faster Usb 2.0 and Full-Speed refers to the much slower Usb 1.1, just another marketing trick companies throw at you. USB 2.0 has a raw data rate of 480Mbps, and is rated 40 times faster than its predecessor, USB 1.1, which tops at 12Mbps. It has also easily become the standard of computing over the years by being backed by large corporations such as Intel. And of course, Usb 2.0 supports Usb 1.1 devices.
Usb 2.0 Vs. Firewire
As you may have already noticed, the Firewire 800 runs at a total of 320Mbps more than Usb's 480Mbps. Does this mean that it has already won, not exactly. Firewire and Usb are both very similar to each other except for a few select differences. For one, Fireware can work peer to peer while Usb 2.0 has to go through a computer. What this means is that, for example, you have a portable music player. If you have a Firewire port, you can connect them to each other and transfer music files. On the other hand, if you only have an Usb port, you will have to run it through your computer because Usb requires a Cpu. Thus, many handheld systems have a Firewire port and not an Usb one. But, seeing this position of weakness, the problem has been addressed with the release of a new technology called Usb On-the-Go, which makes peer-to-peer connections possible without the aid of a computer. Another remarkable aspect of Firewire is that it can replace AC adapters and provide energy for power hungry external devices such as DV cameras and camcorders while USB 2.0 cannot. One pro of USB that will play a main factor in your decision is that it is available on pretty much any computer made after the year 2000 and is found on every recent motherboard. But what should depict your choice the most is what your primary use for your computer will be. If you are a media enthusiast, Firewire is your best bet, but if you are a hardcore gamer and need to connect joysticks or controllers to your computer, then you should of course choose USB. What should you do if your motherboard does not have a Firewire 800 port and you are not willing to upgrade or you have a motherboard that has not yet incorporated the port into its design? The answer is simple; you can purchase a Firewire 800 Pci expansion card from Directron. These cards fit right into your internal Pci slot and give you immediate Firewire800 ports. If you are purchasing an external product such as a hardrive, you will most likely get the best out of it with Firewire 800. If you only want to switch between a computer that only has Usb 2.0 and a computer with Firewire 800, then your best bet will be to purchase a dual Firewire 800/ USB 2.0 hardrive. These come for a small amount of extra money but are a great investment and enable you to get the best of both worlds. Personally, I believe that Firewire cannot completely wipe out Usb due to many lower bandwidth peripherals being specific to Usb. In the future months when motherboard companies release their new boards, what we will most likely begin to see is a peaceful coexistence of Usb and Firewire. Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I hope that it has enlightened you on the topic of Usb Vs. Firewire.
Last updated: 03/25/05
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