Installation
The installation of the IU01 is extremely simple and straightforward. The most important part of the installation procedure, as noted in the IU01 User’s manual, is to find a location for it that is easy to access for you inside your case.
To start off we located the motherboard USB port header(s) and on the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 we have two. We simply removed our current USB connection for the top panel interface on the NZXT Tempest case and plugged in the cable for the IU01.
The power connection was a no brainer as well as the IU01 uses a standard 4 pin chassis fan connection from your power supply.
The final steps of the installation involve mounting the IU01 card in our chassis and the final connections. As we mentioned earlier in this review choose a location that best suits you. We chose the bottom of the Tempest case in between the hard drive bays and PSU. This location was accessible for us as the side panel of the Tempest case is easily removed.
After that we simply plugged in the USB connection from the motherboard, the power supply connection, and then our front chassis USB connection as shown.
Testing and Application Suggestions
Since this device relies solely on the power specifications of your PSU and the bandwidth limitations of the USB header on your motherboard we felt no real benchmark tests were applicable. We did test the IU01 with a number of different USB devices from a simple USB stick to the Samson C01U USB microphone and saw no degradations in performance.
On suggestions for applications we have a couple. If you have large USB sticks in the 4 – 8G range that you use to collect photos, etc, then installing one internally might be an idea. The second is if you have a way to route external cables into the case you can eliminate devices, like a camera, from tying up your external chassis USB ports. It uses a cable you plug in and unplug all the time right? Why not just have it hardwired internally and use the cable to plug the camera in.
Final Thoughts
The NZXT IU01 has quite frankly impressed us for a product in the 20USD range. It is easy to install and provides flexibility to your system USB interfaces. Drawing power directly from the PSU for USB devices is an idea long overdue as far as we are concerned. The NZXT IU01 has earned our “TNHW Approved” award.
Positive Aspects
- Simple installation
- Quality sheathed power and USB connection cables
- Small form factor and low component count
- Allowance for up to 8 USB ports from a single motherboard USB header
- Low price
Areas for Improvement- The User’s manual was almost unreadable because of the small text and image quality
Published: January 11, 2010
Author: David Mack
Editing and Presentation: David Mack, Dwaine Stig
Graphics And Website Design: Iñaki Tovar
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