The need for speed goes on unabated, but fulfilling that need became a bit less likely with Intel’s decision to wait until 2011 to integrate support for USB 3.0 into its PC chip sets. USB 3.0 promises to bump up throughput between computers and peripherals to a theoretical high of 4.8 Gbps: a 10x increase over USB 2.0’s present raw transfer rate. The increase in speed would make it easier for users to manage the massive amounts of data in raw digital images and video, and their ever expanding MP3 collections. USB 3.0 would also permit more power for USB-powered devices. Problem is, says an unnamed source quoted by the EE Times: “It's hard to commit to an emerging technology like this when the key silicon enablers are not making it a priority. You get into a chicken-and-egg situation.” In other words, no one is interested in making, because no one has committed to buying. Given the lack of interest Intel has decided its time is better spent working out issues with the Nehalem processor’s integrated memory controller, and coming to terms with the new 5 GHz PCI Express 2.0 specification. In the meantime I’ve got to dig out my FireWire cables. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ne... First we were suppose to see native USB 3.0 support in chipsets in 2009, then it got pushed back to 2010 and now it looks to be getting pushed back again until 2011. So if you were looking forward to getting a motherboard that supported USB 3.0 natively, then I guess you are just going to have to wait another year longer again. Iron Sharpens Iron.