USB Hub Recommendations

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
Joined
Oct 29, 2000
Messages
38,881
Hi Everyone,

So I run a little bit of an unusual setup these days. In order to combat noise and heat in my office I went with a "desktop is in another room" active cable extension setup.

Essentially my desktop is now in my "server room" on the other side of the house, with an active 10gig USB-C cable, and three active monitor cables running from there to my office. (I documented this setup here)

For this to work, I need a USB hub on my desk in my office, with the particular requirement that the uplink port needs to be a female USB-C port so I can plug the active 10gig USB-C extension to it.

I also prefer it to have a mix of USB-A and USB-C connectors, and nothing else (no video, audio, network, etc. connectors)

It also needs to be powered locally, as I don't trust powering more than a couple of low power devices over a 75ft long active USB cable.

At the time I set it up, the only one I could find that met my criteria was this overpriced StarTech hub:

1701357559995.png
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081HQLMH4?tag=hardfocom-20

It works... Most of the time.. But it is not perfect.

- Only four ports

This requires me daisy chaining other USB hubs off of it when I have more than four devices plugged in, and when I do, things are unreliable at best presumably due to additive signal degradation.

- For some stupid reason when you connect and disconnect devices to it, it resets every device connected to the hub.

- Occasionally (and only during reboot) it doesn't re-initialize, leaving me lunging to power cycle it before I need keyboard input for Grub for my dual boot, which gets annoying.


It turns out searching for details on USB hubs is somewhat difficult, and has wound up being a manual click on every single store page listing only to find out that they don't meed my requirements, which is frustrating.

So, I decided to open it up to the forum, and see if anyone has a hub they like that meets my requirements.


Again, those requirements are:

- Uplink must be 10gig or better USB-C via a female port on the hub
- Hub must be powered locally, not via the USB-C uplink
- I need more than the four ports I have. 6-8 would be great. A mix of USB-A and USB-C ports would be good, and It would be nice if at least one were USB-C
- It must work well for you, and you must like it :p
- No other integrated devices or functions (network, video, audio, etc.) It has to be a USB hub and a USB hub only

Anyone have any good ones to recommend?

Appreciate any input.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
i cant find any with c ports and a removable c uplink cable but i found this one. youll need a-c adapters if you really need c ports though...
https://www.amazon.com/Powered-10Gbps-Charging-Adapter-Aluminum/dp/B0BZTSGYJP

Thanks for looking. The intent wasn't to ask people to spend their time searching for me, but I appreciate it none the less. I was hoping someone might randomly be using or otherwise be aware of something that would work for me :p

Yeah, I saw that one when I was shopping, and the non-removable USB-C cable was what killed it. Since I already have a 75ft active USB-C cable I figured that any additional cable length was pushing it, and I think I pretty much confirmed that when I daisy chained in a second hub on top of the Startech one, as the cumulative signal loss makes it a bit flaky.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for looking. The intent wasn't to ask people to spend their time searching for me, but I appreciate it none the less. I was hoping someone might randomly be using or otherwise be aware of something that would work for me :p

Yeah, I saw that one when I was shopping, and the non-removable USB-C cable was what killed it. Since I already have a 75ft active USB-C cable I figured that any additional cable length was pushing it, and I think I pretty much confirmed that when I daisy chained in a second hub on top of the Startech one, as the cumulative signal loss makes it a bit flaky.
no prob, i had seen it before in my last hunt for one that could charge a bank of chromebooks...
this one is removable, most arent. every one i found that had c ports on it had a fixed uplink cable. not sure why. figured you didnt want to have to use a coupler either.
yeah, youre kinda pushing the distance a bit lol.
 
Back
Top