Syba Low Profile PCI-Express Firewire Card with Two 1394b Ports and One 1394a Port (2B1A), TI Chipset, Extra Regular Bracket SD-PEX30009

In summary: reasonably priced, very compact, easy installation, performs very well.I initially got this card because I was having some issues with USB 3.0 drivers on a nice external drive I was using. The external drive has FireWire, eSata, and usb 3.0, and the build quality is so high (and I value the ability to swap in my own hard drives) that I decided to blow ~$20 on a FireWire card rather than deal with a return or finding a new one. I've been very pleased thus far.Pros:1) It's low profile, for small form factor cases, but comes with adapter bracket for standard PCI-E slots. Even if you have to swap the bracket, installation is a breeze. It'll fit in any PCI-E slot.2) It has an internal FireWire 400 header, which was perfect to be able to take advantage of the front panel FireWire 400 port on my case.3) It uses the top-tier TI chipset.4) Native driver support in my OS's of choice (Ubuntu 12.04/14.04 and Windows7).5) Speeds are right where you expect. I consistently see 80-90 MB/s over FireWire 800 in large file transfers on both Ubuntu and Win7.Cons:The driver instructions are a bit confusing. If you're running windows7 or linux (I've tried it with Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04) ignore the driver disc that comes with this. Ubuntu has built-in drivers, windows7 will automatically install/activate its FireWire drivers after you physically install the card and connect a device.

Not much supports Firewire any more, and I have a couple of older DV cameras I wanted to get the video transferred to my newer Mac. There are all kinds of solutions out there, but using a real Firewire card in an OWC PCI Express card to Thunderbolt box proved to be the best and fastest I could find.5 minutes to install and I was in business.Everything I plug into the card is instantly recognized.One thing I like about this card verses some of the others, is that I do not need to plug the card into a PC internal power supply. Not an option for me, so this works great.My solution is not for everyone, but if you fall into this cateogory, this is the card for you.

I purchased this FireWire board with the intent of video capture and attaching some older firewire devices to my new gaming computer.I'm running the ASUS Rampage IV, Intel i7 3960X and Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit with a number of additional graphical/hardware components etc.When I picked up my newly built computer the first thing I did was install the FireWire card and boot the system. The next thing I did was install the drivers with the included CD. Unfortunately upon re-booting my system I was met with a blue screen of death. After investigating the crash dump and researching this on the internet I came to the conclusion the drivers were preventing the system from successfully booting and could not be fully wiped from the page file or system registry. Unfortunately even using a system restore point failed to prevent the blue screen from re-appearing. I even attempted removing the hardware from the motherboard and doing a partial system restore that again would lead to a blue screen after a shutdown and re-start.I had to subsequently wipe the HD and do a fresh windows install (thank goodness it was a new build with nothing installed). After re-installing windows and installing all the windows updates as well as all the associated Asus/Nvidia/Intel and LG drivers, I cautiously pushed the FireWire chipset back into the PCIe slot and booted windows. Presto, the hardware was found and windows loaded all the necessary drivers.I tested the connection speed and was able to get the near full advertised 800mbps.The conclusion? The drivers that come loaded on the included CD have the option of replacing the windows drivers and seem to cause system failures and instability. These drivers seem unnecessary as the built in windows drivers work perfectly. So don't install anything from the included CD, just make sure windows is up to date, install the hardware and let windows automatically install the correct drivers.I've been using the FireWire chipset now for 3 weeks capturing XMF/HDV/DV files from various professional (Sony PDW-700 / Canon XH-A1) and consumer grade cameras with no issues at all.Good product, just stay away from the included CD.

First the bad because it has nothing to do with the quality of the card. Normally the "free shipping" for orders over $35 is pretty good -- 2 to 3 days. Recently it appears Smiley has been throttling back on it's once stellar shipping. This thing took a week to arrive as have other recent orders.Now for the good, because the product is stellar!The card is perfect for Windows 8.1. It was recognized instantly and required no separate driver installation.But that's not all. Using a x1 lane configuration (dual direction) you should see 5Gbps/400MBps from this puppy even in compatibility mode.Wait, there's more. The folks at SYBA answer their email promptly and thoughtfully.OK, this review sounds like a cheesy late night TV commercial. But seriously, I was impressed and should I need a second card this would be at the top of my list.So what are you waiting for? <g>