I would like to thank SilverStone for supplying the sample.


The days are long gone where users grabbed ATX boards because they planned to fill their ISA or PCI slots with audio, network, and interface expansion cards to get the latest and greatest interfaces. Back then, we also could thus swap out the motherboard while retaining most of those connectivity standards. All that modularity is gone, and users are instead smothered by a long list of connectivity baked into motherboards to appeal to a mass market instead of being on the bleeding edge when it comes to every single interface standard. These standards are also evolving faster than ever before. USB-C is a great example with most board brands offering a 10 Gbps interface even though it has already been eclipsed by the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps standard that has become especially useful with the rapid performance increase NVMe drives have seen as well. SilverStone offers two expansion cards which allow the user to easily add or upgrade their USB-C interface to the Gen 2x2 standard. The ECU06 offers a single, rear-facing port and caters to those who don't have that type of front I/O connectivity with their desktop case. The ECU07, on the other hand, provides a 20-pin Key-A plug for those users who have a USB-C connector but not a 20 Gbps plug on their motherboard.

Packaging and A Closer Look

Both the ECU06 and 07 ship in a compact, full-color, shrink-wrapped box with lots of images and details. This makes for a good brick and mortar retail experience and draws proper attention to the product while retaining branding consistency.


The SilverStone ECU06 is a compact PCIe 3.0 x4 and ships with a low-profile cover as well, so you may also install the expansion card in slim desktop systems. There is SilverStone branding on the card, and a revision number of 1.1. On the backside of the card is only a serial number sticker with a few smaller electrical components.


The SilverStone ECU07 looks very similar, using the same PCIe interface while also being accompanied by a low-profile cover. Besides the company branding, this PCB version is 1.0. You will find the 20-Pin Key-A plug in the center of the board facing upward. While this is fine, one facing backwards wouldn't block a neighboring expansion slot when in use. On the back of the black PCB is a similar serial number sticker, and again some smaller components.


Both the SilverStone ECU06 and ECU07 utilize the same ASMedia ASM3242 controller. A Universal Series Bus XHCI host controller bridging PCI Express to USB3.2 20 Gbps, it is also compliant with the USB3.2 Specification Revision 1.0 and Intel eXtensible Host Controller Interface specification revision 1.1. That means if your host system is XHCI capable, the expansion card won't need any extra drivers and will simply work immediately after installation. This was also the case for our Intel-based test platform, which had no internet connectivity during testing but worked flawlessly.