BTW - George also wrote :-

Because there is only one unshared slot,
one would still have to share with onboard USB

My PCI - USB 2.0/Firewire combo co-exists and shares IRQ9 along with my
wireless LAN PCI card without any conflict or perceptible degradation.

.. Problem is that many new USB devices seem
to require 2.0.

A sign of the times - and no bad thing as far as I am concerned. The
difference over USB 1.x can be almost 'spectacular'

Mart

snipped