USB uses more of the cpu than the PCI ones.
USB ADSL modems tend to need almost the maximum available current that a USB port can use meaning that sometimes you may have to run them from a powered external hub.
I dont know if theres any difference in performance once you get them up and running but USB hardware can be problematical to install. I had a USB modem which was incompatable with the VIA chipset on an older pc that I had and I had to fit a PCI USB card and disable the onboard USB ports to get it to work, although a few months later after flashing the bios it would work ok on the onboard USB ports so maybe its only older pcs that have that problem.
I would strongly recommend that anyone with ADSL get a combined ethernet router/modem even if they arent thinking of setting up a network at the moment, as they are so much easier to set up and much more reliable. Also most have a built in firewall which increases your pcs security.
Another big advantage of a router/modem is that they will usually reconnect if your ISP goes down for any reason and you dont need to reinstall your modem and create another connection if you change your pc or reinstall your OS at any time as all the info is stored in the router
Topic: USB versus PCI (Read 693 times)