# How many bits for a sample on limeSdr mini?

**URL:** <https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278>\
**Category:** LimeSDR\
**Created:** [4 March 2019 02:41 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278 "2019-03-04T02:41:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![juzhang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@juzhang](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/juzhang)\
**Post date:** [4 March 2019 02:41 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278/1 "2019-03-04T02:41:46Z")

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Hello everybody,  
How many bits for a sample on limeSdr mini? Is it 12bits for I and 12bits for Q, and that is 24bits for one single sample?  
Another question is, what’s the max sample rate of the limesdr-mini on USB2.0 host?

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**Author:** ![Zack](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/zack/32/89_2.png) [@Zack](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Zack)\
**Post date:** [4 March 2019 09:07 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278/2 "2019-03-04T09:07:22Z")

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12 bits for I and 12 bits for Q.

> [@juzhang](#):
>
> what’s the max sample rate of the limesdr-mini on USB2.0 host?

No simple answer to this question. It depends on application, on PC performance etc. It will be limited by USB2 throughput.

Let us assume our system can handle 40MB/s data throughput via USB2 from device to host (i.e. **Rx only** ). Then signal sample rate will be 40 / (1.5 \* 2) = ~13MS/s (where 1.5 is 12 bits expressed in bytes; where 2 is two samples - I and Q). This is a best **case scenario**.

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**Author:** ![juzhang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@juzhang](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/juzhang)\
**Post date:** [5 March 2019 01:06 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278/3 "2019-03-05T01:06:08Z")

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Thank you very much!  
And one more question: Could we set limesdr’s datatype on wire easily? You know, on UHD, the wire-type may be set to 8bits I and 8bits Q.

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**Author:** ![Zack](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/discourse.myriadrf.org/zack/32/89_2.png) [@Zack](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/u/Zack)\
**Post date:** [5 March 2019 06:17 UTC](https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/how-many-bits-for-a-sample-on-limesdr-mini/4278/4 "2019-03-05T06:17:21Z")

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> [@juzhang](#):
>
> Could we set limesdr’s datatype on wire easily?

There is no such possibility at the moment.