do I need a special cable to transfer usb at 3.0 speed?

that would tend to point to trying very very hard to suck power from the port which suggests your usb port is not the right spec. usb ports always come in PAIRS that why they are usually stacked one over the other on most laptops or side by side on thinner tablets. the PAIR share the max load capabilities of the usb chipset. thus if you have something else in the other half of the pair then power needs might mean the chipset just cant power it properly. the specs for usb 3 ports are different in that they might also provide sleep n charge features so THOSE ports should be more powerful if you like and shouldnt have any trouble coping. Another difference is that on most desktops the REAR ports, soldered to the main board should be 1 amp(ie 1000 ma ) total capable ie 500ma each port, but front usb ports are often around 600 ma thats 300ma per port. Now i dont know how much power this device you have needs but if you have something else plugged into the other half of its pair, then it may be THAT device that is sucking way too much power out of the socket STRESSING the one your card is plugged into and it may be the HEAT from the mainboard chipset and the power issue thats heating up your device and NOT the device itself. as for cables, then its always been the case that even with usb 2.0 say an external hard drive, you are usually supplied a high quality cable with it. So yes its a good idea to have a quality made cable, but should not be necessary unless it plays up. so i think its an issue with the chipset heating up and transferring heat to the device. However I do note that the sandisk site Blogs have a number of people with the same issue. You need to provide more information about the computer you are plugging in to.

No you don't need a special cable what you need is a port that runs at 3.0 speed some of the older computers don't run that fast

http://amzn.to/2BgDdqr This should help!