Taking firewire and other ports in front?

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:47 pm

Hello

I am needing this lat component for my system. The Antec case that I have chosen, the SLK3000B, only has USB in the front. I need to have some other ports there, specially firewire and it would be nice to have the option of sound ports for connecting headphones and a mic if I need to connect a headset. I have been searching forsomething like this without luck. It must be black for matching the color of the case.

I have a Sound Blaster Audigy2 card and the on board audio is turned off, I am not sure if I can connect sound headers to the card internally, I guess it is possible as it is with the motherboard.

Thanks a lot for any help.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:15 pm

I have the gameport on my 3700AMB at the front like this:

This way I don't have to worry about it interfering with the drive bay door.

(my gallery thread)

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:01 am

mathias wrote:I have the gameport on my 3700AMB at the front like this:

This way I don't have to worry about it interfering with the drive bay door.

(my gallery thread)

Thanks. I am looking for something a little more stylish because if I like all these contacts infront there would be too many cables hanging, your solution is very ok for just 1 cable.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:08 am

Take a look at FrontX. It's a front panel that fits in a 5.25" bay and it's modular. You decide what port you want to add to the panel. It's available in white, gray and black color.

PORTS AVAILABILITY
Ports currently available are; Headphone, Microphone, Audio-In, Game (midi), Serial (d-sub 9 pins), USB, Firewire (IEEE 1394a), RCA Audio, RCA Video (composite video), S-Video and PS2 (mouse or keyboard).

FUTURE ADD-ONS
We will continue to develop new add-ons for FRONTX in the future. Some of the future products are; IrDa, Parallel, Push-Button Switch, Temperature Reader, LED, and the list goes on.....

PRICE starts at US$13.60 - FREE SHIPPING

Some other solutions from Startech...

FireWire, USB, Audio, 3.5" Front Panel - $43.59 MSRP (USD)

Black 5.25" Bay 7-in-1 Flash Card Reader / Writer with 2 USB 2.0 Ports, 1 IEEE-1394 FireWire port and 4 Audio Ports - $59.00 MSRP (USD)

HomerSapien · Post by **HomerSapien** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 7:28 am

In my own experience, I would be cautious of frontx. I ordered 2 firewire motherboard extension cables since the ones with my motherboard were too short.

Turns out the cables they sent were extremely rigid to the point where bending them any sepearated the heatshrink from the connectors and the cable, ie the cable is flimsy now. To top it off, they had wired the cables wrong. The wires were mirrored from the way the should have been connected into the header( The wiring diagram on website was different than cables)

After fixing everything, they worked fine, but for $10 each i expected more.

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:29 pm

@Slaugh: Fantastic help, I am looking at them to see what fits best.

@HomerSapien: I will have that in account, its a pity because that panel looks like the perfect solution. Thanks.

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:41 pm

Those are a bit expensive.....

What I did is cut off the front panel connectors off of an old ATX case I had lying around, and fed them through a 3.5" opening on the front panel of my 3700amb. It's not pretty, but it works.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 8:31 pm

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/ctusb1394.html

Fits in 3.5" bay. $9.99+shipping. May need a coat of vinyl dye to match to black case.

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:01 pm

From all the options I kind of like more the FrontX. Maybe the cable issue of HomerSapien is not a regular one?
I have liked the 3 1/2 option posted also, but it comes only in beige and I am needing it black.

dentaku · Post by **dentaku** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 12:49 pm

My Asus P4C800E Deluxe came with 4 extra USB2.0 and 1 extra Firewire port that connect to headers on the motherboard but they where made to fit in a slot on the back of a case.
I just modified them to fit into the right side of my case then cut some holes and designed a "cover" for them in Adobe Illustrator and laminated it.

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:23 pm

dentaku wrote:My Asus P4C800E Deluxe came with 4 extra USB2.0 and 1 extra Firewire port that connect to headers on the motherboard but they where made to fit in a slot on the back of a case.
I just modified them to fit into the right side of my case then cut some holes and designed a "cover" for them in Adobe Illustrator and laminated it.

WOW, nice! Pity is that I am missing the tools and the skills

Thanks.

tay · Post by **tay** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:43 pm

Very nice dentaku. I thought about this but lack the skillz and tools as well. That mod really deserves a submission to a site like overclockers.com or here. Overclockers has far worse mods featured on the front page.

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:21 pm

just a little piggybacking here:

all the mobo manuals i've seen have a little audio jumper section where you set if you want the onboard rear audio ports active OR the case front ports to be active. but what about having BOTH active? i think lots of people would want this... rear ports active for plugging in speakers, and front ports active for easily plugging in headphones (or a headset for internet calls). anyone know if this is possible?

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:55 pm

flyingsherpa wrote:just a little piggybacking here:

all the mobo manuals i've seen have a little audio jumper section where you set if you want the onboard rear audio ports active OR the case front ports to be active. but what about having BOTH active? i think lots of people would want this... rear ports active for plugging in speakers, and front ports active for easily plugging in headphones (or a headset for internet calls). anyone know if this is possible?

It works like that as default in all AC97 cimpliant boards. You connect the front ports header to the MB and both become active. When you connect a headphones the rear connector FRONT speakers is muted (maybe in some boards all the speakers get muted). The mic is independent.

shades_of_blue · Post by **shades_of_blue** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:10 pm

i just ran into a Lian Li part which might help you, if you already haven't found a solution. BUT you'd have to mod one of the face plates or come up with another mounting solution.

Lian Li Front Port Cable Extension for V series Cases

http://www.pctoys.com/840556060543.html

Thorz · Post by **Thorz** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:14 pm

I have bought the FrontX and will be posting a mini-review and some pics of it when I get it.
I got: USB2, firweire, audio (mic and headphones), Svideo and Serial (I have a dvice that uses a 9 pin serial port).
Some internal, some external. I love the flexibility that this product gives. Hope that everything works ok. YAMMY!

Thanks again Slaugh.

dentaku · Post by **dentaku** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:53 pm

Thorz wrote:WOW, nice! Pity is that I am missing the tools and the skills
Thanks.

That's actually the first thing I've ever "modded".
All it took was a drill a jigsaw and a screwdriver.

It's very roughly cut. I'ts the cover that I designed that covers it all up.
I guess the only real "skill" you need to do this is knowing how to use something like Adobe Illustrator and having access to a good printer and laminator.

Taking firewire and other ports in front?

Taking firewire and other ports in front?

Re: Taking firewire and other ports in front?

Re: Taking firewire and other ports in front?

Re: Taking firewire and other ports in front?