Usb 3.0 Front Panel Header

[damole]

I just upgraded my gaming rig with a Core i5-2500K and a Asus P8Z68-V motherboard and as I chose the Coolermaster V6GT CPU cooler I had to get a new case too because mine wasn't wide enough to fit this cooler in so I got a Coolermaster 690 II Advanced. The new motherboard has 4 USB ports, 2 on the back I/O panel and 2 on the board for connection to a front panel header. Coolermaster do sell these but it seems not in Chiang Mai.

Has anybody seen anything like this in Jedicool or TKCom or anywhere in BKK?

cheers

damole

[spacemunk]

would be easier if u just called them

[ETatBKK]

I have a very similar machine in front of me :

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro | intel i7-2600 | G Skill 4GB x2 |

intel SSD-510 120GB | Seagate 1TB x2 RAID 1 |

CoolerMaster Advanced II white | CoolerMaster V6-GT |

Corsair AX750 PSU

I did think about this USB3 front header, and I gave up :

- not often need USB3 at the front

- dealers not carry this product

- doesn't look good on the white casing ( need 5.5" panel adaptor )

[damole]

I have the black version of the case so it would be OK for me. It's true that for the number of times I use USB 3.0 I can always just plug it in at the back. Coolermaster actually make a USB 3.0 version of this case now but I guess it's not available here yet. Strangely the header is available in Delhi which I would have thought is another small market. As for calling them I can never get the Thai website to load.

I forgot to say that I am in Chiang Mai. It took me ages to find a Core i5-2500K (just the K version is in short supply) and it's impossible to order anything still because of the floods. I've been waiting for a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium FPP from J.I.B. since I arrived back in Thailand a month ago. Since I re-built my rig the other day I have another 30 days before activation so I'm hoping the floods will be over by then.

I will buy a small SSD, maybe 64GB, to use as a caching drive with the Z68 Smart Response feature later this year. The rest of the machine is 8GB of Kingston HyperX T1 RAM (newly bought) and a Gigabyte GTX460 1GB, factory overclocked VGA card (the 3rd card since I originally built the machine in 2007), a Creative XtremeMusic X-Fi sound card and a Gigabyte Odin Pro 800W PSU, left over from the last build. I upgraded from a Asus P5B-Wifi Delux with a Core 2 Duo E6750 and 4 GB of GSKill RAM.

I can now play Dirt 3 with everything turned up to MAX in 1920x1080 which on my 47" LED LG looks pretty awesome. I don't play FPS much just racing and sports but have a copy of Crysis Warhead which in it's day was considered just about the most graphically demanding game around so I will see if that play at MAX although now I'm back to the VGA being the bottleneck again.

--damole

[ETatBKK]

ha ha ha . . . look at my i7-2600 ( not 2600k ), I am not a gamer :-) I am more on the area of CAD.

yes, you will very soon experience the bottleneck on your display system ! GTX460 is a general game card today. as much as you can, hold your feet and get the GTX570 or GTX580 at better price. if you have a chance of travel, then get the display card from outside, it is 30% to 50% cheaper. I don't want to pay the fat middleman here.

just for reference, one of the CoolerMaster dealer in Thailand - Ban Leong

http://banleong.com/sg/filter?page=1&filter0=8&filter1=35

there is popular and trustable shop in Pantip and they work with open pricing - compute and more. yet price of HDD is all listed in 0 :-(

http://computeandmore.com/

go for a at least 120GB SSD, then you could accommodate the Windows OS in it and together with the SRT ( install SRT first ). you gain much performance on the OS ! imagine startup a heavy loaded Windows 7 Ultimate within 30 second :-)

if you are using the P8Z68 mobo, disable the Marvel SATA III 6GB/s ports, they are making enough trouble. ONLY connect your data disk to the 2 intel SATA III 6GB/s ports !

happy gaming :-)

I have the black version of the case so it would be OK for me. It's true that for the number of times I use USB 3.0 I can always just plug it in at the back. Coolermaster actually make a USB 3.0 version of this case now but I guess it's not available here yet. Strangely the header is available in Delhi which I would have thought is another small market. As for calling them I can never get the Thai website to load.

I forgot to say that I am in Chiang Mai. It took me ages to find a Core i5-2500K (just the K version is in short supply) and it's impossible to order anything still because of the floods. I've been waiting for a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium FPP from J.I.B. since I arrived back in Thailand a month ago. Since I re-built my rig the other day I have another 30 days before activation so I'm hoping the floods will be over by then.

I will buy a small SSD, maybe 64GB, to use as a caching drive with the Z68 Smart Response feature later this year. The rest of the machine is 8GB of Kingston HyperX T1 RAM (newly bought) and a Gigabyte GTX460 1GB, factory overclocked VGA card (the 3rd card since I originally built the machine in 2007), a Creative XtremeMusic X-Fi sound card and a Gigabyte Odin Pro 800W PSU, left over from the last build. I upgraded from a Asus P5B-Wifi Delux with a Core 2 Duo E6750 and 4 GB of GSKill RAM.

I can now play Dirt 3 with everything turned up to MAX in 1920x1080 which on my 47" LED LG looks pretty awesome. I don't play FPS much just racing and sports but have a copy of Crysis Warhead which in it's day was considered just about the most graphically demanding game around so I will see if that play at MAX although now I'm back to the VGA being the bottleneck again.

--damole

[damole]

I think the difference between the V and V-Pro is that the Pro has the extra Marvell SATA ports. Right now I have both my Samsung HD103SJ hard disk and Asus 1814BLT DVD+RW plugged into the 3Gb/s blue SATA II ports. Should I be using the SATA III ports?

From Asus website compare:

Storage V-Pro
Intel® Z68 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
Marvell® PCIe SATA 6Gb/s controller : *2
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), navy blue
JMicron® JMB362 controller : *2
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red	

V  (tamadaa)
Intel® Z68 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), blue
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
Support Intel® Smart Response Technology on 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor family
JMicron® JMB362 controller : *2
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red

I must say this was my first build from empty case to finished PC. I've replaced motherboards, CPUs , PSUs, VGAs, cleaned and replaced stock Intel CPU coolers, started programming PCs commercially in 86 and so have a decent amount of computing experience although more software than hardware but I have to admit I was a little bit daunted by the number of screws,spacers, washers, bolts, cables, guides and brackets etc etc. Asus's new Q-shield is tougher to fit than the old simple style, the cut out for fixing the CPU cooler on the motherboard tray was the wrong size or in the wrong place, the PSU goes at the bottom so the 12V ATX power cable wasn't really long enough and runs in front of the exit fan of the CPU cooler. Several times I fitted something only to find I had to take it apart or out and do it in a different order. It probably took me 5 1/2 hours in total, taking it slowly and trying to think my way around problems and not break anything. So I was quite pleased when I started it up and it booted although my old Win 7 blue screened, too many changes I guess, so I had to re-install Windows (Home Premium 64bit) but now it's ticking along nicely and I just need to route the cables properly and tie them up.

My GTX460 is going to have to do for now which is fine for most of the games I play. I would like to try an SLI set up one day just for fun and to see how it is so maybe I'll see about picking up another GTX460 when prices fall next year.

--damole

[ETatBKK]

some new HDD and SSD run on SATA III 6GB/s interface, then you need those SATA III 6GB/s ports. those x2 original intel ports are good. the Marvell ports not as fast and the driver not as good. stupid me I paid for this v-pro mobo but I turned off the Marvell and the JMicron for simiplicity.

the P8Z68 motherboard is a standard layout from intel, not from ASUS ( board manufacturer ). the CPU power and mobo power cables are tricky, and I just managed to hide them at the back, it is nice :-) should share a picture when I get back to my flooded house.

I also removed the x4 media bays of the Cooler Master advanced 690, for better air circulation although it is a very good casing.

this is a kind of fun of building a DIY computer by myself, and I just managed to close the box for 2 months :-) it is an on-going problem solving exercise after all !

[BangkokImages]

You have several choices if I understand your question right. Your Asus board has a USB 3.0 20 pin header which can be used to connect front panel USB 3.0 port and you want to source USB 3.0 ports to work with this 20 pin connector? If this is the case you have many choices.

With the P8Z68 Deluxe and other higher end Asus z68 motherboards they actually package a 3.5 inch front panel accessory with a cable that fits right to that 20 pin USB 3.0 header on the motherboard. You can see what it looks like if you scroll down through this review until you see the pictures of the front of the case. It is the one on top.

The one on the bottom is a

USB 3.0 flash memory adapter with a single USB 3.0 port reviewed here.

If you use a generic USB 3.0 front panel port accessory, or a flash reader, you can connect them using this adapter from Lian-li. There is a place on the first floor of Pantip who sells Lian-li products and they have this accessory for a few hundred baht.

And if you search on the internet, ebay, Amazon, etc.. you'll find flash memory card readers and port accessories with the exact 20 pin cable termination you need so you can do this without an adapter.. but it takes a bit of looking. Personally I've ordered these products in and haven't been happy with the quality of the actual readers or ports.. so I use the two above.

USB 3.0 is becoming more and more available on external peripherals so it's good if you can get USB 3.0 to the front panel and save yourself the trouble of connecting via the back panel. Not long ago I bought a couple of these USB 3.0 3tb external drivesand I'm very happy with them. USB 3.0 will soon be as universal as USB 2.0..

Good luck.

[damole]

Thanks for the info. My last Asus motherboard was a P5B-WiFi AP Delux and I decided that I was just paying extra for ports and WiFi that I didn't use so this time I went for the plain vanilla version but I didn't realise you got the USB 3.0 panel with the delux edition of this version.

I have found as you have said some no name front panels on EBay but as you say quality will be variable.

As I am in Chiang Mai and won't be back in Bangkok until next January so I will have no opportunity to visit Panthip although we do have some good shops here.

I've already replaced a couple of my portable hard disks and my flash drives with USB 3.0 versions. I bought a new Clevo W150HRM laptop in the summer and one of the prime reasons was that it had USB 3.0 ports. My FLAC music library is 160 GB and having copied that a few times with USB 2.0 I have decided that everything I buy from now on must support USB 3.0.

--damole

[BangkokImages]

Thanks for the info. My last Asus motherboard was a P5B-WiFi AP Delux and I decided that I was just paying extra for ports and WiFi that I didn't use so this time I went for the plain vanilla version but I didn't realise you got the USB 3.0 panel with the delux edition of this version.

I have found as you have said some no name front panels on EBay but as you say quality will be variable.

As I am in Chiang Mai and won't be back in Bangkok until next January so I will have no opportunity to visit Panthip although we do have some good shops here.

I've already replaced a couple of my portable hard disks and my flash drives with USB 3.0 versions. I bought a new Clevo W150HRM laptop in the summer and one of the prime reasons was that it had USB 3.0 ports. My FLAC music library is 160 GB and having copied that a few times with USB 2.0 I have decided that everything I buy from now on must support USB 3.0.

--damole

Probably the least installed accessory that comes with motherboard is the front panel port accessory.. most people toss them. I've got a box of them my clients don't want on their builds. I'd guess you can easily find one at any store that sells Asus motherboards for next to nothing, though if you use flash memory cards that reader I linked you to is a nice piece.

I agree. We have enough choice now with USB 3.0, the performance is so much greater, and the difference in cost so little if any, it makes little sense to buy a USB 2.0 device if it's the type of device which can take advantage of USB 3.0 speeds.

Good luck with it.

[ETatBKK]

Bangkok Images, welcome back !

Damole, the ASUS Front Panel USB 3.0 Box is also available as a spare part at USD29.99 in the AUS eStore, just for reference. than possibly find a left over item in Pantip.

check these links :

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Accessories/Front_Panel_USB_30_Box/#overview

http://us.estore.asus.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=3611

have fun

Probably the least installed accessory that comes with motherboard is the front panel port accessory.. most people toss them. I've got a box of them my clients don't want on their builds. I'd guess you can easily find one at any store that sells Asus motherboards for next to nothing, though if you use flash memory cards that reader I linked you to is a nice piece.

I agree. We have enough choice now with USB 3.0, the performance is so much greater, and the difference in cost so little if any, it makes little sense to buy a USB 2.0 device if it's the type of device which can take advantage of USB 3.0 speeds.

Good luck with it.