# Trying to figure out a way to connect all my front-panel ports is making me pull my hair out.



## Mescalit0

you could very easily just get a USB hub that connects to the board's rear I/O and not worry about adding a 5.25" panel or any more internal cables. there are tons of low price options with multiple 2.0 and\or 3.0, type-c, and fast-charge ports available all-in-one.

i don't really see many simple 5.25" USB panels anymore or many nice cases that even have 5.25" bays.
but about a year ago i picked up one of these that worked good: 5.25" USB panel, Newegg.com

if you're looking to construct a front panel on your own; i've found most 5.25" bay covers are interchangeable. just recycle one from another case or msg Cooler Master about sending you a replacement. then use that to cut holes into.


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## Cyber Akuma

Yeah, that one you posted would have been PERFECT if it didn't have the 3.0 ports. I already have 3.0 ports in my case, I only needed the USB-C and the additional two USB 2.0 ports, as my case also has two USB 2.0 ports but my motherboard supports 4 across two headers.

And I am going to be using most of the rear I/O ports.


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## ListerOfSmeg

Take a look into Front-X because they make 5.25" panels with swap-able ports. The website is still up after all these years. You then purchase any necessary connection cables which plug into the front panel. I got one of these with my old DFI motherboard with an AthlonXP CPU in the early 2000's. I still use the front panel in one case I have. They make black, ivory and grey front panels. Any sections unused have blanking plates which cover it over. The flip down door I removed because it was likely to get broken. You can fit just the ports that you want, just make sure that the cable length is sufficient.

FRONTX - FRONT PANEL COMPUTER PORT ( front usb, front ieee 1394 connector, etc )

The only real issue is that the ports have not moved on and I cannot see any USB 3.0 ports unless you can use a similar port and replace the connector. Or use a blanking plate and drill out the space for the required connector and bolt the connector and cable to it.


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## Cyber Akuma

I had someone else tell me about those, but they told me that they only come in ivory/Beige. (I would prefer black) and when I looked at their store, they only seem to have connectors for older ports.

The newest ports on their site seem to be USB 2.0 and Firewire, I didn't see any USB-C (Or 3.0 for that matter)


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## ListerOfSmeg

The website does say that they are available in Black. I just added the panel and it gives three colour options including Black! They are £7.20 delivered which is pretty good. I do not know what that is in dollars but you can find that easily if you add it to your basket.

As I mentioned about the USB 3.0 and USB-C ports, you would have to mount a port either into a similar sized/shaped mounting which you would have to select and purchase and then remove the original and replace with a purchased port/cable which you could bolt into the aperture.

These might accommodate a USB-C connector but you would need to find a USB-C panel mounting socket with a similar space between the screws/bolts. I think that you might be able to get that working.

These are USB 2.0 sockets which you could replace with a USB-C panel mounting socket.
FRONTX - USB Internal Cable - connect to motherboard header (pinout)

FRONTX - Mother-board USB Pin Assignment - USB Header (pinout) Connection Guide

[EDIT] BTW as I already mentioned you could use the blanking plate and drill/cut one out and then bolt in a panel mounting USB-C port. That is if the first method is not possible due to the screw/bolt position. You could purchase a dual USB2.0 port and then see if you could modify it with a USB-C socket and if that does not seem possible you could just plug the USB 2.0 into one of the motherboard USB 2.0 headers.


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## ListerOfSmeg

usb type c panel mount - Google Search




















These are the kind of thing to look for. It is just the connector on the other end which you need to get correct for your setup. Finding a panel mount which uses a smaller screw would be better IMO because those large screws would look a bit unsightly. Take a look on the google images for places which stock them, see link above for examples


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## Cyber Akuma

Yeah, I was looking at that type at first. Issue is that they all seem to be some random unheard of Chinese brand, and I am worried about the quality of the cable since USB-C is more susceptible to issues if the cable is not up to spec. I heard some complain some of the cables fried the port on their board. Not sure how to identify a good one.


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## ListerOfSmeg

Cyber Akuma said:


> Yeah, I was looking at that type at first. Issue is that they all seem to be some random unheard of Chinese brand, and I am worried about the quality of the cable since USB-C is more susceptible to issues if the cable is not up to spec. *I heard some complain some of the cables fried the port on their board. Not sure how to identify a good one.*


I had that happen to me! I purchased a USB 3.0 cable from a large UK electronic part seller. The cable stated that it was checked and verified and when I received two of them I plugged one into a Delock SATA 6gb/ 4 port USB 3.0 PCI-e x4 v2 card which was installed in one of the two PCI-e v2 x16 slots on an old Intel X48 chipset motherboard which was an earlier system of mine. It destroyed the card and the PCI-e slot! I checked the cable with my multimeter and there was a short from power to ground which drew large amounts of current through the card and PCI-e slot! So much for the cable checking and verification.

I now do not use any USB cable on my PC's without first checking them with my multimeter. I have come across quite a few with faults. I purchased two USB 3.0 header extenders from Amazon which extend from the motherboard header to front panels or PCI-e cards. I ordered two by mistake because I was rushing and had two in my basket by mistake. I never used either of them for many months and when I came to use one and I checked them out and both had faults! Chinese rubbish and there is so much of it which is faulty and can damage a PC.

If I was you I would get a cheap multimeter and get a few USB sockets with solder pins for each connection type and then plug one on each end of the cable and test the resistance of every combination of connections to check that there are no shorts between them. Power to ground is the worst of all but other combinations could also potentially cause damage.

If I was you I first of all try and find a well known brand to see if you can find something suitable. If that fails I would look for the best quality you can find and then test it thoroughly before using it. So much of the stuff on Amazon/eBay is total rubbish.

I am sure that you can find what you need to do the job well. You just need to find everything or purchase something pre-made but even pre-made stuff can potentially be faulty. I would test everything and not risk damaging my PC again.

Motherboards are meant to have USB fuses on them which are meant to disconnect the port if a short occurs until reset by power off. I do not know whether a fuse would protect from a power to ground short. It's not saying much for the DeLock card because they could not of put such a feature on the card seeing as it blew the card and the PCI-e slot. The motherboard still works but only has one working PCI-e x16 slot.


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## Mescalit0

Cyber Akuma said:


> ...And I am going to be using most of the rear I/O ports.


and anything that was previously using that type-c or 3.2 slot in the rear I\O would now be using the hub, so no spaces are lost \ only more added.
am currently using an 8 port(6x 3.2, 2x type-c) powered hub from my rear I\O where an external BD-ROM, printer, monitor's & keyboard's USB pass-throughs are all using. plus 2x type-c ports for charging or other portable USB devices.


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## Cyber Akuma

ListerOfSmeg said:


> I had that happen to me! I purchased a USB 3.0 cable from a large UK electronic part seller. The cable stated that it was checked and verified and when I received two of them I plugged one into a Delock SATA 6gb/ 4 port USB 3.0 PCI-e x4 v2 card which was installed in one of the two PCI-e v2 x16 slots on an old Intel X48 chipset motherboard which was an earlier system of mine. It destroyed the card and the PCI-e slot! I checked the cable with my multimeter and there was a short from power to ground which drew large amounts of current through the card and PCI-e slot! So much for the cable checking and verification.


I don't really have the tools or would know what to look for in testing cables, are there any brands or such I can use that are known to be good quality/reliable?


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## ListerOfSmeg

Cyber Akuma said:


> I don't really have the tools or would know what to look for in testing cables, are there any brands or such I can use that are known to be good quality/reliable?


Having a basic multimeter would be a good thing to have IMO. I first purchased one when I was a teenager. It was really cheap cost me just under £15 I think it was and I purchased from a UK catalogue shop called Argos. They can be purchased a lot cheaper than that now. Cheap multimeters do not have the accuracy that more expensive meters have but they can do the very basics okay. You can use one to test the resistance of connections in a cable, test continuity, check fuses etc.


I do not know of any reliable cable brands. Brands like Startech and Lindy MIGHT be okay but the cables are most likely still made in China and I would not trust them or any cable without first testing it. Belkin cables used to be decent at one time but I have not had any experience of them recently. They do make/sell USB-C cables but I cannot see much about their guarantee/warranty or liability. They do have a policy for their surge protectors and similar devices. I would think that they would be legally responsible if they sold a faulty cable which damaged a computer.


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## MaxHughes

Cyber Akuma said:


> I have a build from 2012 that I am going to update. It's currently a Z77 board in a Cooler Master HAF X case.
> 
> I am going to be replacing it with a Z490 motherboard, but I would like to try to get as many of the front panel ports connected, if not all of them, that I can.
> 
> The old Z77 board had audio headers, two USB 2.0 headers, and a USB 3.0 header. The case has audio headers, two USB 2.0 headers, two USB 3.0 headers..... and eSATA and Firewire. Needless to say the Firewire was never connected to anything (I had an extra unused SATA port that I connected to the eSATA), and there was an unused USB 2.0 header left on the board.
> 
> Anyway, the new Z490 board I want to put in it's place has audio headers, two USB 2.0 headers, and a USB 3.0 header, and a USB-C header. So basically in addition to the same number of ports the Z77 board has, it also has a USB-C port, rated USB 3.2 Gen 1.
> 
> I would like to at the very minimum connect the USB-C in addition to what I had connected from the Z77 board, if not also the additional two USB 2.0 ports.
> 
> The case has several 5.25 inch external bays, and only one of them is being used by an optical drive, so I have plenty of room to mount a 5.25 bay with the ports I need. Issue is...... good luck finding something as uncommon as two USB 2.0 and one USB-C without there being a ton of other random unnecessary garbage ports on it. Even when trying JUST to connect the USB 2.0 alone, many of them seem to act more like a USB-A Male-to-female hub that needs molex power than a proper header-to-usb cable. I also don't want to leave the ports already built into the case unused, I just want to add the ones the motherboard supports that the case does not have. Even just a single USB-C (a proper one that connected to the header and didn't try to add extra nonsense or require additional port) front bay wasn't easy to find.... not to mention an entire 5.25 external bay that just has a single USB-C port on it is kind of a waste.
> 
> (Honestly, considering how hard it would be to find a case that has EVERY port your motherboard supports, or even aftermarket front panel bays for the missing ports, you would think there would be a market for modular front bays that just have blank spaces you can put the ports you need in..... guess not)
> 
> So I figured the next best step would be to basically "build" one by just getting a blank 5.25 cover, the proper header-to-female-port wiring, and just cut holes in the cover for said ports..... but to my surprise, even THAT is hard to do.
> 
> First of all, finding a "blank" cover seems to be hard, especially one that doesn't attempt to double as being something else like a hot-swap bay, a storage compartment, or a goddamn cup holder, are there any good ones? Preferably plastic both so it's easier to cut holes in it and to reduce chance of shorting something.
> 
> Second, the majority of said cables seem to be intended to connect the ports to the rear of the case, which would not work out for me as it's a little annoying to reach behind the case where it is, and because of this intent, most of the cables are far too short to connect from the motherboard to the front of the case. I tried and found some cables that seemed long and just simply connected the header to the proper USB female ports with a fairly long cable.
> 
> I was looking at something like this for USB 2.0:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/10Pin-Motherboard-Female-Header-Adapter/dp/B015F6QXKO
> 
> And similar for USB-C:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/MZHOU-Header-Extension-Internal-Adapter/dp/B083FRW542/
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Motherboard-Extension-HuaLong-Internal-Charging/dp/B0828WVF1X/
> 
> But even more problems arose. First of all, quality. I saw people complain about several of the different USB 2.0 cables I looked at, Complaints about them not being shielded well, about them breaking, some (like the one I linked) don't properly block out the unused 10th pin, making it possible to accidently plug the cable in backwards and short out the port/devices or even the board! I could not seem to find any good quality cables, especially for USB-C which feels like it would be even more problematic if a low quality one was used. Every single one I could find seemed to be some random unheard of Chinese brand that only exists on Amazon and/or Newegg. And some had complaints that it damaged their system. The only one I found that seems good is that second USB-C one I linked..... but it's not clear if the cable can be removed from that metal PCIe bracket so I can fit it on a front panel, it looks like it might be glued on.
> 
> Second is also even getting what I ordered. Like I said, a lot of random Chinese brands I never heard of or could find anywhere else. Some of the reviews complained that the cable was considerably shorter than advertised, or that it did not reach the 10Gbps speeds advertised and it was 5Gbps or slower.
> 
> Are there any good quality versions of these cables that do not contain any extra connectors one can recommend that would be long enough to connect to a front panel? Or perhaps, is there any better way one can recommend for me to connect an additional two USB 2.0 ports and a USB-C port to a case that does not have those without leaving additional unused ports/extra nonsense?


USB 2 on the front of your case? Why?


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## Cyber Akuma

Because not everything takes advantage of 3.0 speeds and I have two unused 2.0 headers on my board, so if I can make use of them, I would like to.


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## ListerOfSmeg

Cyber Akuma said:


> Because not everything takes advantage of 3.0 speeds and I have two unused 2.0 headers on my board, so if I can make use of them, I would like to.


That is very true. I have 2xUSB2.0 ports on the front of my case that I do sometimes use for a USB to Serial connection. It makes sense to connect them if there are motherboard headers.

Surely if your case has 2 USB 2.0 ports there should be a cable from those connectors to connect them? I doubt that they would not be connected.


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## Cyber Akuma

ListerOfSmeg said:


> That is very true. I have 2xUSB2.0 ports on the front of my case that I do sometimes use for a USB to Serial connection. It makes sense to connect them if there are motherboard headers.
> 
> Surely if your case has 2 USB 2.0 ports there should be a cable from those connectors to connect them? I doubt that they would not be connected.


Yeah, my case has two USB 2.0 ports, it's that the motherboard has headers for four and I figured if I was doing to use one of my front 5.25 panels for the USB-C, I might as well add the other USB 2.0 as well if I reasonably can since it would look a little weird to have a whole 5.25 bay with just a single USB-C port on it.


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