Mini ITX Case with USB 3.1 Front Ports?

T

Time2Kill

[H]ard|Gawd
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I'm putting together a new build ( https://pchound.com/Qa2qzf/ ) but I'm having a hard time finding a mini ITX case with USB 3.1 front ports.

Does anyone know of any ITX cases that have 3.1 ports or am I out of luck right now? I'm specifically going with the MSI motherboard because of its USB 3.1 ports and front port header.
 
only option right now is to get a case that has a slot of 5.25 inch bay and use one of the Asrock USB 3.1 bays that you plug into SATA express.
 
Honeg0d said:
""...there are no internal headers for 3.1 yet so you would have to buy an add-on card.""


the motherboard he specced -

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130880&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-BD Industries LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=7718204&SID=pchound

"
Internal I/O Connectors
Onboard USB
1 x USB 2.0 connector (supports additional 2 USB 2.0 ports)
1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 connector (supports additional 2 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports)
"

the future is HERE !!!
Click to expand...
If you look at the motherboard itself, the connector is clearly labeled as 3.0 (and has identical pin outs to a 3.0 header as stated in the manual) but the manual states it is a 3.1 Gen1 connector. I don't know what to believe until someone tries to plug in a 3.1 device and runs power and speed tests to prove that it is actually 3.1.
 
I thought the 3.1 header was the smaller style? The Asus Z270i Strix has it on it's top left corner.
 
[21CW]killerofall said:
If you look at the motherboard itself, the connector is clearly labeled as 3.0 (and has identical pin outs to a 3.0 header as stated in the manual) but the manual states it is a 3.1 Gen1 connector. I don't know what to believe until someone tries to plug in a 3.1 device and runs power and speed tests to prove that it is actually 3.1.
Click to expand...

That's easy: 3.1 Gen 1 is relabeled 3.0. It's 5 Gbps. The real deal is 3.1 Gen 2 at 10 Gbps. Check https://www.msi.com/blog/usb-3-1-gen1-gen2-explained .

This is the https://rog.asus.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=62319&d=1486052895&thumb=1 10 Gbps 3.1 Gen 2 front header cable. Motherboards with this headers are rare and cases even rarer. As for power, that'll be funsies because theoretically an USB-C connector can deliver like 100W but the USB Power Delivery revision 2.0 specification released with the USB 3.1 specs dropped the 12V version and now power ower 15W needs to have a voltage of 9/15/20V (and only 20V is allowed to go above 3A) which the PC PSUs do not have at all at this moment... the road is very long before you can charge your laptop off a desktop USB-C port. I wouldn't be surprised if newer PC PSUs sported a USB-C charger port and then the cases would get aboard with a relatively simple PCB which takes the data from the motherboard and if USB PD is requested then switches over to a presumably simple USB-C cord from the PSU.

I do not even know why they needed a new header instead of using a simple angled USB-C - USB-C cord internally but really what do I know of these things. Every way you look at it, USB-C is one badly messed up standard. Maybe eventually it will get cleaned up but oh gosh, all these power profiles and alternate modes which are not marked by color or icon is a spectacular mess. Also, if I gather correctly then DisplayPort over USB-C supports HDMI http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN296827/displayport--over-usb-type-c?lang=EN but there's also a HDMI alt mode and aaaaaargh
 
Last edited:
chx said:
That's easy: 3.1 Gen 1 is relabeled 3.0. It's 5 Gbps. The real deal is 3.1 Gen 2 at 10 Gbps. Check https://www.msi.com/blog/usb-3-1-gen1-gen2-explained .

This is the https://rog.asus.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=62319&d=1486052895&thumb=1 10 Gbps 3.1 Gen 2 front header cable. Motherboards with this headers are rare and cases even rarer. As for power, that'll be funsies because theoretically an USB-C connector can deliver like 100W but the USB Power Delivery revision 2.0 specification released with the USB 3.1 specs dropped the 12V version and now power ower 15W needs to have a voltage of 9/15/20V (and only 20V is allowed to go above 3A) which the PC PSUs do not have at all at this moment... the road is very long before you can charge your laptop off a desktop USB-C port. I wouldn't be surprised if newer PC PSUs sported a USB-C charger port and then the cases would get aboard with a relatively simple PCB which takes the data from the motherboard and if USB PD is requested then switches over to a presumably simple USB-C cord from the PSU.

I do not even know why they needed a new header instead of using a simple angled USB-C - USB-C cord internally but really what do I know of these things. Every way you look at it, USB-C is one badly messed up standard. Maybe eventually it will get cleaned up but oh gosh, all these power profiles and alternate modes which are not marked by color or icon is a spectacular mess. Also, if I gather correctly then DisplayPort over USB-C supports HDMI http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN296827/displayport--over-usb-type-c?lang=EN but there's also a HDMI alt mode and aaaaaargh
Click to expand...

I was wondering why there aren't any cases with front USB-C ports yet. I hadn't looked at the spec itself and had been presuming things would be running off 12v. Needing to pull that up to 20V sounds like a pain in the butt. I mean PSUs have 12v + 5v +3.3v so you could get to 20v....but 5v and 3.3v typically have low max amperage and as such you would need some kind of step up circuitry so the mainboard could draw power from the 12v. Wow. Maybe these won't be coming as soon as I hoped.
 
dholcombe said:
I was wondering why there aren't any cases with front USB-C ports yet. I hadn't looked at the spec itself and had been presuming things would be running off 12v. Needing to pull that up to 20V sounds like a pain in the butt. I mean PSUs have 12v + 5v +3.3v so you could get to 20v....but 5v and 3.3v typically have low max amperage and as such you would need some kind of step up circuitry so the mainboard could draw power from the 12v. Wow. Maybe these won't be coming as soon as I hoped.
Click to expand...

Step up circuitry is neither complicated nor particularly expensive and quite widespread but unless you pay megabucks it's like 90-95% efficient or worse so now the bloody case itself adds potentially another ~10W heat because what we need in our PCs are heat spots.

I do wonder about that 20V, I didn't look up the standard but it would be beyond moronic if it wouldn't be the same 19V that laptop chargers use. Somehow, I do not know why but often that's also marked as 20V charger but what do I know. I guess 5% voltage tolerance is not a big deal? Because if so then what you are looking for here is a totally everyday ~120W laptop car charger circuitry.
 
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