Cases w/ frontal audio - how do they connect?

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MoJoJoJo

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Hey, a friend of mine wanted me to build him a computer, so i said yes. The last computer i build was my own, which was approx 1 year ago (and it seems like clockspeeds have practically stood still during that time, but that is offtopic). Anyway, i noticed that alot of the cases, even cheap ones, feature frontal audio connectors. While i think that this is a great option, how do they connect? Is it done via a cable that must be routed through the outside, or does the motherboard have to have onboard connectors? I am wondering because i (due to personal reasons) would hate to get a case with frontal audio or firewiere and not be able to connect them (i am like that).

Also, if it is done internally, what are sone I865 (any variant) motherboards that have these connectors.

THNX.
 
I know its a little early to bump, but PLEASE would somebody answer me? i want to order everything tonite so it'll get shipped by monday.
 
It really depends on the case. Some have pass through leads that go out the back and plug into the jacks on the back of the sound card and others have leads the plug into headers on the motherboard/soundcard. It is going to depend on the case you choose. Onboard audio you shouldn't have too much trouble with headers for the leads. Seperate soundcards quite often do not have a place to connect the internal lead kind to.
 
My case has two cords running from the front (one headphone and one mic) out the back of the case that hook into the onboard audio. It's a pretty clean setup actually. There's a little notch in the back of the case that the cords fit through nicely. Although, I dont actually use them because whenever I plug in headphones it goes into my center surround sound speaker. ;)
 
ninethreeeleven said:
Are you talking about a front head phone jack?
Click to expand...


yeah, i guess that would have been more clear, but sometimes there are headphone + mic ports.

And thnx for the input. While this isn't a major problem, i am anal about stuff like that, so i gues i'll just get a case that doesn't have frontal audio ports. My roommate at college had an HP computer that had frontal audio ports, and if he plugged in heaphones, it automatically cut out the rear port, which IMO is how it should be.
 
There is usually a "Front Panel Audio" set of connectors on the motherboard, and a cable that is attached to the ports to connect to them.

The thing to be careful about, is that many motherboards DISABLE the rear panel audio/mic jacks if you connect the front panel audio jacks. But not all of them. Just check your chosen motherboards documentation and make an informed choice.

BB
 
If you're going for a case that doesn't have front audio, but don't want to give it up, head over to RadioShack. I think it was called headphone/speaker switch. for like $15.
plugs into the sound ports on the back of your system and acts as an extension. It's
external and easily tucked away. There are two cool parts about it though...
1. it's got a Headphone jack, and Microphone jack (Obviously) but it also has a headset
jack for use with universal headsets like the ones for cell phones. Works pretty well too.

2. The speakers can be plugged into the device so you can toggle between speakers or headphones with the touch of the button. nice, but you may want to pickup up an extension cord to run back to your speakers depending on the lenght of their wire.

Not the most elegant solution, but works pretty well.

My next project will be modding it to be "internal" and have the jacks mounted to my case and the switch somewhere convenient. Yeah, you can buy it premade, but then you have to deal with boredom :D

-Jeff
 
I just got a new case that has a spot for speakers/headphone right next to the USB ports in the front... only problem is the speaker/headphone jacks aren't in there... which is totally bogus.

I need to find a cheap solution, because like you, I am anal and if the holes are there, they need to have a functional component in them.
 
I have a shuttle, special header that'll disable the rear speaker out if something is plugged into the front output
 
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