Terry said:
My computer has front port speaker and mic connections.
The problem is that they have 1/4 inch plugs on them that you are
supposed to take out the back of the case and plug in the soundcard.
Do newer cases and mobos come with a spare plug so you can use both?
Modern computers use the FP_AUDIO header concept. It is a 2x5 pin
header, with one pin missing. The computer case will have a wire
assembly, with either nine separate wires (labels on the plastic)
or with a 2x5 assembly ready to plug to the header.
There are two standards. AC'97 is the old standard. HDAudio is
the new standard. This document shows the pinout, on pages
20 and 24.
http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/A2928604-005.pdf
That connection method, between motherboard and computer case,
works if you continue to use the onboard audio solution. If you
putchase a SoundBlaster and plug that in instead, then the SoundBlaster
is responsible for providing a header. That would not be a
common thing to see, a header on a sound card. So you may be out
of luck, if you want to use front headphones and microphone, with
a separate sound card. (Creative doesn't like to document the
headers on their cards. If you look at some other brands of
cards, you may indeed find the standard 2x5 header.)
The Audigy cards, at least for some of them, have a disk drive
bay option available. That has jacks on it, knobs, and some
kind of cable that runs to the PCI sound card. That functions
independent of the computer case jacks, and so you'd plug
into the Live Drive, rather than the front jacks on the case.
http://alive.singnet.com.sg/audigy/review/drive-int-front.jpg
You could always rewire your computer case, to adhere to the
FP_AUDIO standard. You'd remove the plugs on the ends of the
cables that are there now. And use parts that are FP_AUDIO
header compatible. (You use 1x1 plastic pieces and female
pins from this page, to rewire the ends of the cables.)
You'd have to want your audio pretty bad, to resort to
this.
http://www.frontx.com/order_c.html
Paul
