Looking for Mobo with front port capabilities

[iamaran]

I am looking for a board to go in a Skyhawk PSR5619 (motor-door) case, so
obviously it needs to utilise the front panel USB, Firewire and multimedia
(microphone and headphone sockets) on this case.

I'm looking for something Socket A, DDR, AGP (no on-board gfx), oh and S-
ATA would be good too. Would be looking to use an XP2000+ (or thereabouts).

I've spend days looking - it's a minefield out there.

I have been reliably informed that Asus and Gigabyte use proprietary
motherboard connectors will not connect to standard case designs. Should I
avoid any others?

Is anyone using a Skyhawk PSR5619?
Any recommendations anyone?

TIA.

 

[Jonathan Eales]

Most modern motherboards from the major vendors will come with front ports
for USB, audio and even Firewire. They do not have proprietary motherboard
connectors and will fit into most modern ATX cases. (Beware full size ATX
boards into some small Mini-ATX cases). I generally use the cheaper boards
from ECS, PC-chips, Biostar, Asrock and they all came with front port
connections. Though trying to match the cheap case cables to the correct
connect is often a hassle.

Asus and Gigabyte generally make great motherboards which are used by many
self-builders and are well respected and industry standard. Sometimes they
make proprietary versions for the major PC manufacturers such as DELL, HP
(Compaq), IBM, etc. These have different, non-standard connectors. So you
can't upgrade one of these PCs with a new motherboard easily.

I'm afraid I've never heard of Skyhawk and would therefore be wary of them.

Jonathan

 

[iamaran]

Thanks Jonathan.