Alan van der Vyver
Rated PG
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 Posted: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 09:22:37 Post Subject: |
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The review misses an important point that makes the product pretty much useless for me: There is no supplied cable to connect the USB ports or the Firewire port to the motherboard. You are expected to run the cable through the case and out the back to take up two of your existing USB ports (or Firewire port) on the rear of the case.
Since most motherboards have extra USB connectore, this is not what most people would expect. It is certainly not what I expected. The other similar products I examined had cables to the motherboard. I tried purchasing an inexpensive one, just to get its cable and then discovered that these things are all wired slightly differently on the panel end, so I could not use it.
Furthermore, PCToys do not provide a wiring diagram to enable one to rearrange the cabling and they use all pins, whereas most others have one blocked off - thus preventing their use on another panel.
I did find a dedicated internal cable, but two of them cost nearly as much as the panel. In short, this panel is totally unsuitable for adding USB or Firewire ports from the motherboard. It can only be used (very inelegantly) with existing external sockets.
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regards,
Alan |
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