Upgrading the USB ports on a older case? How? Have you?

xDiVolatilX

xDiVolatilX

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Hello, I have a question for the case mod guys or case upgrade I should say. (for example if it's usb 2 and you want the newer usb 3.2 or whatever the new one is i don't even know lol)

Has anyone upgraded to the latest USB on their older case or cases? I am entertaining the idea & looking for some feedback. Thanks.
 
If your old case has drive bays, you can buy these,
IMG_2211.JPEG



I have a not so old case as well, Corsair 280X, but it doesn't have USB-C on the front/top panel so I was going to mod the case to mount this cable, but I wasn't able to get the cable, order got canceled.
IMG_3441.JPEG

Microcenter order.png
 
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xDiVolatilX said:
Hello, I have a question for the case mod guys or case upgrade I should say. (for example if it's usb 2 and you want the newer usb 3.2 or whatever the new one is i don't even know lol)

Has anyone upgraded to the latest USB on their older case or cases? I am entertaining the idea & looking for some feedback. Thanks.
Click to expand...
some makers offer upgrade for some cases. others, you can buy one and mod it in.
https://www.amazon.com/GRAUGEAR-Type-C-Extension-Bracket-G-AD-ETC-10G/dp/B09YRMQT1F
https://www.amazon.com/MZHOU-Motherboard-Extension-Internal-Charging/dp/B083FRW542
 
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I bought one of those cheap ($10ish) USB 3 drive bays for an old Antec 300. Pulled it apart, then ripped out the old USB ports in the front of the case and hot glued the new USB 3 ports in. Works and looks fine from the outside!

But honestly if you have a spare 3.5" bay open just do that.
 
Zepher said:
If your old case has drive bays, you can buy these,
View attachment 597282


I have a not so old case as well, Corsair 280X, but it doesn't have USB-C on the front/top panel so I was going to mod the case to mount this cable, but I wasn't able to get the cable, order got canceled.
View attachment 597285

View attachment 597284
Click to expand...
I was thinking about one of these, but I'm looking for the multi card reader that has the latest usb standards on them. Silverstone used to make good ones but I haven't seen anything past usb3 with multi card readers yet?
 
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Burticus said:
I bought one of those cheap ($10ish) USB 3 drive bays for an old Antec 300. Pulled it apart, then ripped out the old USB ports in the front of the case and hot glued the new USB 3 ports in. Works and looks fine from the outside!

But honestly if you have a spare 3.5" bay open just do that.
Click to expand...
I wanna do both lol. I like having the card reader for the cards and the case usb ports for quick access to usb and controllers etc. I like your mod is the glue permanent or it doesn't matter cause that will be the last mod it needs? lol
 
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xDiVolatilX said:
I wanna do both lol. I like having the card reader for the cards and the case usb ports for quick access to usb and controllers etc. I like your mod is the glue permanent or it doesn't matter cause that will be the last mod it needs? lol
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Hot glue is semi-permanent. If you want it to last forever, it can. If you want to pick away at it with a hobby knife and remove it, you can. It's more like candle wax than super glue/gorilla glue. You can buy a hot glue gun anywhere for under $10 (walmart, craft stores, etc). Here's one for $8. Shocking amount of usage scenarios for fixing stuff, not just for arts and crafts.

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Stick-Crafts-Craft-Sticks/dp/B08BCCS1SN
 
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Burticus said:
Hot glue is semi-permanent. If you want it to last forever, it can. If you want to pick away at it with a hobby knife and remove it, you can. It's more like candle wax than super glue/gorilla glue. You can buy a hot glue gun anywhere for under $10 (walmart, craft stores, etc). Here's one for $8. Shocking amount of usage scenarios for fixing stuff, not just for arts and crafts.

https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Stick-Crafts-Craft-Sticks/dp/B08BCCS1SN
Click to expand...
Any cheap electronic usually has the pcb hot glued in. Any time I do anything with an arduino, I hot glue the boards into my enclosure of choice
 
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xDiVolatilX said:
Hello, I have a question for the case mod guys or case upgrade I should say. (for example if it's usb 2 and you want the newer usb 3.2 or whatever the new one is i don't even know lol)

Has anyone upgraded to the latest USB on their older case or cases? I am entertaining the idea & looking for some feedback. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Well, you probably already know this, but having the ports for the mod, and even the proper cable itself, won't do you any good unless your mobo offers the native type 9 connector (as shown in Zepher's pic above) that pushes the latest generation signals to the ports...

I did this a few years ago on a TT900 tower, using a 4-port hub mounted internally and a modded side vent, which got me 2x USB-C + 2x additional USB 3.1 type A ports down on the side where I could reach them, as my tower sat on top of my desk and the front top panel was almost 3ft above my desk... if you zoom in on the attached pic, you can kinda see it on the lower right bottom vent panel...
:)
 

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dogDAbone said:
Well, you probably already know this, but having the ports for the mod, and even the proper cable itself, won't do you any good unless your mobo offers the native type 9 connector (as shown in Zepher's pic above) that pushes the latest generation signals to the ports...

I did this a few years ago on a TT900 tower, using a 4-port hub mounted internally and a modded side vent, which got me 2x USB-C + 2x additional USB 3.1 type A ports down on the side where I could reach them, as my tower sat on top of my desk and the front top panel was almost 3ft above my desk... if you zoom in on the attached pic, you can kinda see it on the lower right bottom vent panel...
:)
Click to expand...
You mean type-E? There's lots of options nowadays, including 20p to type-E adapters, or E to 20p. If you use an adapter you may be limited to 5gbps (half of 3.1's rated speed).

https://www.amazon.com/GRAUGEAR-Extension-Profile-Bracket-G-AD-ETC-10G/dp/B09YRMQT1F/

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=type-e+c...sprefix=type-e+cable,aps,172&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
 
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he has a z790, it has the port and doesnt really need an adapter... what hes really looking for is a cable that goes from the mobo's E port to 2 usb-a ports that are 3.2. which ive havent seen.... we've already link to single ones.
 
pendragon1 said:
he has a z790, it has the port and doesnt really need an adapter... what hes really looking for is a cable that goes from the mobo's E port to 2 usb-a ports that are 3.2. which ive havent seen.... we've already link to single ones.
Click to expand...
Yeah, don't think that exists. Or if it did, it'd probably be limited to 5gbps due to the way it would need to be wired. Even that dock, the 10gb port goes directly to a type-e header, and the 5gb and two type-a ports are controlled by a usb hub which connects to a 20p header.

You could maybe get a single type-a port at 10gbps for each type-e header with the right adapter. More would require a hub, and max speed may be limited by the specific microcontroller used, if not by other factors.

Edit: I was thinking of the one mentioned on the page of the cable I linked, not the BYEASY one.
 
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This is always an issue that is grating on me with the vast majority of off-the-shelf cases. You can spend hundreds or more on a case, but its front panel inputs are not designed to be replaced and upgraded. I was thinking of buying the LianLi DK-05F which is in many ways an ambitious adjustable desk that is also a high end PC enclosure, but for something that is designed to hold 2 PCs at least, it doesn't even have modular I/O when it costs $2000? Anything that expensive you're likely going to keep for years as standards evolve; the same goes for more conventional cases, even luxury ones that cost $300+. Back in the old days I have to give credit to Corsair who, when they debuted their Obsidian 800D , made the front panel IO removable as was the SATA hotswap backplane; there were upgrades to USB 3.0 (from 2.0 and Firewire) on the I/O and SATA 6.0gbps (from 3.0gbps) backplane that were very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, this forethought has seemingly escaped the majority of case manufactuers today, even those known for higher end or better quality ones. This, combined with the increasing removal of drive bay devices and space for them means, even if you wanted to add such a feature it would be a kludge or require serious modding to replace the intended original IO area.

This is one of the reasons that I was drawn to CaseLabs (among many others), who always offered upgradable modular case components, including front panel I/O. Of course, the original Cali based CL going out of business put an unfortunate end to it, but I'm glad to report that the Swedish enthusiast who bought the rights and designs to CaseLabs is getting up to speed to start putting components and cases on sale.

Its good that some of the solutions like the Type-E adapters are at least a little easier these days, but its a pity that trying to get them, especially in place of the "old" connectors, in many cases can be a pain in the butt. Likewise, getting multiple ports at the proper speed (ie 10gbps, 20gbps at USB 3.2 2x2, or ideally 40gbps which is the new USB4 standard) seems to be much more difficult than it needs to be if both case manufacturers and accessory/component fabrication would adhere to more standardized and replaceable components.
 
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