Need help for find a specific PC Case

Feox

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Hi guys! I'm calling on you because I'm looking for a certain type of PC case but I'm having trouble finding it... I'm looking for an ATX 1200 type 4000X with on the front panel:
2 USB-A 3.0
1 USB-A 2.0
2 SDs
1 microSD
2 Jack (headphones)
1 Jack (mic)

I'm both versatile in software and music so that's why I need so much Jack. USB 2.0 is so that I don't have to get rid of old USB keys that I have since the beginning of Win 7 not compatible in 3.0 and at least 2 USB 3.0 for mouse / keyboard.

I am aware that there are several external adapters but after having tested several of them from different brands in my region, my USB and SD adapters failed me after a maximum of 3 months so I no longer trust these devices and I would like to try the case version.

I live in Belgium in Europe and I see a lot on Canadian and American High Tech channels like LTT this kind of versatile boxes used in big computers so I wonder where they get this kind of boxes because on Amazon and LDLC (a French site well known where I am for computer equipment) I have searched for hours but I can't find the one that suits me:/...
 

FAST6191

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I don't know that I have ever seen that much on a front panel that is not custom built, and with the current trend away from simple headphones and USB C you might have trouble there. You might be able to pull it off with enough internal USB port headers on your motherboard and full width panels, and possibly a dedicated audio card with front panel options (which tends to be higher end ones) but you might be able to do that with either a simple splitter, or getting a bit more fancy with an audio amp.

"2 SDs, 1 microSD" you may wish to specify if you want all those active at the same time as that could be a more specialist thing again, or need multiple USB to whatever adapters as most such things have just the one internal pathway for SD reading.
 

Feox

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I don't know that I have ever seen that much on a front panel that is not custom built, and with the current trend away from simple headphones and USB C you might have trouble there. You might be able to pull it off with enough internal USB port headers on your motherboard and full width panels, and possibly a dedicated audio card with front panel options (which tends to be higher end ones) but you might be able to do that with either a simple splitter, or getting a bit more fancy with an audio amp.

"2 SDs, 1 microSD" you may wish to specify if you want all those active at the same time as that could be a more specialist thing again, or need multiple USB to whatever adapters as most such things have just the one internal pathway for SD reading.
in music software I use FL Studio with ASIO4ALL audio codecs and my motherboard strangely (my Asus Prime Z590-A) does not support the pressure of large scale codecs. That is to say on tracks with 3 open synths and 4-5 tracks it's fine but if we start on the conclusion with 15 open sounds or even more and the drumrack plus the mix, the codecs suffer and saturate and the sound crackles .
And it's not because of my CPU because a 10900K is more than enough.

And if I posted here it's because also on Reddit I was advised to take a dual system Audio Card - Sound Card for the port saturation problem to have the necessary equipment in terms of microphone jack and headset.

I am a beginner in music and audio equipment although later on I would like to be a Sound Designer on my own productions... So I don't know all possible sound setup systems but basically I wanted to start on a system Sound card for some MIDI keayboards and other real instruments for a more embellished sound, 1 slap for more scope on the mix (hence the 2nd port Jack because I'm afraid that too, my MB will let me go) and 1 for the helmet...

But eventually I will review my plans for it.

What about the SD, microSD and USB ports? What I asked for is the minimum required for what I do.

For the Jack, then in this case I would need at least 1 microphone and in the meantime I will use the headphone port of my screen which is stable while I buy the stuff...

What I'm afraid of is that if I buy the necessary heavy audio equipment, it's that if I connect it to my MB and then pass it on Jack adapters which will be connected to the gear in it even it is that my MB does not support this load for a long time...

However, I inquired long before buying it and I was told several times that with respect to the audio, there was still room for what it could support, that is to say in big, much more than the audio of programs or games.

Although I am aware that my configuration is more "Gaming new gen" typed I also thought that it was going to be solid for everything else but strangely not... Or is it me who configured something wrong?

Sorry for this long post, but I wanted to clear things up so that you can see the situation and my fears regarding the potential "defects" of my MB for the future heavy equipment it will accommodate
 

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That is a rather different question than the outset but hey. Most fun with sequenced audio these days is software mixed on the PC side of things so sound card concerns only really come into that when you want fun midi and microphone/line inputs via them and whatever concerns you have for the general quality of the DAC and such when it comes to the signal going out. That said if you kick it to hardware to mix I could certainly see a weak internal driver tank things similar to how many modern graphics cards have weak support for older formats and approaches full of bugs. Also there is more to limitations than just CPU speed -- number of cores (assuming the program can even handle it), memory, hard drive (less a problem for most audio, can be a massive problem for video if you have to try to load 16 4k streams all at once).

SD cards. That is fine if that is your workflow* and we can do things but it needed to be asked as it gets more specialist. If you get one of the cheapo USB adapters with full size SD (possibly one on each side) and microSD (and time was miniSD) then chances are there will only be the one internal handler for SD such that you can only have one in at a time. More exotic ones do exist with multiple pathways (though most will be two only), and if you are willing to make it yourself then 3 SD slots fit easily in a front panel/drive bay slot. Modern USB 3.0 ones if you have a header spare on the motherboard will probably also be able to put those three on an internal hub without suffering speed** or power issues and not see you need an excessive amount of headers on your motherboard used for this.

https://www.asus.com/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-z590-a/techspec/

Rear USB (Total 9 ports)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port (1 x USB Type-C®)
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (3 x Type-A, 1 x Type-C®)
4 x USB 2.0 ports (4 x Type-A)
Front USB (Total 7 ports)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector (suppports USB Type-C®)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 header supports additional 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
2 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 4 USB 2.0 ports

*some might want the slots but are happy to lightly pull one or two cards out if they need another slot to say dump from a camera a few times a week. Multiple devices all the time/potentially needed at a moment's notice is a normal enough workflow as well.

**I say that but looking at https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Memory-Cards/ci/1097/N/4093113320 then some SD cards are quite fast indeed such that even full on USB3.2 might be troubled in the ideal scenario. USB 2.0 getting maybe 35 megabytes a second on a good day, usually more in the high 20s. Not so bad for loading up your phone SD card with a few podcasts but if you are transferring gigs and gigs of video, wave audio capture or raw photos that gets tedious.

You can also add ports via PCI express, and some of those could probably run extensions (either around the board or maybe through it), and if really fun could play with a soldering iron to make them internal. That said this motherboard looks like it only has the one slot for this which will probably be taken by a graphics card if you go that way, or a fancy sound card (assuming you don't go for a USB one).

On microphones then I would ask where you are heading. Many modern ones (especially those aimed at podcasters, streamers and the like) will be USB and quite nice for it, most sound cards mic ports being 3.5mm and barely powered. If you are heading into even the semi professional world you will want something resembling proper XLR audio inputs which gets easier to set up at this stage while you are building out. 3.5mm mic ports these days being useful for headsets to speak your grandma on skype rather than anything real.
Some will also go the other way and put everything through a standalone mixer (pro tip there is buy standalone audio recorder that auto records everything while the mixer is powered on) and have the PC do whatever it needs to with it almost as a secondary concern.
We also have not talked about latency in this either -- USB (and especially bluetooth) potentially getting up there for it. Not so bad when laying down individual tracks, or commenting on a game/news of the day, potentially killer if you have a live band in the studio as it were or trying to play along with backing tracks or having a monitor speaker/headphones, and also stuff going out live to go along with something.

"headphone port of my screen"
? This potentially something else again if the screen is HDMI and you are taking audio from that rather than using the internal analogue audio options of the motherboard.


It sounds like you have just been thrust into the world of PC driven music production, have encountered the limits of the basic PC motherboard and are now amazed by the potential options for everything. Wonderful thing to experience but unless you are going to pay big boy money you are probably best advised to figure out what direction you want to head in. It sounds like sequenced audio and personal/instrument at a time for later production is where you are heading (as opposed to live audio, guest heavy podcasts, performance, full band capture). In engineering parlance this would be get a specification for what you want and it applies to most things -- websites, graphics design, car tuning, personal trainers... all will have stories of people that wander in mostly just wanting things to be cool and capable without a tangible end result to aim for and it being a nightmare project. Don't do it to yourself.
At the same time while "buy once, cry once" is a philosophy that works then in audio you can afford to take it a bit more easy, buy something, hit its limits and then sell it on to change up for something more, there is also the middle ground of buy something cheap and if you break it/hit its limits immediately buy something nice for that.
 

Feox

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That is a rather different question than the outset but hey. Most fun with sequenced audio these days is software mixed on the PC side of things so sound card concerns only really come into that when you want fun midi and microphone/line inputs via them and whatever concerns you have for the general quality of the DAC and such when it comes to the signal going out. That said if you kick it to hardware to mix I could certainly see a weak internal driver tank things similar to how many modern graphics cards have weak support for older formats and approaches full of bugs. Also there is more to limitations than just CPU speed -- number of cores (assuming the program can even handle it), memory, hard drive (less a problem for most audio, can be a massive problem for video if you have to try to load 16 4k streams all at once).

SD cards. That is fine if that is your workflow* and we can do things but it needed to be asked as it gets more specialist. If you get one of the cheapo USB adapters with full size SD (possibly one on each side) and microSD (and time was miniSD) then chances are there will only be the one internal handler for SD such that you can only have one in at a time. More exotic ones do exist with multiple pathways (though most will be two only), and if you are willing to make it yourself then 3 SD slots fit easily in a front panel/drive bay slot. Modern USB 3.0 ones if you have a header spare on the motherboard will probably also be able to put those three on an internal hub without suffering speed** or power issues and not see you need an excessive amount of headers on your motherboard used for this.

https://www.asus.com/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-z590-a/techspec/



*some might want the slots but are happy to lightly pull one or two cards out if they need another slot to say dump from a camera a few times a week. Multiple devices all the time/potentially needed at a moment's notice is a normal enough workflow as well.

**I say that but looking at https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Memory-Cards/ci/1097/N/4093113320 then some SD cards are quite fast indeed such that even full on USB3.2 might be troubled in the ideal scenario. USB 2.0 getting maybe 35 megabytes a second on a good day, usually more in the high 20s. Not so bad for loading up your phone SD card with a few podcasts but if you are transferring gigs and gigs of video, wave audio capture or raw photos that gets tedious.

You can also add ports via PCI express, and some of those could probably run extensions (either around the board or maybe through it), and if really fun could play with a soldering iron to make them internal. That said this motherboard looks like it only has the one slot for this which will probably be taken by a graphics card if you go that way, or a fancy sound card (assuming you don't go for a USB one).

On microphones then I would ask where you are heading. Many modern ones (especially those aimed at podcasters, streamers and the like) will be USB and quite nice for it, most sound cards mic ports being 3.5mm and barely powered. If you are heading into even the semi professional world you will want something resembling proper XLR audio inputs which gets easier to set up at this stage while you are building out. 3.5mm mic ports these days being useful for headsets to speak your grandma on skype rather than anything real.
Some will also go the other way and put everything through a standalone mixer (pro tip there is buy standalone audio recorder that auto records everything while the mixer is powered on) and have the PC do whatever it needs to with it almost as a secondary concern.
We also have not talked about latency in this either -- USB (and especially bluetooth) potentially getting up there for it. Not so bad when laying down individual tracks, or commenting on a game/news of the day, potentially killer if you have a live band in the studio as it were or trying to play along with backing tracks or having a monitor speaker/headphones, and also stuff going out live to go along with something.

"headphone port of my screen"
? This potentially something else again if the screen is HDMI and you are taking audio from that rather than using the internal analogue audio options of the motherboard.


It sounds like you have just been thrust into the world of PC driven music production, have encountered the limits of the basic PC motherboard and are now amazed by the potential options for everything. Wonderful thing to experience but unless you are going to pay big boy money you are probably best advised to figure out what direction you want to head in. It sounds like sequenced audio and personal/instrument at a time for later production is where you are heading (as opposed to live audio, guest heavy podcasts, performance, full band capture). In engineering parlance this would be get a specification for what you want and it applies to most things -- websites, graphics design, car tuning, personal trainers... all will have stories of people that wander in mostly just wanting things to be cool and capable without a tangible end result to aim for and it being a nightmare project. Don't do it to yourself.
At the same time while "buy once, cry once" is a philosophy that works then in audio you can afford to take it a bit more easy, buy something, hit its limits and then sell it on to change up for something more, there is also the middle ground of buy something cheap and if you break it/hit its limits immediately buy something nice for that.
So to answer in order:
1) With respect to the cutting of the front plate of the PC to insert ports, I was told that it was not going to hold because this kind of extension apparently cannot be placed with the supports of supports as in factory, so it wasn't going to last long so that's why I lean boxes.

2) I had bad experiences with external adapters and I don't want to go through that again

3) I already use most of the USB ports on my motherboard. 1 for the mouse, 1 for the keyboard, 1 for the Bluetooth USB, 1 for an external disk that I use regularly and 1 for a controller that malfunctions in bluetooth. Also, my brother often comes to connect 1 device or 2 on my PC so very limited that's why I would like to have a margin of 2 ports at least. So I will see for the PCIe solution and find out about it.

3) Regarding SD, what to do? I don't mind selling my case to buy a more comfortable one with regard to the ports, but if that's not possible? Yet I have already seen "pro" boxes with this kind of setups... Is it custom every time?
I don't know what to think between buying an adapter that may not last long and cutting the plate of my case to add ports without support...

4) For the microphones, I may have been stupid because I thought it was still Jack...

5) I don't understand what you mean by "Most engineers hope, think it's cool and then fall into despair"
I simply love this world and I take the time it takes to learn the field. I know it's not an easy field nor am I eager to want things too fast but all I want in this is to know that I will have a finished build the way I hear one day then continue in there.
 

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I can't recommend any computer case straight up, but I will suggest you to find an internal sound card. They plug on PCI express slot and will have you covered for your audio needs. (just beware that, if your avaliable PCIe port is too near of your GPU it may generate electrical interference on your audio, so do use a PCIe extender and mount it elsewhere).

For your SD needs, there are a lot of case mounted SD readers that plug straight on your motherboard USB socket. They are ultra cheap and many come with one or some USB ports too.

With those two modules, you may chose a computer case more freely, as most of your needs would be already secured.

hope it helps.
 
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BigOnYa

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If you have a CD/DVD drive Bay available in your PC, you can just do something like this. And if you are serious about making music, you should buy an "Audio Interface", to use with your instruments, headphone, mic, and a PC. Good luck and have fun! :grog:
Screenshot 2023-02-08 073336.png
 
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FAST6191

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So to answer in order:
1) With respect to the cutting of the front plate of the PC to insert ports, I was told that it was not going to hold because this kind of extension apparently cannot be placed with the supports of supports as in factory, so it wasn't going to last long so that's why I lean boxes.

2) I had bad experiences with external adapters and I don't want to go through that again

3) I already use most of the USB ports on my motherboard. 1 for the mouse, 1 for the keyboard, 1 for the Bluetooth USB, 1 for an external disk that I use regularly and 1 for a controller that malfunctions in bluetooth. Also, my brother often comes to connect 1 device or 2 on my PC so very limited that's why I would like to have a margin of 2 ports at least. So I will see for the PCIe solution and find out about it.

3) Regarding SD, what to do? I don't mind selling my case to buy a more comfortable one with regard to the ports, but if that's not possible? Yet I have already seen "pro" boxes with this kind of setups... Is it custom every time?
I don't know what to think between buying an adapter that may not last long and cutting the plate of my case to add ports without support...

4) For the microphones, I may have been stupid because I thought it was still Jack...

5) I don't understand what you mean by "Most engineers hope, think it's cool and then fall into despair"
I simply love this world and I take the time it takes to learn the field. I know it's not an easy field nor am I eager to want things too fast but all I want in this is to know that I will have a finished build the way I hear one day then continue in there.
1) That may be a lack of imagination and skill on the part of the one that told you that. Certainly a high end factory that can injection mould a bunch of holders into things is nice to have but people have been attaching ports to flat panels for years.
3d printers can do things in this but usually don't look very nice
CNC might be expensive for this but an option as well
Hand work would see you buying a tapered reamer/handyman's reamer/repairman's reamer (don't know the Dutch or French versions offhand I am afraid), some needle files and seeing what can be done with a blanking plate.
For the hand work side (and probably for the others) you then buy a bunch of things like https://www.datapro.net/products/panel-mount-internal-usb-sd-card-reader.html and mount them to something you drilled holes in. A casual evening project for me but I already have all the tools and skills in using them, though many a musician I know also has such things and friends with such things (repairs and adaptations to electric guitars, keyboards, speakers/amps, lighting rigs and all the rest doing much the same techniques as and when connectors get broken or need to be changed to something more suitable for the new setup they want to incorporate it into).

2) I was not suggesting you use them, more using it as an illustration of how such things work and why you would possibly need multiple things to go into it as the cases and drive bay options will be using the exact same chips, boards and whatever else to act as a reader, the main bonus for them is they don't have a weak port or lead to strain and break at the worst time, or get chucked in someone's bag to spill drink, bits of metal and dust into the nice ports.

3) Just so it is clear as well as those ports on the motherboard back there will be headers on the board itself that are normally connected to by the case to allow extras. Most cases don't use them all, and people can also use them to internalise things that might be plugged in all the time. Depending upon what you need you can also run a hub internally to increase the number of ports, though with the power (not so bad as you can tap the PC's power supply for extra) and bandwidth concerns (USB 2.0 is only ever going to max out at 35 megabytes a second transfer speed, not a problem for a basic mouse and keyboard, rather more of one if you have two external hard drives to transfer gigabytes of data with) that follow the use of hubs.

You can hope something like BigOnYa's link exists for your particular needs, though the three simultaneous SD cards is a rare requirement so I don't know you will easily find a single off the shelf option and instead are back to custom (including customising an existing thing like the one on the link) or having multiple things to achieve it (not so bad if you have a full ATX case, if you are aiming for smaller or want multiple optical drives for whatever reason then might be harder).

5) I am not sure what you are referencing. Assuming it is the later bit I was merely warning you to figure out what you want, plan that out and execute that. Working to a goal is not necessarily easy but it is a goal. If it is more ill defined then you usually end up heading in one direction when you/someone wanted something else entirely and because you did not nail it down to begin with everybody ends up unhappy, out of money and will bad feelings. I don't mind saying all my greatest failures have been when I failed to get a specification, and the same happens to anybody selling a service (I mentioned fitness trainers because I have seen it there as well and it is a radically different field to engineering/computing -- I want to be fit is rather nebulous where I want to be this weight, lift this heavy thing this many times, run this is this time... is something you can work with). At the same time you don't know what you don't know (I guess the XLR thing was a bit of a shock), which is fine and also not a particularly fun place to be in if you trying to build out either on a limited budget or get it reasonably right first time.
 
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Feox

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If you have a CD/DVD drive Bay available in your PC, you can just do something like this. And if you are serious about making music, you should buy an "Audio Interface", to use with your instruments, headphone, mic, and a PC. Good luck and have fun! :grog:
View attachment 352044
Unfortunately I don't have one :/... Otherwise yes I had thought about it...
Post automatically merged:

I can't recommend any computer case straight up, but I will suggest you to find an internal sound card. They plug on PCI express slot and will have you covered for your audio needs. (just beware that, if your avaliable PCIe port is too near of your GPU it may generate electrical interference on your audio, so do use a PCIe extender and mount it elsewhere).

For your SD needs, there are a lot of case mounted SD readers that plug straight on your motherboard USB socket. They are ultra cheap and many come with one or some USB ports too.

With those two modules, you may chose a computer case more freely, as most of your needs would be already secured.

hope it helps.
Are you talking about SD readers that plug into USB? 'Cause it's these devices that made me stumble
Post automatically merged:
 
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FAST6191

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Are you talking about SD readers that plug into USB? 'Cause it's these devices that made me stumble
At the risk of speaking for someone else then no he means the USB panels that BigOnYa linked and things like it. Every SD reader will use the same sorts of technology as found in the standalone readers, however with them not being kicked around on a desk, in a bag, hanging off USB ports and whatever they tend to last a lot longer than your typical external reader (indeed likely having to be replaced when whatever replaces SDXC gets announced).
 
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