[SOLVED] Hi there, I have a case with usb 3.0 on front panel, but the motherboard doesnt have a usb 3.0 Header...

[monkey4sale]

I only have one PCI slot available on the motherboard......so are there any PCI (NOT PCIe) cards available that will let me connect the front of case USB 3.0 Ports.....everywhere I look online all the expansion cards are only PCIe....which I dont have available. Thanks in advance!

 

[Dunlop0078]

You can get a usb 3 to usb 2 adapter. This will allow the front panel usb ports to work however they will run at usb 2 speeds.

https://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Internal-19-Pin-Adapter-G11303050-RT/dp/B00B1RM5YU

 

[BFG-9000]

There's a way to do this but it can get messy. There are plenty of 32-bit conventional PCI to USB 3.0 cards but alas, none of them come with a motherboard style 20-pin header. So you could get a two male USB 3.0 to header adapter like this

and run it back into the case through a spare slotcover opening.

Keep in mind too that anything attached to such a card is not bootable, but at least you will be able to use the front ports at about 1Gbit speed (~133MB/s max for PCI, minus about 20% overhead) which is double the speed of USB 2.0

 

[monkey4sale]

There's a way to do this but it can get messy. There are plenty of 32-bit conventional PCI to USB 3.0 cards but alas, none of them come with a motherboard style 20-pin header. So you could get a two male USB 3.0 to header adapter like this

and run it back into the case through a spare slotcover opening.

Keep in mind too that anything attached to such a card is not bootable, but at least you will be able to use the front ports at about 1Gbit speed (~133MB/s max for PCI, minus about 20% overhead) which is double the speed of USB 2.0

Now this I had not thought about....so basically plug this into the rear usb port (which disables this port obviously and run this through a case opening and then attach the female front of case connector to the male end of this cable? Hmm. Thanks very much for the suggestion, it is indeed messy though If anybody else out there has used this method and has seen it proven to work then hit me up, cause i'd like to hear from ya!

 

[BFG-9000]

Well you could always get a 4-port PCI card like this, and still have two usable USB 3.0 ports on the back in addition to the two front-panel ones.