Please help me help my friend

Living-Dead-Child

Thanks for your help one year ago. Now my friend is wanting to build a computer. Money is kind of a problem. Here is what we come up with so far:


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-135-152&depa=1

Says - 2 USB 2.0 header support additional 4 USB
Ports. The pic shows 4 USB ports. What am I not
understanding?

Also, the Realtek ALC655 6-Channel Codec is not 5.1 is it? What is 6-channel codec?


http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=22-152-011&DEPA=1



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-122&depa=1



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-171&depa=1



http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-142-009&DEPA=1



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-934&depa=0


Thanks

madmat

It means that the board supports 8 USB 2.0 ports, it has 4 on the rear panel and has headers (no, not the kind you bolt on a small block chevy) to connect 4 more to if your case has USB ports on the front or top as is the case with...certain, er...cases.
Anyways, 6.0 audio codec is simply a fancier way of saying the onboard audio supports 5.1 surround computer speakers.
I hope that clarifies things a bit, I'd like to look at all the rest of the items you linked to but since I'm on dialup waiting for those links to open could very well take me another half hour.

Tex

I'll deal with your usb question. You have four usb on the back panel your seeing AND two usb headers on the board that can be used with either front usb jacks on a case or with two port usb addins connectors. So you have a possible total of EIGHT usb connectors. But they probably don't include the extra connectors for the additional headers. the headers are little onboard plugs with 8 or 10 pins that allow you to add in more USB connectors.

verify the four back ports are usb 2.0. Sometimes they give you some of both so its possible the back ones are usb1.1 but I bet they are 2.0. Go download the manual and check it. If money is a problem why are getting a P4 instead of a AMD setup?

Tex

MediaMan

madmat wrote:

Anyways, 6.0 audio codec is simply a fancier way of saying the onboard audio supports 5.1 surround computer speakers.

Just to be perfectly clear 6-channel sound means there exists the ability to feed six different signals.

Front Right
Front Left
Right Rear
Left Rear
LFE (sub)
Centre

It does not mean that you get 5.1 surround automatically with a DVD movie, for example, you will still need the software player to provide the decoding...but this is pretty common in DVD player software

It's the same thinking for 2-channel, 4-channel, 8-channel. Think of it as x number of separate pipes.

madmat

MediaMan wrote:

Just to be perfectly clear 6-channel sound means there exists the ability to feed six different signals.

Front Right
Front Left
Right Rear
Left Rear
LFE (sub)
Centre

It does not mean that you get 5.1 surround automatically with a DVD movie, for example, you will still need the software player to provide the decoding...but this is pretty common in DVD player software

It's the same thinking for 2-channel, 4-channel, 8-channel. Think of it as x number of separate pipes.

I never said anything about 5.1 surround for DVD's, I said 5.1 surround computer speakers which are as you describe them, six discrete audio streams. The designator 5.1 means that there are 5 full range speakers which are all able to be identified aurally due to the ability to play frequencies above 100hz (again, yes front rt, front lt, rear rt, rear lt and front center) and a sixth sub-woofer channel which is termed .1 due to it's being able to supply bass information for any of the other 5 speakers which without frequencies above 100hz will appear to come from the satellite full-range speaker thanks to our inability to properly locate frequencies below 100hz.
Tex, thanks for the further clarification. Too bad the ECS board doesn't come with a bundled in rear add-on header.

MediaMan

No offence intended MadMat. I was enhancing your description by overstating the obvious. Many users can be a bit confused why 5.1 is used in some descriptions and 6-channel is used in others.

Not you of course.

madmat

None taken....I was just a bit confused but I tend to stay that way. I had just mentioned the 5.1 surround speaker compatability to make things easier for someone that's new at this to say "Ah, I can use those with my system" when looking at a set in someplace like Staples or Comp USA or online....I'm guilty of being overly simplistic.

Straight_Man

As to headers(that means pin-sockets on motherboards) and root hubs that have hardwired socket ports also, I have run into some boards that can use one or more headers INSTEAD of the builtin sockets and not always in addition to them.

Look in your manual for jumpers on socket pins or elsewhere on board that enable or disable one or more pairs of ports on motherboard for USB also. Cheaper boards can have one header used either\or so you might be limited to 6 ports active at any one time with a less expensive motherboard. I have run into this on ECS and MSI boards. lso see how many physical root hub USB controllers you have and see if Firewire and USB are run from one controller. I have seen boards that let you use less for USB if you use Firewire actively, also.

8 Ports might be a theoretical number for the board you are thinking of buying, that is not achievable in reality. I have seen boards with two physical SERIAL bus controllers (not COM 9-pin serial, talking Firewire and USB still) which will let you have the following:

2 Firewire and 6 USB ports active at once max, OR 8 USB only ports active max. And have seen some where you get loss of two ports on back to get two active on front. The value is partly in the fine details.

KINGPIN

this mobo has 6 usb but two of usb's which r usb 2.0 r given on a seprate strip that can be mounted on back panel of casing.