Two questions: 1) Lian-Li PC601 2) Front Fire-wire

[WW2Planes1]

Can anyone tell me what that huge black connector (looks like a DB 44 or something) is inside this pic of the Lian-Li case, and what purpose it serves?

Also, as a general poll: how important would you say front fire-wire is?
I'm just interested in how important other people considered it when choosing which case to buy?

 

[Nebor]

Firewire is very important.... for Macs. We don't need it for PCs. I don't have a single firewire device.

 

[StorminNorm]

I am in the process of building a new rig. I'm looking for a good deal on a quality case.
The toss up is if you want all the connectors in the front of the case or in the back (on the motherboard). You have to ask yourself, how often would you plug a device into the usb & firewire connectors?

I want to hopefully do some video editing with my machine -- going from a Sony Digital 8mm video to DVD via firewire. For the amount of times I would do this I could hook up the camera in the back OR in the front of the case. Knowing my habits I would simply leave the firewire cable in the back of the computer, hooking up the camera when I had to dowload video (not THAT often). So I can live with a case with firewire in the rear (on motherboard).

If I buy a case with the connector in front, it would force me to put the cable away and keep the room cleaner...not a bad option and I'm sick of cables!

 

[wallsfd949]

Originally posted by: Nebor
Firewire is very important.... for Macs. We don't need it for PCs. I don't have a single firewire device.

I disagree.

Any video editor will use a firewire connection for his DV camera. Firewire has a faster throughput that USB 2.0. Though it appears that USB would be faster (480 vs. 400), firewire has always proven faster in my case and here are some tests that support my statement
Link .
If you do any digital video or intend to use an external hard drive, firewire is the best option. I use PC exclusively and all my high speed devices are firewire.
You may consider the 1394b (aka Firewire 800). This promises to be significantly faster than 1394a (firewire 400), which is already faster than USB 2.0, and a 1394b card is backward compatable with 1394a.

To answer your question about the huge plug:
newegg link pics = 1-8 (Left - Right)

You can see a very thick cable in pic1 that runs from the bottom front of the case to bottom rear of the case.
You can see an interface in pic7 at the bottom of the case for the "huge plug"
If you look closely at pic3, the "huge plug" has connectors for the Male ends of all the front mounted devices.

The "huge plug" plugs into the bottom rear of the case and the pigtails plug into each individual device on the rear of the case, routing them to the front of the case where you plug your stuff in.

Quite a lot of expense and effort for some things that I don't want plugged into the front anyway (PS2 ports, speakers)

-fireman