MOBO into CASE questions?

[kevin07]

Hello, I have my MOBO attatched to the case etc but I have a few questions:

CASE - CORASIR 400R
MOBO - ASROCK Z77 EXTREME 4

The mobo has a slot that says USB 3.0 header, I assumed I plug the USB wire into there as the case has USB 3.0 but I still have the USB 3.0 to 2.0 adapter, will I not need this?

on the SATA connectors it has a sticker on top of three of the slots saying "For better performance and short boot up time we suggest you connect the HDD on SATA port 0-5 as boot device" which port is this as the manual says the two SATA3 GRAY ones are named SATA3_A0_A1 GRAY and SATA3_0_1 GRAY, the other two are SATA 2 and black so assume i dont use them. So which sata port do I connect the HDD to?

 

[geofelt]

Some older motherboards do not have an internal usb3.0 header.
The adapter is to be able to attach your usb3.0 front panel ports to a usb 2.0 header if necessary.

A HDD can be attached to any port without any performance impact.
Ports 0-5 come from the Z77 chip and should be used for the boot device. Use any one of them.
The grey ports are sata 3 which is faster, and should be used if you have a ssd for the os(which I highly recommend)

The motherboard has added sata 6gb ports which will be supported by probably a separate Marvell chip.
If you do not need them, you can deactivate them in the bios and save a bit of power on initialization time.

 

[kevin07]

OK, so would it be best for me to put the HDD and the optical drive in the SATA3_0_1 connector which is also a grey port, I do not have an SSD?

 

[kevin07]

am I also right in saying I connect the rear case fan to the connector on the mobo named chassis fan connector 2 (CHA_FAN2) as the chassis fan connector 1 is 4 pin not 3?

 

[bigcyco1]

+1 to what geofelt mentioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea_bs5G1yYUThis might help with your overall build

 

[geofelt]

am I also right in saying I connect the rear case fan to the connector on the mobo named chassis fan connector 2 (CHA_FAN2) as the chassis fan connector 1 is 4 pin not 3?

there are 2 types of 4 pin connectors.
The psu will have largish 4 pin connectors. Usually black or white in color.
If it matches your rear fan connector, then plug it in there.

The other type is a smaller PWM connector, always white, that can adjust fan speeds with pulse width modulation. It is usually used with the stock Intel cpu cooler.
If your fan connector is a 4 pin pwm type connector, you can use that. Or, more likely, it is a 3 pin connector which can still be used to plug into the motherboard 4 pin pwm connector.

Sometimes, fans come with both 4 pin molex and a three pin connector. You could then use either.

One advantage of the smaller 3 and 4 pin connectors is that they have speed sensing capabilities.