Modernize & Standardize Back Panel Ports

[mswarts]

Anybody who buys motherboards for existing cases knows how frustrating it is that there is no standard for the arrangement of ports. Old cases, cheap cases, some new cases, and even some leading manufacturers' cases have the back panel arrangement "built-in" to the case, not a modular lid that can be swapped with the purchase of a new motherboard. Some companies build their cases to ensure you have to go through them to replace the motherboard at a jacked up price. Other companies do it because it is cheaper.

Even worse, I feel like it's 1990, because most if not all new motherboards are shipped with a serial port and a parallel port. Of course, the catchy "keyboard and mouse" ports (PS/2) still camp out on most modern motherboards. What a joke! Almost all retail keyboards and mice use the USB interface, and dumb users end up telling technicians that their new keyboard/mouse won't fit in their keyboard or mouse ports. (Believe me, this happens).

There needs to be a new standard using new technology. I've prepared a mockup of a common (but not standard) back panel, and my proposed standard. Let me know what you think, and make recommendations/modifications as you like them.

Edit: My proposal is the top one. The bottom one is a common arrangement.

Edited October 5, 2005 by mswarts

[jamend]

I think you're exaggerating the problem. As a service technician, I've never encountered a case with a fixed backplate. I think it's only a minor annoyance, and then only in situations where a backplate is lost or missing. It's hardly worth trying to force motherboard manufacturers to make a standard backplate, and it would probably create more problems than it would fix. Your mockup already lacks support for connectors that are common, including optical/coax SPDIF, dual ethernet, multichannel sound. Who knows what it will be missing in the future (although Firewire B and SATA would be good guesses). A standard backplate will just create a whole lot of expansion slot headers to accomadate other features, and in the end you'll have an even bigger mess to worry about.

[JK1150]

Yea, you just replace the back panel, and who wants onboard video? I'd never buy a motherboard with onboard video. The back panels are different because different motherboards have different features, that's all. There is a standard that you are missing. PS/2s stay on the left, USB touches the bottom, parallel is to the right of the PS/2. They try to keep some standard, but not all motherboards will be made with the same features, then what would be the fun? Why not just buy a Dell everytime instead of building your own computer?

[trance]

Oh, and I NEVER want to see the serial port go. It is the only way to reliably kernel debug. I will never buy a system without a serial port.

[mswarts]

Ok. You've all gone mad.

Cephas, the fixed backplate problem is common. About 1 in 3 cases I work on seem to have this. Maybe you don't work enough repair jobs? Then again, I'm not working on cutting edge barebone PCs here. I'm talking about crappy old machines that have their motherboards go out. Gateway is one manufacturer that *definitely* does this, so to say it is uncommon is pretty silly. The ports you speak of are not standard motherboard features (except SATA, which isn't a port that will ever be found here... that suggestion blows my mind). Multichannel sound, for instance is a sound card's job. It's too confusing to stamp on every mobo. The following sentence makes no sense to me: "A standard backplate will just create a whole lot of expansion slot headers to accomadate other features, and in the end you'll have an even bigger mess to worry about." Maybe explain the problem in more detail.

JK1150, good point - onboard video isn't great. Devestates me to tell you the truth. Why did I include it? Because the "standard" arrangement should be fully functional. It cannot count on having a video card. Then you propose the following question: "Why not just buy a Dell every time?" Pretty amazing that Dell has *any* fanboys left. When they stopped buying quality parts alltogether, increased their prices, and shipped their customer service overseas, I thought that killed them. Perhaps I was wrong. To be fair, I've had 2 Dell computers, and the PC wasn't terrible. Dell laptops are a joke, but as far as building PCs goes, a low-end Dell isn't the worst possible choice. Though, I can build them anywhere from $100 to $2000 cheaper (yes, their gaming computers are really that overpriced), and have amazing things like 2GB RAM!! Wow - just think about having 1/4 the RAM Mac G5s can have! Dell doesn't offer that much, how silly. Dell makes toddler toys, not computers! :-P

trance, hmm... ok? I'll just take your word for it since I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about! In any case, it isn't as if the old style motherboards will up and vanish! How else would I make money? Replacing low-quality motherboards pays the bills! I love companies like Dell and Gateway for that very reason, but can't they agree on a standard motherboard (port arrangement)?

Now that I've just started a war with all of you, I'm going to concede a few things. First, none of you are wrong/ignorant/stupid in my oppinion. We just disagree. Also, my suggestion was very basic and rudimentary (notice how USB ports dominate), and I was in search of good ideas/revisions. And finally, JK1150, I don't mean it about you being a fanboy, but honestly, you've got to know that Dell is one of the worst PC manufacturers out there today. They're what I call a "has been", because they were once good machines, but now they are poor machines with abysmal service and engineering.

[jamend]

I fix a lot of computers, but most of them are "white box" or custom-built. Since you seem to be talking about big OEM computers, the implementation of a standardized backplate wouldn't solve any problems anyways. Those OEMs don't even follow basic ATX standards (ex. removable backplates) to begin with, so don't expect them to follow any new ones. Also, in case you didn't know, SATA is hot swappable, and newer high end motherboards already have external SATA connectors. As for onboard multichannel sound, even the cheapest motherboards tend to have ALC650 chips or better (although some of them just use reassignable audio plugs so that mic/line in can function as centre/subwoofer and rear). Here's what I meant with my last sentence:

[mswarts]

About big OEMs not using the standard: Very true. I hate the slight differences that cause to many times spend $20 more for the same motherboard with the "right" port arrangement, and so I thought I'd rant a bit. The one consolation prize of this meaningless topic... I didn't know about hot swappable SATA. I'm going to have to learn more about it. But anyway, the remaining point of this thread, then, is my criticism of current day motherboards being shipped with pathetic technology like serial, parallel, and PS/2.

[Rob Veteran]

  mswarts said:

The following sentence makes no sense to me:  "A standard backplate will just create a whole lot of expansion slot headers to accomadate other features, and in the end you'll have an even bigger mess to worry about."  Maybe explain the problem in more detail.

586626487[/snapback]

I think what he was referring to is that with any "standard" you have to have room for expansion, or it becomes worthless in 3 months. Therefore a "standard" backplate would never actually be a standard because it would just have room future expansion built-in, i.e. some motherboards don't have inbuilt sound or video therefore there'd be gaps there. Others have inbuilt wifi, where would you put that?

Creating a standard without "expansion slot headers" as he put it, i.e. room for customising it, is pointless... it doesn't allow motherboard manufacturers to put in any compelling new features. However having room for custom connectors also defeats your purpose which is to wholly standardise the layout. See the problem?

[wissam]

They won’t ever make a universal mobo back panel since the last thing that manufactures took in consideration is the arrangement of back panel stuff. Because what they will do is to ship with the MB a small junk piece that will fix many problems for them.