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A crazy thought on PCI slots

post #1 of 11
2/6/03 at 8:26pm
Thread Starter 
The recent thread on case design made me think about the issue of front mounted USB/Firewire ports.

Would there be any benefit to a single PCI slot facing forward, hidden behind a door of some kind?

I'm thinking that for pros it might be handy to have, for instance, a specialized sound card with I/O ports that are easily accessible.
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post #2 of 11
2/6/03 at 8:34pm
Apple is driven by design, followed by usability. If it looked beautiful they would have ports up front and PCI slots readily accessible.
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post #3 of 11
2/6/03 at 9:13pm
[quote]Originally posted by japh:
<strong>The recent thread on case design made me think about the issue of front mounted USB/Firewire ports.

Would there be any benefit to a single PCI slot facing forward, hidden behind a door of some kind?

I'm thinking that for pros it might be handy to have, for instance, a specialized sound card with I/O ports that are easily accessible.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Why not just turn your case around, then you have 4 PCI slots, etehrnet, firewire, usb, everyting right there in front

No, but seriously I doubt they would make a front mounting PCI slot. I think they would all have to be on the front then (can you have PCI slots at different places on teh motherboard)?
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post #4 of 11
2/6/03 at 10:13pm
[quote]Originally posted by kupan787:
<strong>

Why not just turn your case around, then you have 4 PCI slots, etehrnet, firewire, usb, everyting right there in front

No, but seriously I doubt they would make a front mounting PCI slot. I think they would all have to be on the front then (can you have PCI slots at different places on teh motherboard)?</strong><hr></blockquote>

sure you can, the xserve does. But it makes it a pain to build the motherboard that way and have everything layout correctly.

Why exactly would you want a front mounted PCI card? define a specific application...
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post #5 of 11
2/7/03 at 5:10am
[quote]Originally posted by M3D Jack:
<strong>Why exactly would you want a front mounted PCI card? define a specific application...</strong><hr></blockquote>

I guess what he's going for is: offloading pictures from a digital camera through USB. Adjusting the iPod's music library, connecting an (travelling) external firewire harddrive. All things that require a USB/Firewire cable to be attached to the computer for a limited amount of time, and then are better detached.
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post #6 of 11
2/7/03 at 5:17am
You can have front mounted ports without a forward facing PCI card. There really is no compelling argument for forward facing PCI cards.
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post #7 of 11
2/7/03 at 5:32am
Even PC makers have thought forward facing PCI was too butt ugly. But now that the PowerMacs have 2 optical drive bays - what is there stopping you from using one of those creative sound 'drives' ie their IO ports in a unit that goes in a drive bay?

David
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post #8 of 11
2/7/03 at 6:53am
the pro keyboard has a usb port for a camera

professionals don't mess with their systems too much so once they have it hooked up they are normally good and dont need...and many times want...to be back behind their system

firewire drives shouldn't need connecting and disconnecting THAT often, this is the only viable point i see, and it can be easily solved by having a firewire cord connected and ready to each computer so u only have to move the drive
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post #9 of 11
2/7/03 at 8:12am
[quote]Originally posted by iMacfan:
<strong>Even PC makers have thought forward facing PCI was too butt ugly. But now that the PowerMacs have 2 optical drive bays - what is there stopping you from using one of those creative sound 'drives' ie their IO ports in a unit that goes in a drive bay?

David</strong><hr></blockquote>

You are right , in the PC world you have some of these stuff ; a PCI card connected to a unit in the front 51/4 bay. But at the difference of the PC , Apple is not very big with front 5 1/4 bay. It will be a waste to lose one of the two front bay for these purpose.
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post #10 of 11
2/7/03 at 8:53am
I don't think a PCI card in front is the answer, <a href="http://www.koutech.com/proddetail.asp?linenumber=102" target="_blank">this</a> is how it should work. Works for me, at least.
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post #11 of 11
2/7/03 at 9:18am
Thread Starter 
[quote]Originally posted by M3D Jack:
<strong>

sure you can, the xserve does. But it makes it a pain to build the motherboard that way and have everything layout correctly.

Why exactly would you want a front mounted PCI card? define a specific application...</strong><hr></blockquote>

The same application people wat front-mounted USB and Firewire ports for. Convenience. A front-facing PCI slot would simply offer flexibility and convenience.

Front-mounted FW would be great for quickly hooking up a digital video camera. A front PCI slot would be great for being able to quickly hook up an analog camera.
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