Intel DZ77GA-70K yellow USB 2.0 high current header.

[rs4847]

Hi guys,

This board is forming the basis of my new build however I have a question about the yellow high current USB 2.0 header.

Would it be safe to connect a front panel USB header cable or Antec Kühler 920 USB header cable to it?

The online motherboard documentation is clear as mud, linky.

I wouldn't want to smoke a cable and connector if you know what I mean.

Thanks.

[SteadfastJohn]

Hi rs4847

The yellow (looks yellow to me but is referred to as orange in the linked pdf specification document) USB 2.0 outputs are capable of providing enhanced power to any connected USB device; for example a USB back-up drive (without the need to plug it in to a separate power brick) or for connecting your smart phone and charging it up more quickly at the same time as interfacing your PC to it. So I can see no reason why you should not extend the USB 2.0 connector (orange high current charging) out to your front panel in the same way as you would with the standard USB 2.0.

In fact I would favour this over the standard USB 2.0 and I would suggest you may wish to consider taking USB 3.0 out to the front, this is enhanced power by default and can still support USB 2.0 devices albeit at slower USB 2.0 speeds.

Hope this helps

John

[rs4847]

Thanks for the reply, my main concern would be devices drawing more amperage than the relativity thin internal cabling for the front panel USB 2.0 connectors could handle. Bit of a non-issue now as I went for a Corsair H80 (no USB header) instead as the Antec Kühler 920 was not available at the time, so I have both front panel USB 2.0 connectors connected to the standard motherboard headers for now.

I believe the yellow/orange ports support the charging downstream specification 1.1 which can output up to 1.5 amps per port, yes it's low but still three times the 0.5 amps of a standard USB 2.0 port.