Area-51 R2 Case + R3-R7 Motherboard / Swap Cables Needed

For various good reasons, those who own the Area-51 R2 case may want to "upgrade" to the R3 - R7 motherboard. And while it should be (& mostly is) the simple procedure of "dropping the new motherboard in" & making the "same old connections", there is this "small" problem that the R3 - R7 motherboards have a "revised", smaller, 2mm pitch, Front Panel & USB2.0 "header", unlike anything else on the market, & you will need to purchase a pair of specialty adaptor cables as the result

Like all normal ones out there, your old R2 motherboard has industry standard "headers / cable connectors" that are a 2.54mm pitch 2x5 / 5x5 Dupont 10pin

R3 - R7 are a revised, smaller, 2mm pitch 2x5 / 5x5 10pin

Yes. I said it twice. It's a smaller 2mm pitch, & your R2 Front Panel & USB2.0 cable-connectors can not plug directly into these new, smaller headers & so you need to purchase a 2.54mm to 2mm male-pinned adaptor of a correct length, likely 8" / 20cm or longer

The 2.54mm male-pin ends will insert into your factory FP + USB cable-connectors, ACT AS A NEEDED EXTENSION, & the 2mm ends will insert into the R3 - R7 motherboard FP + USB headers & be the correct fit

"Where & from whom & what size-length to purchase" isn't obvious

(Note: I no longer own an R2 case & do not remember what suitable length is needed, I suspect 8" 20cm minimum -or longer- should work)

Here? I own five, x5, of the R5 Intel x299 N4R4N motherboards in question & I'm more than quite familiar with what they need (been there done that). Two of them have been swapped into my Area-51 R1s, seen here in the forum before, & three are "spares". My R1s easily get by on a 4" adaptor. And while I may not remember what length to buy for the R2 case, I do indeed know exactly what to buy when swapping in the R3 - R7 motherboards: a pair of 2mm to 2.54mm male pin extension adaptors

• Front Panel adaptor (extension) is needed for Power On-Off
• USB2.0 adaptor (extension) is needed for the R2 AlienFX FIO LED board
• Below, 4" (or less) is the suggested length for the R1, while a longer length must be purchased for the R2 (8"-12" / 20-30cm)(?)

Above: a factory correct view of what is up & what is down

Made By MSI for Alienware, it's a classic USB Pinout / Design

It's also a dassic MSI Front Panel Pinout

(Red & Ylw 6/8 = Power On-Off)

And while these adaptors do not seem to have an "industry standard name" for what they are, you can try a google search based on some "names" I found along the way (see pic), but --> 2mm to 2.54mm adaptor <-- is a good start (try an image search) 

The details above were simple advice before you buy & try these adaptors u need

The details below are my way of trying to help you prevent user error, once you connect your adaptor to your R2 USB & FP cable-connectors. I am duty-bound to help prevent you from having a "wiring accident" with this type motherboard ... 

___________________

So. Minding my own business, I wind up online & see an R2 owner wanting to know "what adaptor to buy for the (R3 R6 R7) Threadripper board with its strange white 2x5 headers". Hmph. It was all so simple earlier above, until I realized there is no simple way to explain the hazard of interacting with these odd-ball headers in a world where:

• these 2x5 white headers have no labels, no schematics, "no user guide"
• "after-market" adaptors may be all black, may have no "up or down"
• R2 cables & pinouts aren't exactly easy to explain
• most PC users have no clue what a header or a pinout even is
• what happens when u wish to explain how to connect a non-descript R2 cable to a non-descript adaptor into a non-descript header to someone who likely never even did a motherboard swap before? 

Majik Smoke

That's What

But what happens to my reputation if I don't warn the person 1st?

Below is a caution, for after you buy & decide adaptors to try, done at your own risk

It was penned to protect my reputation (& protect your hardware, in that order)

______________________

*** Caution: Use the Adaptors At Your Own Risk ***

AKA: A Long Talk On Making Sure You Don't Connect Upside Down

See Pic Above: a factory correct view of what is up & what is down

Unfortunately, it is Dellware themself that induced a risk of improper insertion of Front Panel & USB cables into these "odd" 2mm 2x5 headers, even when using the factory white cable-connectors them self (as seen in several pics). Even as an original R3-R7 owner-buyer, even me myself here?, there was & is no "guide" nor warning on what is the correct & only way to insert / reinsert your factory white connector if it was backed out for any reason ... other than there is a "black ink dot" on the bottom of it (its meaning unknown to basic user-owners, but likely put there for factory workers as a guide) ...

Great. So what if u do not own a factory 2x5 like above? And do not know what is up or down (or u do own a factory white connector & did not see the black dot, or did see it but "ephemeral black ink dots" have no meaning in the PC industry at large)

Cool. Had I bought a brand new R6 I wouldn't readily know up from down, so, what is an R2 owner to make of these headers once the raw x299 / TR4 motherboard arrives? Thank goodness for forums that host pictures ... ... ... we DO have factory pictures to go by & so a pinout to reference of these odd headers

1) You, the R2 owner reading this, will purchase the 2mm 2.54mm adaptors

2) Plug the 2.54mm male-pin ends into your factory R2 *Front Panel & USB cable-connectors

• the R2 *Front Panel connector needs a hole poked into it 1st to work
• the slot to poke the hole is in the top row, labeled X (photo below)
• (the reason for new hole is, you'll be using a USB cable as a front panel, it will only work out after the hole you've poked, so the #10 male pin fits in lol)

3) Your factory R2 USB cable-connector has x5 wires in the top row, x4 bottom + empty

4) Now that your adaptor is mated to your factory USB cable-connector, YOU MUST insert the smaller 2mm end correctly into the R3 - R7 white 2x5 header

• 5 wires in top row 
• 4 wires bottom row + empty (X) (photo below)
• USB1 (right) is a factory cable & pinout = x5 top, x4 bottom + empty (X)
• USB2 (left) = how YOU encounter yours = empty, waiting for your 2mm 2x5 

At the 2mm end, 9-wire 9pins are easy to know up from down

In an all-black 2mm 10-wire 10pin ... what is up, what is down?

-->TRACE YOUR WIRES<--

-Insert Correctly-

-PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK-

_____________________

*Sigh*

A person would like to think that when swapping an R3 - R7 motherboard into an (R1) R2 case -which only needs a matching pair of 8" - 12" male-pin adaptors to pull off that swap- that life would be that simple ... it should just drop in place & connect to it ...

But. Because -at least in my eyes- a design defect exists in these odd 2mm pitch 2x5 headers, where even the original owner-buyers can't READILY know up from down? Well. Said another way, no mechanism was put in place to prevent simple user error, like a pin-stop / pin-block in the connector we always see in the 2.54mm types (like the one u will poke a hole through, lol)

The point is this: the 2x5 header & connector pair have no preventative feature (that we normally see) & thus the 2x5 - after it left the factory & fell into consumer or even technical hands (local shop) - can accidentally of course be inserted upside down & if it is?

• short-circuit = pop = smoke = loss of USB function

I hate to be the one saying all this, but as one who owns this same motherboard in question, it simply has one glaring & fatal design flaw: nothing to prepare you for or prevent you from simple user error if or when inserting the stupid USB connector upside down ... ... ... yikes