So I just got this firewire card...

Nickface · Post by **Nickface** » December 15th, 2005, 0:46

It has an internal Firewire plug, which clearly means I have one of two options: find a way to put it in the front of my case, or find something to hook it up to. What sort of internally based firewire devices are out there for the later?

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 15th, 2005, 1:05

errr ... boobies?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 15th, 2005, 1:09

some front panels do just have a firewire plug in the case for such use, i expect some 5 1/4" drive bay doohdads do too.

in short: useless

Post by **deject** » December 15th, 2005, 2:18

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:some front panels do just have a firewire plug in the case for such use, i expect some 5 1/4" drive bay doohdads do too.

in short: useless

This is the correct answer.

Nickface · Post by **Nickface** » December 15th, 2005, 2:27

Damn. I guess I'll have put some sort of hole somewhere in my front panel for it then.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » December 15th, 2005, 9:42

That would very useful for my case as the front panel connector is a full size firewire plug, i've got a cable running from the rear socket through an empty PCI slot window to the insides.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 15th, 2005, 9:46

mrbobbins wrote:That would very useful for my case as the front panel connector is a full size firewire plug, i've got a cable running from the rear socket through an empty PCI slot window to the insides.

consider a nice soundcard, they generally have an infernal firewhore.

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » December 15th, 2005, 18:50

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:
mrbobbins wrote:That would very useful for my case as the front panel connector is a full size firewire plug, i've got a cable running from the rear socket through an empty PCI slot window to the insides.
consider a nice soundcard, they generally have an infernal firewhore.

Or if you're considering a more general upgrade, nearly all new(ish) motherboards will have a few firewire plugs. My MSI (Socket A KT6?) has 3, one for the front panel, and a little firewire bracket for the back too. Its quite purty.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » December 16th, 2005, 8:49

Everyone always smiles with glee about having a firewire port, but what are they actually used for.

I work with computers every day, and I have yet to come across a single device or person that uses it?

Is it mainly for video editing?

Post by **Joose** » December 16th, 2005, 9:07

Yeah, largely video editing. Though you can get storage devices and suchlike that uses firewire too.

From what I can tell, its pretty similar to USB, but it used to be a shitload faster (USB 1.1 having a max transfer speed of 12Mb/s as opposed to firewires 400Mb/s). Of course, USB 2 has a max transfer of 480Mb/s, so im not sure why more things that were traditionally using firewire dont now use USB2.

It'll all change again with the next version of firewire, which apparently has speeds around 800Mb/s.

Post by **ProfHawking** » December 16th, 2005, 10:17

although USB2 is 480, that is only its burst transfer rate, it cannot sustain it.
Therefore for lots of small files like music & documents, usb is better than firewire.
However, for videos etc, firewire is your friend. My removable hard drive caddy does both, and firewire is noticably quicker for big moves.

Firewire800 is already around i think? but not much uses it. i'd imagine that computers cant keep up with that transfer rate anyway!

Post by **deject** » December 16th, 2005, 10:22

also, Firewire is peer-to-peer, whereas USB is more of a Server/Client relationship. This makes Firewire more suited for applications not involving computers.

Nickface · Post by **Nickface** » December 16th, 2005, 14:25

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote:Is it mainly for video editing?

That's what I got the card for.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 16th, 2005, 14:30

Woo Elephant Yeah wrote:Everyone always smiles with glee about having a firewire port, but what are they actually used for.

I work with computers every day, and I have yet to come across a single device or person that uses it?

Is it mainly for video editing?

I use it to connect my Sony laptop to my Dad's Sony digital camcorder, but not much else.

I have an external disk which does USB2 and Firewire, but (apart from being minutely faster) the supplied USB cable is a slightly nicer colour than the supplied Firewire one.

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » December 16th, 2005, 18:08

deject wrote:also, Firewire is peer-to-peer, whereas USB is more of a Server/Client relationship. This makes Firewire more suited for applications not involving computers.

This

ProfHawking wrote:although USB2 is 480, that is only its burst transfer rate, it cannot sustain it.

And This.