HD audio/ac97 to USB adapter wanted

[grenzionky]

I have a motherboard without a HD audio/ac97 header, and I still want to connect the chassis front panel audio ports to the motherboard.
So after researching and looking for an adapter that fits my needs all over the internet, I found nothing... 
So what I'm asking for is a - HD audio (or ac97) male to USB (internal female or external male - I don't care which one) adapter (as the title suggests). 
I have seen this - https://www.moddiy.com/products/10%2dPin-USB{47}AC97{47}HD%2dAudio-Internal-Header-Y-Splitter-Cable-(5cm).html - but it's not what I want because (1) it's a splitter, and (2) I need to cut off the 10th pin myself, and I'd rather not do that. I just want an adapter.
Please help me out. Thanks in advance!

[samcool55]

Wall of white!

 

Anyway, the best option is probably to get a cheap soundcard that fits in a pci or pci-e slot, depending what you can fit in your motherboard.

 

Also what motherboard do you have? Afaik all motherboards for the last 10-ish years all have an on-board audio connector...

[m0k]

yeah just curious, what motherboard?

why not just get a external soundcard,

 

or use a 3.5mm extention from the rear of the pc to somewhere you can easily reach?  Since you have to plug your headphones in and out anyways the only extra step is having to replug speakers after unplugging headphones (this is what i have to do since my case front panel audio cable is broken)

[mariushm]

The signals in the HDAUDIO and AC'97 connectors are analogue (stereo output/ headphones and microphone). 

If you want to connect the front panel connectors to USB, you'd basically have to buy a USB sound card which would have a stereo out / headphones jack and a microphone jack and solder the wires from the front panel to the correct positions

 

 

So you have microphone left,  ground, microphone right , ground (you can connect the two grounds together)  and that's your stereo microphone input.

Then you have pins 5 and 6 your  audio out right + ground , and pins 9 and 10 are audio left + ground  .. you can connect the two grounds together.

 

So you could simply buy a stereo cable (male jack on both ends ) like this one and cut it in half to get your two audio jacks + cable : https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Plug-Male-Cable/dp/B000Q7RPYQ

Take out the correct pins from the front panel header and solder them to the wires you have at the ends of the audio cable you just cut, insulate with some tape..

Buy a usb sound card like this one for example : https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/

 

Though keep in mind that the quality of such usb sound cards varies a lot, the cheaper ones aren't that great and they have lousy volume control and also keep in mind the output would be independent of the default sound card, so for example if you start gaming on speakers and decide to put your headphones on, you may have to turn off the game, change the default sound card to the usb sound card, restart the game (and potentially having to change sound in game from 5.1 to stereo)

 

Now all you have to do is to connect the sound card to one of those usb headers on the motherboard , here's an example of such cable : http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-Black-30cm-1ft-USB-Internal-5-Pin-Header-to-USB-A-Female-Jack-Adapter-Cable-/321899632177?hash=item4af2b69631:g:4XAAAOSwI-BWJ476

 

If you don't want to cut your case's header you can buy an extension cable and basically cut one end of this extension cable to gain access to your wires : http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-1feet-AC97-HD-Audio-9-pin-10-pin-connector-Internal-Header-Extension-Cable-/262121939090?hash=item3d07af6092:g:m14AAOSwAuZX6oo2