SilverStone FP37 Front Bay Card Reader

Category: Multifunction Panels and Fan Controllers

Created on Saturday, 21 April 2012 16:54

Written by Steve

SilverStone's first multi-card bay reader was the FP35 - a reader that's still on the market almost five years after it's initial release. Although both readers look similar with a quick glance, the FP37 has seen a number of changes over the FP35 - including removing a few features that are no longer relevant to more modern computer systems.

The front of the FP37 has five card reader slots, a single USB 3.0 port and a couple status LED's. The original FP35 only had two card reader slots which supported a total of 30 different card types - although at least a half dozen of the supported card types would require adapters to fit in either of the two ports. The new FP37 will now natively support a wider variety of cards thanks to it's additional card slots, including the ever useful Micro SD/Micro M2 card slot. The box of the FP37 says that it supports 17 different card formats, but I noticed that it doesn't get as granular as the FP35 box did (such as breaking down every single type of Compact Flash card supported). So in reality, I'd say that both support a fairly close number of cards, minus a few card types that aren't on the market anymore since the FP35. It's worth noting that the FP37 also adds support for the latest SDXC card format.

Features dropped from the FP37 that were found on the older FP35 include a firewire port, front audio ports, eSATA port and external HDD power ports. Firewire and eSATA are outdated technologies when compared to the USB 3.0 port on the FP37 which can handle even faster transfer rates for external storage. Front audio ports are found on almost all cases nowadays - no need to double up and put them on the FP37 as well. The external HDD power ports were handy - they provided DC power to external hard drive enclosures, eliminating the need to use the included wall adapter. With the increasing capacity of self-powered 2.5" drive enclosures these days, most people are starting to use them as portable drives and keeping the bigger 3.5" drives in more permanent locations anyway.

The back side of the FP37 is much cleaner than the cable cluttered FP35 was. With the reduction of so many features off the front panel compared to the FP35, the FP37 only has a single USB 3.0 internal cable. Internal USB 3.0 cables are capable of powering two individual USB 3.0 ports - in the case of the FP37 we have one actual USB port and the second is used to power the card reader portion.

 
(Click above to see enlarged)

A sticker with some basic model information and warning/certification logos is found on the bottom side of the FP37.