Advertisement:

Free VOIP, Free Long Distance! Only in Canada! 

Shopbot.com.au
Canon 450D, Canon, Canon G10, Canon 50D, Nikon D90, Canon 1000D, Nokia E71, iPod Nano, Wii, Msi Wind, Blackberry Bold, Mobile Phones, Digital Cameras, Laptops, Digital Frames, Mobile plans, MacBook

 



Features:
The FP35B itself is an enclosed unit with a steel casing covering all sides. All the cables used to interface with your motherboard simply come out the back through a cut-out in the steel. I would have liked to have seen these cables use a modular design, that way if I'm not using one or my motherboard doesn't support one then I can remove it entirely for a nicer looking installation (always nice in smaller cases).



 
(Click cable ends to see enlarged)
 

The front faceplate is interchangeable with both black and silver options included. The card reader portion is taken care of with only two slots yet still has the ability to read a whopping 29 types of cards. I'd like to point out that SDHC cards are supported by the FP35B - I still see many new card readers that have yet to show support for this format. The card reader is powered through the USB connection to the motherboard which allows two ports to be powered from it - the second being an actual USB port on the FP35B which falls in the upper left corner. Below the USB port is one six-pin firewire 400 port. Headset and mic ports are also found as two of the many I/O ports; these are located below the card reader slots. Lastly, you'll find an E-SATA port in the upper right corner and two unique looking +12V and +5V ports below that.

The +12V and +5V ports are part of a rather interesting feature this device has - the ability to power your external hard drive enclosures without using the AC power brick that came with them. Included in the box and pictured below is a power break-out cable which has three of the most common power connectors on it; MIN4P, MIN6P and a regular +12V 6.4mm connector.

Installation:
Installation of the FP35B is a fairly straightforward process that can easily be done by anyone moderately comfortable with the insides of their computer. Unless you have a well labeled motherboard I also suggest keeping your motherboard manual handy because you will need to reference some of the plugs. All there really is for installation once you have the unit mounted and power connected is to connect all the front I/O ports with their appropriate headers on the motherboard. This includes USB, firewire, audio and SATA. Both firewire and audio connection ends have both a one-piece header as well as individual pin connectors because some motherboards will use non-standard pin layouts (refer to the motherboard manual to confirm this wiring).

Testing:
Due to the nature of this type of product there really is no extensive testing I can do on it. It read my camera memory cards, ran my USB/firewire peripherals and the audio ports worked without issue - I don't think there's much more I can say.

3
 


Advertisement:


 
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owners.
Everything else Copyright © 2004-2008 www.dreamwarecomputers.com. All rights reserved.