Mobo Rear Panel USB 2.0 Ports In 2025

[nomdeplume]

Noticed that despite having both "blue" and "teal" USB 3 variants I've only recently started to need them. Obviously this is a singular case involving legacy 2.0 era devices that didn't like however the USB 3 spec was implemented on a particular board. It goes much further with kbm (wired) and various sporadically used pluggable devices habitually used in what are both most accessible and offer longest cord reach USB 2.0 ports located on the topmost row. There is also the issue of tranceivers overheating more easily in higher power/bandwidth ports.

Would be curious to hear others thoughts on their continued existence. Current crop of mobo about to be succeeded have a very defined split between full rank of four USB 2.0 in highest position or complete absence of them anywhere on the back panel.

 

[datnoz]

Personnaly i never used USB 3.0 and higher by choice, only because it was my only option. and only felt the need of more bandwidth when installing an os from a usb key.
I also feel a bit sad that on current mobo all the bandwidth goes to m.2 and 20gb/s ports.
Nothing left for other pcie slots or usb at reasonnable speeds.

 

[AsRock]

I like having USB 2 on the back for compatibility reasons, and use them for keyboard and mouse anyways so.

 

[Lost_Troll]

The real question is why are the still putting PS2 ports on the I/O panel of motherboards? USB2 ports I can see for USB UART and printer port cables, which USB 2 is still good for.

 

[jak_2456]

The real question is why are the still putting PS2 ports on the I/O panel of motherboards? USB2 ports I can see for USB UART and printer port cables, which USB 2 is still good for.

I personally don't think that having PS/2 ports harms anything. It's handy if you like using older peripherals. On the subject of USB 2, the overwhelming majority of keyboards, mice, printers, and other low-speed devices use it; having it can be quite useful. I think it's good to have since some peripherals misbehave with USB 3.0 or faster, too.

 

[nomdeplume]

Personnaly i never used USB 3.0 and higher by choice, only because it was my only option. and only felt the need of more bandwidth when installing an os from a usb key.
I also feel a bit sad that on current mobo all the bandwidth goes to m.2 and 20gb/s ports.
Nothing left for other pcie slots or usb at reasonnable speeds.

That is the meat of it with now increasingly mandatory inclusion of phone and tablet charging ports. USB 3, and likely USB 4 will follow, was such a mess I never bothered spending actual money on thumb drives to save entire 30 seconds out of the multiple hours required to actually install a usable copy of W11. Even a freebie 3.nothing gen drive gets the files onto a SSD fast enough to be unconcerning.

Out of the convoluted and highly artificial product and gen differentations. Devoting lanes to NVMe drives should've been hard set under mandated guidelines per balance with number of SATA present. Leave the fudging and sharing to small print on limits of filling every internal USB port. Not PCIe slots!

I personally don't think that having PS/2 ports harms anything. It's handy if you like using older peripherals.

Modern combo ports take up very little space. There are certainly classes of mobo they make a lot more sense on than others.

 

[jak_2456]

What I'd like to see with PC USB ports would be a USB-C PD port for charging your phone, handheld PC, etc. I want to keep my USB 2.0 ports, too!

 

[nomdeplume]

What I'd like to see with PC USB ports would be a USB-C PD port for charging your phone, handheld PC, etc. I want to keep my USB 2.0 ports, too!

In fact this is what I was referring to above. Trend towards mandatory inclusion on higher end boards about to enter market. Good luck finding USB 2.0 on them though.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Maybe I'm buying Mobos too far on the cheap side but it seems I've not been able to access USB3 and faster ports when booted to BIOS on at least some of my machines, while the USB 2.0 ports are always active in BIOS. That could certainly be user error though.

 

[gurusmi]

I like having USB 2 on the back for compatibility reasons, and use them for keyboard and mouse anyways so.

Me either.

Additionally I use USB2.0 for my OfficeJet and my USB-Sticks for my 3D Printers. The external drives, my DAP and DAC are using USB 3.0.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

I have a USB stick and a m.2 caddy that are USB3 so..............

 

[nomdeplume]

I have a USB stick and a m.2 caddy that are USB3 so..............

Unless you use a test bench that allows zero access to the back panel... your case probably has at least a couple USB 3.something ports immediately accessible.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Unless you use a test bench that allows zero access to the back panel... your case probably has at least a couple USB 3.something ports immediately accessible.

I have 1x USB C, 2x USB 3x and 2x USB 2x on the front(7000D) but can kinda still do a reach around if i have to

 

[Lost_Troll]

I personally don't think that having PS/2 ports harms anything. It's handy if you like using older peripherals. On the subject of USB 2, the overwhelming majority of keyboards, mice, printers, and other low-speed devices use it; having it can be quite useful. I think it's good to have since some peripherals misbehave with USB 3.0 or faster, too.

True, but I do have a few of these floating around for just such case.