List of Mini-ITX/DTX motherboards with a Key A header (for front panel USB C)

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
This is a list of known boards with a 20 pin Key A (AKA Type E) motherboard header, required for the new front panel Type C port in the M1 V6. The header is visible on several of these boards either in the very top left corner, or along the front edge near the 24 pin ATX connector. If there are any I've missed, please let me know. I'll try to keep this updated as new models come out.


AMD motherboards

  • ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax

  • ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming

  • ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact (Mini-DTX)

  • MSI MPG B550I GAMING EDGE WIFI


Intel motherboards





Adapters

A few adapters exist to add a 20 pin Key A header to boards that lack one:

Delock M.2 to 20 pin Key A adapter

Silverstone CP14 19 pin USB to 20 pin Key A adapter

LINKUP 19 pin USB to 20 pin Key A adapter


Note that the latter two will use up the board's single 19 pin header, so both Type A and Type C front ports cannot be used at the same time with these adapters.
 
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HyperActive

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 22, 2019
183
75
I will just upgrade later down the road, hopefully amd boards come with it more. Love the futureproofing of the usb c though !
 

eatbeme

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Jul 23, 2019
3
0
For the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact, you mentioned on reddit that there might be issues fitting 120mm case fans on the bottom due to a 2mm overlap with the Mini-DTX form factor. Can you specify which way the overlap occurs (length or width-wise)? If I got a slim 15mm fan would that solve the issue?
 
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tunico

Case Bender
Jul 22, 2019
2
0
The interesting thing is that on the own site of asus can not find the crosshair VII impact even having the link above !!!!
check:
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
For the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact, you mentioned on reddit that there might be issues fitting 120mm case fans on the bottom due to a 2mm overlap with the Mini-DTX form factor. Can you specify which way the overlap occurs (length or width-wise)? If I got a slim 15mm fan would that solve the issue?
So, a 203mmx170mm Mini-DTX board leaves 23.5mm to the bottom of the case. That means there's a 1.5mm vertical overlap with a 25mm thick fan.

Horizontally, from the motherboard PCB to the frame of a 120mm fan, there's 5mm of clearance. So if there are no components on the motherboard that are over 5mm tall in that last 1.5mm of the board, you're good. If not, then yes, slim fans become your only option.
 

EndEffeKt

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 23, 2019
106
34
That overlap problem is pretty concerning especially if one (me) fancies the idea of the impact board AND custom watercooling with 2x240 mm radiators.
 

Necere

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
NCASE
Feb 22, 2015
1,719
3,281
That overlap problem is pretty concerning especially if one (me) fancies the idea of the impact board AND custom watercooling with 2x240 mm radiators.
You definitely won't be able to fit a radiator on the bottom with a Mini-DTX board. The component height restriction in that area is 16mm:



It's a safe bet that the components on the Impact will use all or most of that.

There's a possibility to mount the rad offset, using the new 140 fan mounting slots, but you'd only be able to screw it on one side (though you may be able to use a bottom vent to get at least one screw in on the other side). This would gain an additional 10mm from the motherboard, for a total of 15mm from the motherboard PCB to 120mm fan frame.
 

EndEffeKt

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 23, 2019
106
34
Lots of time to figure that out until its really relevant. I will start with an air cooled setup anyways.
 

egementncr

Cable Smoosher
Jul 9, 2019
11
8
How about Gigabyte x570 I or Asus Strix x570 I ?
Gigabyte specified as follows:
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
1 x USB 2.0/1.1 header
No luck then I suppose.
 

MKJ-AM4

What's an ITX?
Jul 28, 2019
1
0
.... auch geeignet Supermicro C9Z390-CG-IW ???

Ich warte noch ein paar Monate auf ein AM4-mITX-Board mit USB 3.1 Gen 2 Typ C -Front-USB-Header ... hoffentlich ist dieses Jahr etwas los !!!!
 
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Eric

What's an ITX?
Jul 23, 2019
1
0
Is anyone aware of any components that will allow me to hook up an older cheaper amd mobo like the Fatal1ty B450? I'm sure someone either has built or will build such a connector, but it's really hard to search for.
 

Kaiede

Chassis Packer
Jul 16, 2019
19
6
Is anyone aware of any components that will allow me to hook up an older cheaper amd mobo like the Fatal1ty B450? I'm sure someone either has built or will build such a connector, but it's really hard to search for.

The new connector uses pins not available on the existing 19-pin USB 3.0 header. This includes pins needed for USB PD, as well as Alternate Modes. The second one is really only useful for integrated GPUs to send out DisplayPort over USB-C. So it is possible to build one, but it wouldn’t have PD support (i.e. like a type A port). I haven’t seen one yet though. Mostly just adapters going the other way to get a couple more type A ports out of the new header.

The bigger question is: would you give up the two USB-A ports to get one USB-C? Neither version of the header can support more than 2 physical ports, so if you hijack the 3.0 header for the type C port, you will lose the ability to use the type A ports, unless you splice your own I/O cables.

I don’t think it’d be worth it, IMO.