I Love Gigabyte’s Front Panel “G” Connector Cube

I recently purchased a new motherboard – the ATX Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite, and this came with a “Gigabyte G Connector” which I hadn’t used previously. Luckily this fixes a big problem that I have with computer builds – the dreaded front panel connector cables (from the case IO panel, for the power switch, activity LEDs and more).

So in this video I talk through exactly what the Gigabyte G Connector is, and how it works.

If you prefer text over video, please read on for the guide/transcript version of this video.

Video Transcript And Guide

Hey everyone! Nothing quite strikes fear into the heart of us than the front panel connectors:

The front case connectors for a PC build
The front case connectors for a PC build

They’re often not spoken about or shown on fancy, flashy PC builds for some reason. Probably because when you actually try plugging them in, your motherboard isn’t already in the case, and you’re kind of going like this [pulls faces]. And then when you actually go to turn your computer on, it doesn’t work because you’ve got everything wrong. Some motherboards make it slightly easier by labeling where to put everything on the motherboard, but it’s still a pain, and I’m going to start acting… I just wish there was another… way! Nailed it!

Gigabyte C front panel connector closeup
Closeup of the Gigabyte G front panel connector

So, this is the Gigabyte G connector. I actually originally thought it was called the “8 connector” when I looked at it, but it is definitely the G connector. What this actually does is it plugs into your Gigabyte motherboard, and it’s meant to make everything a lot easier when it comes to the front panel connectors. So in this video, I just wanted to show through what exactly the Gigabyte G connector is and how it helps with front panel connector connections and things like that.

The first thing I should say is you don’t actually need this. It’s purely a guide; it’s just a pass-through. There’s nothing magic about this; it just helps you pop things in. So, the way this Gigabyte G connector works is that it has little labels on it for everything that you need. Basically, if you’ve already got cables in there, there are little clips that you just have to pull up. You pull up, and it’ll actually come out.

Okay, so the way this works is you get your cables and you plug them into the right bit. This says “power switch,” so I plug that in. In this case, the polarity doesn’t matter, so it can be either direction. I’ve then got my power LEDs, and the polarity does matter, so you’ve got plus that needs to go there and minus that needs to go there. So, let’s try and plug that in that way. Here we are, so plug that in, and again, you’ve got a click. So that’s in, and then the last one is going to be my hard drive LED, which is the one over here. Again, polarity doesn’t matter as much with this. Oh, I’ve got my cables jumbled down there. That’s a good start. So, hard drive plus and minus. Polarity doesn’t matter as much. Let’s just get that in, then click that, and that is now done. Clicked in, good.

So that is it for my front panel connectors because the other ones on the case… This is not a reset button; it’s actually for LEDs. But my USB and my HD audio go somewhere else. So that’s it for my actual front panel connectors. So I’ve got it all connected up, quite easy, quite straightforward. I haven’t got speakers; I haven’t got chassis intrusion or reset button. And then when you come to plug it in, you just need to make sure you plug it in the right way. So I know that my hard drive is down here, basically looking at the motherboard. So I can just plug it in there, and I’m done.

g connector and mobo labels
Plugging the Gigabyte G connector into my motherboard

And that’s it, really. It’s quite a simple connector. It doesn’t seem like it does much, and you can skip it entirely, but it does just make things a bit easier. And it stops you from pulling loads of weird faces like I usually do when I’m actually doing my front panel connectors.

cropped A picture of me Tristan
About Tristan Perry

Tristan has been interested in computer hardware and software since he was 10 years old. He has built loads of computers over the years, along with installing, modifying and writing software (he's a backend software developer 'by trade').

Tristan also has an academic background in technology (in Math and Computer Science), so he enjoys drilling into the deeper aspects of technology.

Tristan is also an avid PC gamer, with FFX and Rocket League being his favorite games.

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