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Introduction
Here's the scenario - you're a hardcore gamer playing late at night, while your
lovely wife tries to sleep in the adjacent bedroom. The only problem is
that since the sound is down so low, you can hardly tell when and where you're
being attacked from. The alternatives to this predicament include gradually
increasing the volume of the game - praying that the wife is deaf to low
frequencies... or.... daring that god awful mess of cables behind the computer
to plug in your headphones (which have a cord that is way too short to be useful
anyway). FrontX to the rescue...
Features
The FrontX Multimedia extension system features:
- Easy access to the Gameport, Audio-In, Headphone and Microphone jacks
- Simple installation in a standard 5.25 drive bay
- Plenty of room for future expansion (FrontX is working on USB, video, parallel
port inserts)
- The headphone jack mutes speaker output when headphones are plugged in
This is one of those pieces of technology that you wish that someone had thought
of before - very simple, but pays back massive dividends in ease of use and
reduction of blood pressure over an extended period of time.
The device itself is similar in color (but not exact) to the majority of PC's
out there. Rather than a beige, this little guy is sort of gray. Not a big
deal, but it bears mentioning.
The FrontX unit could be installed by a trained chimp - it really is that
simple. You simply install the unit into a a 5.25 drive bay, route the
cables (which are long enough to arrange such that airflow is not disrupted) to
the rear of the PC and plug then into your soundcard. Finally, simply
screw the custom PCI rear cover into an empty PCI slot, close your case up, and
you're done! 
The
really cool thing is that this device offers flexibility in upgrading. The
device currently takes up half of its 8 "port-holding" bays, which
means you can add 4 more ports in the future should the need arise. According to
the manufacturer, other ports like USB, Video, Serial, Parallel, etc will be
released in very shortly. I'd have to wholeheartedly recommend this device to
anyone that plays at LAN parties, has a bunch of audio peripherals, or spends
more than 5 minutes at their computer on a given day. At around $26 bucks
including shipping, the price is right, installation is simple, and future
expansion capability is already onboard. Go get yourself one of these - you
won't be sorry.
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