Optical SPDIF Backplate Needed

Surfn wrote: hello all i have an asrock z97 anniversary motherboard there is a 2 pin spdif header on the motherboard i need an optical spdif backplate alot of the backplates i have been looking at online have a 3 or 4 pin connection while my motherboard only has 2 where can get the proper backplate thanks in advance

Are you sure about the two pin SPDIF header on your board? I don't see it shown in the board's manual.

Where is it located on the board?

Can you provide a link or two to the SPDIF optical back plates you are finding?

I see the two pin SPDIF header in your picture, thanks.

That SPDIF output header is not shown or explained in your board's manual, so I'm not sure if it really has the SPDIF electrical signal connected to it.

The two pin SPDIF electrical headers are normally meant to be used with some video cards that have an SPDIF electrical two pin input.

The optical backplate in your link does have a three pin connection. The connector is really a four pin connector with three wires.

That page has other pictures showing the header connection on several mother boards. The picture below is the header used on an Asus board:



The important thing to notice is the +5V pin on the ASUS header, the pin on the left side.

This backplate converts the electrical SPDIF signal into an optical SPDIF signal. To do that it uses a special part that needs to be powered with +5V DC.

The Asus and some other boards have a third pin on the SPDIF output header that has +5V DC from the mother board to supply power to the special part to convert the electrical SPDIF signal to an optical SPDIF signal. You can see that in the picture, the pin for +5V DC.

Your board does not have a +5V DC pin with the SPDIF output header. You cannot use this backplate SPDIF optical converter with your board by just connecting it to the two pins you have on the SPDIF header.

You would somehow need to connect +5V DC to this board to make it work.

It looks like this backplate also has a standard electrical RCA jack SPDIF output, which may not need +5V DC connected to it to work correctly. You would need to check with the seller if that is correct or not.