Random Parts Questions

[Glenn9999]

Some random parts questions from cleaning out my random parts bin (and other stuff):

1) I ran across a couple sets of cables I couldn't ID. One cable in the set has 4 pins to 4-pin, both female ends. The other cable has 4 pins to 3 pins, both female ends. The ends look like the end of a typical CPU fan that plugs into the motherboard. What are these for? They probably came with some hardware I have but are not used, and probably why I'm not remembering what they do.

2) I came across parts (2 sets) of what looks like a 3.5" to 5.25" drive kit (again don't remember where I got them). But I'm not figuring out how to use them. There's a face plate (5.25" size with a 3.5" hole in the middle) and then there's two rails that obviously perform the function of holding a 3.5" drive into a 5.25" bay. But I don't see how you could attach the face plates to the drive or the rails and have it function properly. Any clues on this one, or are the face plates not necessarily mated with the drive brackets?

3) I came across about 6-12 CD audio cables (4-pins). I noticed that a header for this wasn't present on the SATA DVD drive that I installed in my last build. Is this normal now, and therefore should I junk these?

4) Is it worth hanging onto a lot of floppy drive cables these days?

5) Is it worth hanging onto number of 80mm case fans? I ask because I noticed the case on my last build used exclusively 120mm fans.

6) How are PC speakers handled these days in computers? I noticed the cases on my last two builds don't have one, yet the motherboard for the newest build still has a spot for them. Are they required (I would think there still has to be a way for the computer to relay BIOS level issues) or not? Is this a separately purchased item now in most cases? I haven't had a BIOS issue on the newest one, but the other one turned out to put vocal messages out through the on-board sound. Is this standard, and therefore makes the PC speaker completely unnecessary?

[CoffeeFiend]

1. Hard to tell just by pin count alone. Most likely for fans though.

2. You don't. The faceplate snaps in the case, it's not attached to the rails at all.

3. Those have long been useless. Last time I remember using one is circa 1995 (Win95 era, using the built-in CD player). We've been reading CDs digitally instead for decade or so. You could hold on to them for a while longer, and then sell to a museum perhaps

4. Only if you're still using floppies a lot I guess. I haven't had a floppy drive since 2001 personally (kept a LS-120 in storage just in case ever since, and haven't taken it out even once)

5. Unless they're great fans (most 80mm fans suck, especially older ones) and plan on buying a case that'll use them somehow (most of those suck hard). Might come in handy, but I don't keep any personally...

6. Some motherboards have a little piezo for this now.

[ripken204]

6. I haven't seen a pc speaker on a motherboard in a long time. I highly suggest keeping one around though just in case you need to diagnose a problem. I have had to use one a couple times over the last few years.

[Ponch]

1) and 3) might be the same. I think there were different formats for "analog audio" cables.

To add to CoffeFiend's comment, Media players read music CDs through the signal cable (IDE or SATA) since Windows ME.