How to connect an old front panel connector (audio) to a new motherboard?

Question

The motherboard (Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7) has the following audio chip: Audio: 5.1 (Creative Sound Core3D)

Frontpanel Audio Connector

Return L
Return R
Ground
Ear L
Mic VCC
Ear R
Mic-In

AC'97 Front Panel Audio (not mentioned in the online manual)

1  = MIC
2  = GND
3  = MIC Power
4  = NC
5  = Line Out (R)
6  = NC
7  = NC
8  = No Pin
9  = Line Out (L)
10 = NC

Photo from the front panel audio connectors:

​

If I get this right, this should be the correct match:

Ground  = GND
Mic VCC = MIC Power
Mic-In  = MIC

But what about the others? Is Return L = Line Out (L)?

Solution

Now I found out that the product website for the case is still online. Here all necessary information is described:

+-----------------------------------------------------+
|               Ear & Mic connection                  |
+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| M/B layout (Ex: ASUS) |         Case layout         |
+---+-------------------+--------------------+--------+
| 1 | LINE_OUT R        | EAR R              | Red    |
| 2 | LINE_IN R         | Return R           | White  |
| 3 | LINE_OUT L        | EAR L              | Green  |
| 4 | LINE_IN L         | Return L           | Yellow |
| 5 | MIC               | MIC IN             | Red    |
| 6 | MIC PWR           | MIC VCC or MICBIAS | White  |
| 7 | Ground            | Ground             | Black  |
+---+-------------------+--------------------+--------+

To answer my question: Return L/R is Line In L/R. Ear L/R is Line Out L/R in my case. The result looks like this:

But that was not enough. I had to install Sound Blaster Pro Studio (from the motherboard manufacturer driver page) and change some settings to get the front panel working:

• Speakers/Headphones: change the switch to headphones
• Mixer: beside the recording section there is a button called Input devices. Change that to microphone in the front.

Comments

[wysiwyg]

I don't know if this is correct but perhaps it will be of help (disclaimer: try it at your own risk): tomshardware.com/forum/298273-30-connecting-front-panel-mobo

[testing]

But what is headphone detection, mic detection? There is conflicting information on the internet ...

[Michael Frank]

Return L and Return R look like Left and Right. This might be a TRRS Connector like you would find on a mobile device.