10 pin Creative SB 1394 special connector at the soundcard.
The Creative Sound Blaster internal SB1394 header is a 2×5-pin (10-position, one pin unused as a key) connector found on Audigy-series sound cards, providing an on-board IEEE 1394a (FireWire 400) port for connection to front-panel bay accessories such as the Audigy Drive. The governing standard is IEEE 1394a-2000, which defines data rates of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps over two differential twisted pairs. Creative Labs declined to publish the internal pinout officially, stating the header was supported only with their own accessories; the pin assignments were subsequently reverse-engineered by the user community and independently verified across multiple devices.
| Pin | Signal | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TPA + | Twisted-pair A+, differential signals |
| 2 | TPA - | Twisted-pair A-, differential signals |
| 3 | GND | Ground |
| 4 | GND | Ground |
| 5 | TPB + | Twisted-pair B+, differential signals |
| 6 | TPB - | Twisted-pair B-, differential signals |
| 7 | +12 V | +12 V power |
| 8 | +12 V | + 12 V power |
| 10 | S-GND | Signal Ground |
Signals
- TPA+ / TPA- — Differential twisted pair A; carries data in one direction at 100/200/400 Mbps.
- TPB+ / TPB- — Differential twisted pair B; carries data in the opposite direction (IEEE 1394a uses simultaneous bidirectional signalling across the two pairs).
- +12 V — Supply voltage (VP) on pins 7 and 8; provides power to attached peripherals. The external 6-pin IEEE 1394a connector specifies 8–30 V DC at up to 15 W.
- GND — Signal/power ground (VG) on pins 3 and 4.
- S-GND — Additional signal ground on pin 10 (the ninth active position; position 9 is the key/missing pin).
Notes
- The header is a 2×5-pin 0.1-inch (2.54 mm) pitch shrouded connector with pin 9 absent (key position), yielding nine electrically active pins.
- Creative Labs labelled this header J6 on the Audigy card and described it as “One 2×5-pin Internal SB1394 connector” in product documentation, but published no pin-by-pin assignment.
- The external rear-bracket port is a standard 6-pin IEEE 1394a socket limited to 2 W maximum power output by Creative’s implementation.
- Although Creative supported only their own accessories, the header works with third-party FireWire cameras and storage devices.
- The AnandTech forum thread documents the pinout as: TPA- (1), TPA+ (2), VG (3), VG (4), TPB- (5), TPB+ (6), VP (7), VP (8), VG (10) — note that the AnandTech numbering uses TPA-/TPA+ in the opposite order to the signal names in the table above; both label the same two wires.