Connecting new Sound card to Front Panel.

Dell uses custom proprietary and undocumented connections to the front panel power switch and the headphone and mic jacks.  On new Dell PC's that have an optional SoundBlaster Xfi sound card, they have special cables to connect the headphone and mic jacks.  On some models, you can buy the needed cables from Dell spare parts.  Otherwise you are basically "on your own" to figure out what Dell cable wires go to those jacks and then fabricate whatever cable/connectors that are needed.  This is the one downside of ordering a new Dell PC without the upgraded SoundBlaster sound card and then adding a Retail SoundBlaster later.

Dell Spare Parts

I could not find a cable either. I have the exact cards and problem. I found the OEM SB X-FI cards are different from the creative retail card in that the OEM card has the 10 pin header on it so I had to find and buy a used OEM creative card for my XPS. I now can use the front panel and also all the speaker plugs are on the OEM car while not the same on the retail card- good luck

Unfortunately, as others have said, Dell does have a proprietary cable for some Creative cards.  If there is a Dell version of your card, you can buy the cable, but I don't believe Dell ever sold an XtremeAudio version (but it would be easy enough to find out).  If they did sell a Dell-branded XtremeAudio card for your model of computer, you should be able to buy the proprietary cable. 

what does the cable that is currently on the system look like now? if you have fron panel there should be a cable running from the front i/o to the mother board.

I do belive that you will have an issue finding a cable. The older soundblaster card use a inline 10 pin connector the new ones now use a dual row 5 pin connector

What is your system model?

i'm actually making one of these cables as we speak a 10-pin dell xps 720 to a 2x5 hd audio cable, i just need a little help from dell or a pc modder as i'm unsure what each of the 10 wires do coming from the front panel.

I had exactly the same problem with my XPS 420. Unfortunately, I'm not technically adept enough to make my own cable. Dell sent me their proprietary cable, but like you, I need the 2x5 on the Sound Blaster end. I was able to find the 2x5 specs in an Intel technical document (let me know if you need them), but not the Dell front I/O panel specs. If you do succeed in building your cable, would you please post the details here? If I can provide the details, I can have someone make me one. It's ridiculous that it's this hard to upgrade a sound card; I won't be buying another Dell desktop.

In most cases you won't find any documentation on Dell's proprietary front panel connections.  And to make things more complicated if you find a post where someone has figured out the connections for one model, it can be different on another model.

You will need an ohmmeter and start tracing them out yourself and then build your own custom interface cable.

The best option on Dell's is to buy the SoundBlaster model that has the external I/O console (box).  It's more money but  that gives you all the input and outputs that are found on most cards, plus extra I/O such as MIDI, S/PDIF, etc.  The console can be placed on your desk for easy access to all the connections.    I have an older model SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX model that I'm using and it even has a Firewire port on it, and one Line In and one combo Line In/Mic port and a system volume control.

Well i'll let you into a little known secret the connector on the dell front panel isn't dells design its actually creatives. If you see the attached link http://audigy2zshowto.blogspot.com/ you'll see that the connector can be re-used to connect to any sound card.

i've made a wiring schematic as well to show you how to wire the creative port into a standard intel hd audio header. use at your own risk.

check out the link below;

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg171/jack_manfred/FP_AUDIO.jpg

cheers

j

Great! for you specific model.  However, the same front panel assembly and connector is NOT used in all models.