I'm currently planning the setup for a new computer. As I were browsing through computer cases I realized that most modern computer cases still have a mix of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports on the front panel.
Is there a legitimate reason to still have or use USB 2.0 ports on modern PC cases? As far as I know USB 3.0 has backward compatibility
Example image of a random case showing USB 2.0 ports to the left and USB 3.0 ports to the right.
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Best Answer
Nobody has mentioned this yet, but USB 3.0 ports can cause issues with certain installation media (cough Windows 7 cough) where only USB 2.0 drivers are provided on the installation media.
Another key point mentioned by @togh is that USB 3.0 requires a large amount of bandwidth, which can congest existing PCI-E lanes if all of the USB 3.0 ports are in use. Using 2.0 (with it's lower bandwidth) allows more devices to be used (which may not necessarily need the high bandwidth USB 3.0 provides; e.g. most user input devices) while maintaining open PCI-E lanes for other peripherals.