Not way back, a number of motherboard producers revealed ideas for motherboards which have all of the cable connectors on the rear of the board, permitting the seen facet of your PC to be utterly cable clutter-free. Actually, we didn’t assume these hidden connector motherboard concepts would make it to market, however now Asus and MSI have each proven off new merchandise that can truly see the sunshine of day.
The rival hidden connector motherboard requirements have each been proven off by Asus and MSI at CES 2024, the place we received to take a look and really feel of the brand new motherboards and circumstances. You see, the concept of shifting the cable connectors to the again doesn’t simply have an effect on motherboard design however case design too, so an entire new vary of circumstances is required to convey the motherboards to market.
We haven’t but had an in depth have a look at the Asus BTF merchandise however have seen the MSI Venture Zero vary, and have come away impressed, although there are positively some downsides to this idea.
Essentially the most hanging instance of Venture Zero merchandise isn’t truly the motherboards however MSI’s personal MEG Maestro 700L PZ case, which includes a curved panel that wraps across the entrance and facet of the case. It’s not the primary case to attempt the concept however it’s actually not a standard possibility and it does look wonderful.
Equally hanging had been circumstances from Corsair and Maingear which might be additionally appropriate with each Asus and MSI’s new requirements. In reality, it’s Maingear that has led this push for the hidden-connector ideas, with it proudly owning the patent on the concept.
Peer inside these builds and you may see how, apart from graphics playing cards nonetheless needing a cable, and AIO coolers having tubing working by the inside of the case, the hidden connector builds are utterly freed from cable muddle. You may obtain builds which might be fairly near as clear with top-notch cable administration however as MSI’s demo builds demonstrated, the large benefit right here is you don’t even have to trouble with cable administration with these boards and circumstances.
Wanting on the motherboards, there are two launch boards from MSI, with the Z790 Venture Zero and the B650M Venture Zero (an mATX possibility). In some methods, at first look the boards don’t look all that totally different to regular ones however once you look spherical the perimeters you see all of the cable connectors are gone. Flip the board over and there they’re.
A neat little bonus of this concept is that the cable connectors act as a type of standoff for the motherboard such that it sits flat and safe on plastic connectors that received’t scratch your desk. The pins that stick by in a typical board make them unstable and may scratch surfaces.
As to that draw back? Properly, the additional house wanted for the rear-facing cables means all of the circumstances appropriate with the idea are actually deep – like 50% deeper than typical ATX towers. That’s tremendous you probably have the house for a giant show-off construct however this most likely received’t be a typical for extra compact builds.
Pricing and actual availability to TBD however they are going to be arriving early this 12 months, and we are able to’t wait. For extra tales from CES, take a look at our CES story hub.