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 really 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 instances. You see, the concept of transferring the cable connectors to the again doesn’t simply have an effect on motherboard design however case design too, so a complete new vary of instances is required to carry 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 placing instance of Venture Zero merchandise isn’t really 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 strive the concept however it’s definitely not a standard choice and it does look superb.
Equally placing have been instances from Corsair and Maingear which can be additionally suitable 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 operating via the inside of the case, the hidden connector builds are utterly freed from cable muddle. You may obtain builds which can 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 must trouble with cable administration with these boards and instances.
Wanting on the motherboards, there are two launch boards from MSI, with the Z790 Venture Zero and the B650M Venture Zero (an mATX choice). In some methods, at first look the boards don’t look all that completely different to regular ones however if you look spherical the sides 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 gained’t scratch your desk. The pins that stick via in a typical board make them unstable and might scratch surfaces.
As to that draw back? Nicely, the additional area wanted for the rear-facing cables means all of the instances suitable with the idea are actually deep – like 50% deeper than typical ATX towers. That’s tremendous when you’ve got the area for an enormous show-off construct however this most likely gained’t be a typical for extra compact builds.
Pricing and precise 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, try our CES story hub.