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Are cable free motherboards the next evolution or an inconvenient gimmick?

Lovely for aesthetics but inconvenient for compatibility, so is a good thing?

Updated: May 31, 2023 4:08 pm
Are cable free motherboards the next evolution or an inconvenient gimmick?

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One of the big showcases at Computex 2023 has been the updating of the motherboard connects, and instead moving all of them to the back of the board. We have seen that with the ASUS hidden connectors, along with Gigabyte Stealth, and MSIs Project Zero. All of these are bringing the next upgrade to the motherboard industry.

This redesign is to help with all the cable management and aesthetics of the build. According to Gamers Nexus, MSI has suggested there should be no additional cost to the MSI Project Zero offering for the B650 motherboard. But can they truly be the next generation of options?

Who are they for?

Well, clearly they are for those who are after clean aesthetics in their PC build. These can hide those cables away from the glass side panel, and RGB doesn’t have to light up the messy cables coming out from the motherboard. This lets you fully appreciate the components of your build, along with moving them out of the way of airflow and cooling.

Even if you are good at cable management you can improve the aesthetics on the front. You just have even more to fulfill at the back of it. Or you can just hide it away behind the solid panel on the other side and not have to look at it.

MSI Project Zero back
MSI Project Zero back panel, source: BGFG

The problem with compatibility

As much as we might love the aesthetics and ease of using these motherboards, you’re going to struggle with compatibility. Even the best PC cases aren’t going to be designed to allow for these connectors to actually be utilized.

As PCWorld shows, you have to have a lot of special cutouts to fit these connectors on the back. And due to the lack of rigidity, the back plate cutout is missing from the case that is used in the build. But in general, it is much easier to connect it all up, and you can leave it as the last thing you do in the build.

But you still have a lot of cables to deal with. Although easing the front, now you have a lot bulkier set behind, which is where the other incompatibility might come from. With the large power connectors sticking out straight you then have to worry about the back panel not giving enough clearance for them. So if they do design any cases for them it might be some time to accommodate the motherboards, there is a lot of consideration to be had.

This might take some time especially if the motherboards aren’t as popular right away, they may instead be dropped. But also building will require even more compatibility checks, and we’re not sure PCPartPicker will have an easy way of informing you. But it does have the opportunity to become the next standard or alongside especially if there is no price difference.


With a background in engineering and PC gaming, Seb is a staff writer with a focus on GPU, storage, and power supplies. Also one of tech supports in the office he likes helping and solving problems.

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