Someone is always trying to change the way gaming PCs are made, and bold new concepts are commonplace at CES, but few ideas actually succeed in changing anything. This year, however, one trend seems to be taking hold. It is the motherboard with all connectors and cables hidden in the back.

Now, feel free to dig this up a year from now when motherboards with connectors on the back will be but a distant memory, but while looking at what will be offered at CES 2024, I can seriously see the possibility of these motherboards becoming mainstream.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, there are two main families of motherboard mullets (party on the front, business on the back): MSI's Back-connect and Asus' BTF (Back-To-The-Future) MSI's Back -connect and Asus' BTF (Back-To-The-Future). The other one is...

Neither MSI's nor Asus' concepts are particularly new, and both companies showcased these concepts at Computex 2023. However, at CES 2024, we saw more of these motherboard concepts from PC builders, case makers, and PC component manufacturers.

Let's start with MSI, which has back-connect boards and builds on display throughout its booth at CES 2024. There are three different boards presented:

When it comes to assembling PCs, MSI has a lineup of PCs all built with Back-connect boards: two are the in-house designed Project Zero ATX Showcase, but there are also several Maingear builds. Maingear has a Project Zero board with an MSI or Phanteks compatible case.

Asus also had BTF products on display at their booth, but unlike MSI, they also offer a solution to completely hide the GPU power cables; when combined with a BTF motherboard, BTF GPUs like the Strix at their booth can be used until the back panel is removed to completely cable-free case can be created.

MSI and Asus are expected to make a big deal about visible cable-free motherboards. However, when we headed over to Thermaltake's booth, we also spotted motherboard machines with a variety of hidden connectors, including the company's 25th anniversary baby blue build with both a BTF motherboard and graphics card.

Thermaltake has designed their entire case to support this type of motherboard.

This is the problem: not just any case can be used for motherboards with hidden connectors. Most cases do not have cutouts in the correct locations for cables to pass through. Instead, case manufacturers must explicitly support them, and they seem willing to do so.

Thermaltake's Ceres 330 TG case supports motherboards with hidden connectors Thermaltake's Ceres 330 TG case supports motherboards with hidden connectors.

If that wasn't enough, I went to PC builder Yeyian's booth and found that this PC maker is planning a PC case that will provide the necessary cutouts for motherboards with hidden connectors.

Throughout CES 2024, there was evidence that PC game makers are on board with the idea. Perhaps it is a professional look. This hidden connector board would make for a truly beautiful showcase. However, we can see this board becoming popular with the average PC gamer. Since we are also showcasers, this idea might actually get some limelight.

_____________________________________ PC Gamer's CES 2024 coverage is published in cooperation with Asus Republic of Gamers.