We declared the Battle on Cables the most as much as this point PC trend of 2023 after Computex closing summer and at CES 2024, the conception bought exact. Asus was once busy showing off its imaginative and prescient for desktop PC with out visible inner cabling – dubbed “BTF” for “Abet to the Future” – and hot damn is it slick. Better but, this wire-free initiative is kicking off in mere months, with most of the major PC case vendors pledged to strengthen it.
The Asus BTF conception strikes all the major cable and vitality connections for your factors to the succor of the motherboard (accumulate the BTF title now?) for a pristine model fine in the principle segment of your case. MSI and Maingear are promoting a a similar conception dubbed “Project Zero,” but a key incompatibility between that and Asus BTF is the potential they take care of graphics card cabling.
Watch ma, no wires!
Brad Chacos/IDG
Project Zero tranquil has you routing those enormous, fleshy GPU cables straight to the long-established location in your graphics card, quite blemishing the no-wires fine. Asus BTF, on the opposite hand, adds a proprietary, smaller 600 watt PCIe slot to both like minded graphics playing cards as neatly as like minded motherboards, striking off even GPU wires. It’s deliciously swish while also helping strive in opposition to GPU sag. (BTF motherboards will also work staunch aesthetic with long-established GPUs while you purchase.)
The front of BTF motherboards don’t agree with any worn connectors for vitality or recordsdata cables…
Brad Chacos/IDG
…as one more, they’re all moved to the rear of the motherboard and hidden contained in the rear of your case.
Brad Chacos/IDG
BTF motherboards will be assign quite of elevated than their worn counterparts – they need more, thicker shrouds on the front to myth for further soldering factors necessitated by transferring the vitality connectors to the succor – nonetheless it shouldn’t be too disagreeable. Asus representatives told me the firm is focusing on roughly a $30 assign top price for a BTF mobo. The firm could per chance be releasing new conditions that are like minded with BTF builds as neatly as worn ATX motherboards.
Asus plans to roll BTF out to the heaps by way of kits originally, so unsuspecting consumers don’t by likelihood draw end graphics playing cards and motherboards that can per chance’t be aged with worn factors. First up is an all-white Asus TUF-branded kit with the genuinely expert TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Sizable BTF White Edition, focusing on a roughly $1,500-$2,000 total system assign when it rolls out sometime round February.
The ROG Strix BTF kit.
Brad Chacos/IDG
For the ballers amongst us, Asus could per chance be planning on releasing a excessive-conclude, sad-and-RGB’d out ROG Strix kit end to the conclude of the quarter, powered by the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition with that special 600W connector. Each kits can agree with motherboards and conditions matching their respective GPU’s fine, which you can read all about on Asus’ Edge Up weblog.
But wait! That’s no longer all.
Whereas these initial gross sales will focal point on pre-bundled kits, Asus hopes the BTF initiative will spur a new revolution in personalized PC building. To that attain, it’s already teamed up with most of the major PC case vendors to create the BTF Alliance. “By this partnership, you’ll agree with your need from a huge fluctuate of PC conditions that are fully like minded with our BTF motherboards,” Asus says.
Aerocool, be nonetheless!, Cooler Grasp, Corsair, Inwin, Lian Li, Phanteks, Silverstone, and Thermaltake all agree with BTF conditions in the works, with the major devices anticipated to be launched later in the major quarter.
Look the minute, further 600W PCIe connector on the TUF 4070 Ti Sizable BTF White Edition?
Brad Chacos/IDG
It plugs into this new PCIe slot on BTF motherboards.
Brad Chacos/IDG
That’s a audacious signal of strengthen for the thrilling, but fledgling BTF conception. Will Asus even derive a way to rally other motherboard and graphics card makers to their facet or will opponents be more inclined to toss their lot in with MSI’s Project Zero marketing and marketing campaign? Or will other PC makers and consumers even care the least bit?
One issue’s for obvious: It’s thrilling to scrutinize innovation coming to the worn PC desktop expertise and the Battle on Cables is staunch getting started in earnest.
Stayed tuned to PCWorld for all the most as much as date and greatest PC gear from the CES 2024 ground, all week long!
