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Motherboard manufacturers are trying to solve possibly the most annoying thing about building a PC.

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Cable management. Three of the largest companies that crank out motherboards,

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ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte all now offer boards

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that place most internal connectors on the back of the PCB with the idea being

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to let you build a PC with few to no cables showing.

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But hold on a sec, why exactly did it take so long

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for these companies to bring this to market? I mean the first American patent was filed back in 2011.

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The answer is not only that there wasn't yet broad support from hardware manufacturers,

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but also that the priorities of the PCI DIY community

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weren't quite the same as they are now. Let's start by talking about those priorities.

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It really wasn't all that long ago that building or just buying a PC was primarily a means to an end.

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You wanted to accomplish something specific on a PC, play a game, make a video call,

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re-derive calculus, whatever. So you built something in an opaque beige box

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that could accomplish that task, and there was a good chance you didn't care too much

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about how it looked. But as the years went on, laptops, tablets,

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and smartphones became able to handle more and more functions

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that used to be the sole domain of desktop PCs,

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meaning that a larger proportion of the remaining desktop PC community was made up of enthusiasts

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who cared more than the average person about not just how their PC performed, but how it looked.

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During that time, PC aesthetics evolved gradually.

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Cases with Windows didn't start becoming common until the early to mid-2000s.

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We didn't see cable management grommets until around 2010,

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and RGB didn't hit it big until the mid-2010s.

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And of course, modern social media platforms that allow hardware manufacturers to easily get the pulse

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of the community haven't been around for very long. But since they took off, it's been clear

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from social media feedback that aesthetics have only increased in importance for PC enthusiasts.

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We haven't proved that RGB makes things faster yet, but we'll get there.

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And there's an additional benefit aside from aesthetics. Connectors on the rear mean that you won't have to worry

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about negotiating your way into tight spaces created by other components once you're ready

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to connect your cables. The eight-pin EPS connector is notoriously tricky.

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Manufacturers are hoping that not only will rear connectors

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look better, but they'll also serve as a more builder-friendly option to those folks

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who are interested in PC DIY, but intimidated about taking the plunge.

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And there are more of those people out there than you might think.

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So that brings us to actually getting this idea to market.

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How did we get there? Although Manegear filed a patent for the rear connector concept in 2011,

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which other companies now license, it wasn't until 2019 that ASUS showed us a rear motherboard

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connector on their concept Prime Utopia board.

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Gigabyte then became the first major motherboard brand to bring a rear connector motherboard to market in 2022

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with Project Stealth, followed by MSI's Project Zero

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in 2023, and ASUS's BTF in 2024.

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And since the primary concern here is aesthetics, some boards also include shrouds

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that hide the unsightly solder marks that are now on the front of the board.

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But hold everything. How the heck does this work, considering that most cases don't have the correct holes

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in the motherboard tray to plug in cables at the back? Unsurprisingly, you're gonna need a new compatible case

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for these new motherboards to work. Gigabyte collaborated with Manegear

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to make a case for its Project Stealth products, while MSI and ASUS both make their own cases now,

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and also collaborate with outside case manufacturers in order to ensure you can actually hide all your cables

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without having to take a Dremel to your existing case. Unless you want to.

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I mean, it's fun. And in case you were wondering why these manufacturers

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can't just design the motherboard so the rear connectors poke out of the existing cutouts

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for CPU coolers, there are just too many electronics

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already in that area for such a solution to be practical.

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Although the current lack of an open standard for rear connectors means you'll have to ensure

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that the case you want is specifically compatible with the particular motherboard brand you want,

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this may not end up mattering too much in the long term. Lots of niceties that we're used to,

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such as right angled SATA connectors, top mounted radiators, and the various RGB ecosystems

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don't have official standards defining them, but they enjoy widespread support and interoperability.

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So if rear connectors end up being in high demand from consumers, you can bet that there will be plenty

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of compatible boards and cases to choose from. But a possible wrinkle is how to handle the pesky fact

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that most graphics cards require extra power cables

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that connect to the top of the card. Oh no.

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For now, limited solutions exist. Gigabyte sells special cards that feature a connector

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on the bottom closer to the PCI express contacts,

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while ASUS sells cards with an extra smaller set

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of contacts for power that work with compatible ASUS motherboards.

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While this limits which graphics cards you can use to get that totally clean look inside your case,

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the hope is that more cards will adopt solutions such as these as time goes on.

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And the fact that ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI, also all manufactured graphics cards and cases

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means they also have the ability to push these rear connector ecosystems forward,

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even if a particular outside company isn't interested.

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But is any of this really a good idea? Well, other than a small amount of increased costs

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to begin with due to these companies having to tweak their manufacturing slightly,

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there aren't really any major drawbacks to rear mounting connectors.

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But even with these benefits, only time will tell if this new connector paradigm will emerge

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as a widespread alternative to traditional cable routing.

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And I know how much some of you like seeing that sweet RGB spaghetti every time you fire up your rig.

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So we'll have to see. And you know what I like to see is you coming to the end of this video.

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How'd you get here? Thanks for watching. Like the video if you liked it.

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Dislike it if you disliked it. Check out our other videos. Comment below with video suggestions.

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And don't forget to subscribe and follow what your favorite flavor of RGB spaghetti is.

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There's lots.