ASUS Releases a Board for Those Who Can't Stand Wires Inside Their PC Case

ASUS has expanded its lineup of motherboards for Intel's LGA1851 chips with a model that hides all the cables on the backside of the board. On the TUF Gaming Z890-BTF WIFI7 from the BTF (Back to Future) series, all the power connectors, headers, and even the graphics card power plug have been moved to the rear of the PCB.

This new board is aimed at builders who want a clean, minimalist look inside their case without any cable clutter. Alongside the standard 24-pin power and chassis fan headers, ASUS has also placed a specialized GC-HPWR connector on the back. Through this, the board can deliver up to 600W directly to the graphics card. In standard mode, there's a reinforced PCIe 5.0 x16 slot with the Q-Release quick-release mechanism. ASUS recently announced its first DDR5 memory.

The power delivery subsystem uses a 16+1+2+1 phase design with Dr.MOS power stages rated for up to 80A each. Memory-wise, there are four DDR5 slots, and for storage, four M.2 slots (exact interface revisions haven't been disclosed, but at least one slot almost certainly supports PCIe 5.0). Wireless connectivity is handled by Wi-Fi 7, while wired networking is covered by a 2.5 GbE controller. The rear I/O panel includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports (Type-C with up to 40 Gbps bandwidth), DisplayPort and HDMI outputs, plus an additional USB-C port at 20 Gbps. Proprietary features include BIOS FlashBack, AI Cooling II, Q-Dashboard, and Aura Sync RGB control.

The board itself sports the recognizable industrial TUF Gaming aesthetic with a black-and-gray PCB, chunky heatsinks on the VRMs and chipset, and metal-reinforced slots. Pricing and an exact release date haven't been announced yet. The official ASUS website should have the full specs and a list of compatible cases in the coming days, since you'll obviously need a chassis with the right cutouts to install a board like this.

It's worth noting that the BTF format is still pretty niche, and there aren't many cases or GPUs on the market that support hidden cable routing just yet. Still, ASUS is steadily expanding the lineup, and this model fills the need for a modern Z890 board with support for Intel Core Ultra 200 series chips. These new devices are launching amidst an updated pricing policy from ASUS, which previously announced a 30% price hike on its products.

Are you ready to switch to motherboards with backside connectors for that flawless, clean system build, or do you still prefer the classic layout? Let us know in the comments.