CES 2024: ASUS's New PC Components Might Finally Fix Your Messy Cables

If you've built a PC before, then you already know how tiring and difficult good cable management can be. (If you haven't, count yourself lucky.)

Having great cable management can be extremely important, not only for the look of the PC, but also for keeping everything at a safe temperature. Having a bunch of cables in the way of your PC's airflow can be disastrous, which is why cable management has become something of an art for PC builders. Now, though, ASUS is about to mix things up with a new series of components designed to make cable management even easier.

What if, instead of having to use cable ties and intricately weaving your cables through your PC, you could just hide them altogether? That's the idea behind ASUS's new BTF components. BTF, which stands for Back-to-the-Future (the company says the pun is "very much intended"), includes motherboards designed with cables that plug into the back.

ASUS says this is easier to manage when compared to current motherboards, which require you to weave cables through the case and around to the front to connect. Furthermore, the lack of connections to the front of the board means less cables in the way, which means smoother looks and better airflow for your PC.

The ecosystem of BTF and Advanced BTF components includes more than just motherboards. The company also debuted a new TUF Gaming GT302 ARGB case, which comes with four 140mm ARGB fans, and is already set up to take ASUS's new BTF motherboards.

Some of these motherboards are also equipped with special connectors that allow you to plug your BTF graphics card (yes, they have those, too) directly into the board. If you use a non BTF-ready card, you'll still need to plug it in the old fashioned way, which is probably something that ASUS hopes to use to help push these new cards. There is, of course, some other benefits to the BFT cards, as you won't have to worry so much about the horizontal space in your case being big enough for your card to fit into it without pressing the cables against the side of the case.

So far it looks like ASUS will only offer BTF versions of the Nvidia RTX 4090 and RTX 4070 Ti Super, though that could change down the line. That's just what the company has announced at this point in time. ASUS also says that it has partnered with be quiet!, Aerocool, Cooler Master, Corsair, Inwin, Lian Li, Phanteks, Silverstone, and Thermaltake to deliver BTF-ready chassis down the line, too.

At this point, no pricing has been revealed for these new components. But, if you love building PCs and care about having the cleanest, most streamlined build, these options might be something to take into account with future builds.