ASUS Brings Its Collection of New BTF Form Factor Kit to CES 2024

Introduction

ASUS is expanding its BTF hidden cables PC components lineup with the reveal of a new flagship graphics card, motherboards, and PC chassis. ASUS began introducing its concept of cleaner-looking cable-free PC configurations last May when it allowed a demo model motherboard and graphics card to be shared online that showed the cable ports being moved to the backside of the motherboard. It wasn’t too long after that in July when it debuted another concept model at Computex 2023 featuring a White Edition GeForce RTX 4070 and then a few months later would at last officially announce the new line as BTF (Back-to-Future as a direct reference to the movies) with the limited release of its GeForce RTX 4070 BTF graphics card. Now the manufacturer is adding NVIDIA’s top-tier GPU as ASUS expands its cable-free lineup.

Introduction to BTF

For those that are just now reading about BTF, it is part of a growing trend we’re seeing to create a new standard that moves all connectors to the back of motherboards to remove all cables from the view of the system, allowing for a very clean build. BTF stands for “Back-to-The-Future” and we assume that the first t is a silent t. It’s also not BTX, because that’s already been tried before.

ASUS has much longer write up in its Edge Up blog post that’s worth a read if you want to dig into the details.

Overall, we find BTF (and the other connector to the back concepts) to be interesting from an aesthetics perspective but we’re hesitant about the practicality of component compatibility. ASUS told us at CES that they are working with a number of case manufacturers to implement BTF compatibility with products hopefully shipping later this year. Until then, unless you’re handy with a dremel, there’s very few cases to pick from.

The other practicality concern we have is related to the lifespan of the standard – if you want to upgrade your BTF motherboard in 2-3 years, will it still be around so you can keep using your BTF GPU if you want?

BTF Graphics Cards

ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition

The ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition is essentially the same as its non-BTF counterpart, at least in terms of specs, but with one notable difference, the 16-pin connector on the side has been removed. The 12VHPWR connector has been replaced by an extra PCIe power connector on the PCB next to the PCIe 5.0 interface.

ASUS has gone on to add that it is introducing two new Z790 BTF edition motherboards capable of completing an advanced BTF build. The ROG Maximus Z790 Hero BTF and ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero also feature nearly the same specs as their non-BTF counterparts except for moving nearly every cable port to the backside of them. ASUS has also added a white edition TUF Gaming Z790-BTF WiFi.

TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER BTF White Edition

ASUS has done the same with its newly announced TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER BTF White Edition as it has with the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition above.

BTF Motherboards

ASUS also had its two new BTF motherboads on display, both based on Intel’s Z790 chipset. In general, these boards are the same as their ATX counterparts but have all connectors moved to the back of the motherboard.

BTF Motherboard Specifications

BTF Cases

So the final missing piece for someone to make a BTF build is, of course, a case. Since nearly every cable port has been moved to the backside of the motherboard a PC builder is left with the dilemma of how to install these new components. Fortunately, ASUS has now announced two new PC cases to facilitate this. First is the flagship ROG Hyperion GR701 BTF Edition and then the much more modest TUF Gaming GT302 ARGB. Both of these cases can fit the new ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 BTF Edition.

We also got to see these cases up close with systems built in them at the ASUS CES Suite.

Additional content and photos added by the Editor.

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