https://www.asus.com/uk/content/btf-hidden-connector-design/ Just saw this, actually looks really interesting! They finally fixed the GPU cable issue! Its surprising its taken do long! To be honest, this might swing me for my next build as it looks really cool!
I'll let early adopters test to see there's no melty melty but I have high hopes for this design. If it pans out over the long run it'll certainly eliminate Nvidia's ongoing 'will my card melt today' worries and tidy up the look. It'll be a boon for SFF, can they implement this on an ITX board? (I don't know enough to know whether there are problems or not with the SFF and the power delivery).
That'll depend on things like ribbon cables, as most SFF designs I've seen have the GPU along side the motherboard. Could be an interesting trend for hard PCB based risers perhaps though, but they have a whole host of pros and cons! (To the point I'm thinking of just designing my own at work!)
@adidan - So now it will be: "Will my motherboard connectors melt today?" This has potential, but the layout on the flagship board is bad. Having the connectors sticking straight out of the bottom of the board means you need even more room underneath, and most cases have zero space under the motherboard tray. A 90 connector would probably have clearance issues with board stuff, though.
Oh indeed, it's definitely not something I'd look at until it's been fully beta tested by the brave souls willing to try it out. I hear they're finally looking at another type of connector as well as this new motherboard power delivery (which I hope pans out - the less cables the better) but I like to buy things that you'd be really unlucky if they fail, not in a percentage realm of just being unlucky.
