Project Zero from MSI hides all connectors on motherboard

CableMod going out of business soon.

 

Is it just me, or this looks kinda good? Especially if it will be cool.

 

If I really wanted to hide all of that, I would just get a case that doesn't have a clear side panel...

 

https://tenor.com/bpD56.gif

The point is to be able to show a beautiful, cable-less front PC and improve airflow. Hiding all your messy cabling behind an opaque case misses all that.

 

Have you tried looking at the monitor?

Joke aside, there are people who don't care what their desktop looks like.

 

I reckon I could 3d print something similar would be an interesting project.

 

Honestly the biggest reason i would love for this concept to become standard is being able to take off the back panel of a pc and easily access power cables, sata, anything at all, without having to work around a gpu or cpu cooler or various other aspects. Even plugging in a cpu power pins would be so much easier. Just build the pc fully then plug everything in the back with no worry about tight spots/etc.

 

Sure, but PCs just aren't all that cramped anymore:
* SATA is slowly dying
* People need fewer expansion cards, let alone ones with anything else coming off of them
* AIOs avoid much of the airflow issues of poor cable management and shoddy case designs
* Whenever the new ATX12VO PSUs become common, there will be a lot less bulky connections on the motherboard
* If Nvidia's push for the new GPU power connectors becomes common, that would help too

If this were to be a trend 10+ years ago I'd be a lot more intrigued, but computers these days are just a lot simpler than they used to be.

 

the ATX12VO spec is never coming to consumer motherboards.

 

I just this becomes a standardized and not every company doing their own layout because in this case ... You will be ventor locked .

 

But that would also require a total redesign of the mounting mechanism for motherboards. As it stands now most cases can at the maximum give you an open space around the processor socket, since the mounting screws for the motherboard need to connect to some part of the chassis and those connection points need to be connected to the rest of the chassis. So they can't really remove a lot of the mounting plate as it is at the moment without seriously reducing the structural rigidity of the case.

 

Simular to Gigabtyes Project Stealth, which if i remember is protected by a patent from Maingear the SI.
So i hope MSI asks Maingear for Permisison!

Patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20120287569A1

 

The cables in question aren't even hindering airflow in a lot of newer cases, since they go directly from the board to the back where they are hidden away, a piece of plastik could hide the cables going trough the grommets with ease.
Tubes from a water cooling setup + GPU power cables won't restrict the airflow either as long as the case has proper in and out takes for the case fans.
Apart from that, there are some angled connectors available for GPU power connectors that can help in making those less visible.

 

Ok now where do i hide AIO tubes?

 

Looks like the motherboard would need inch high standoffs to go into a current case. This would mean GPU mounting wouldn't line up with the case and nor would the backplate. Surely this needs a new case. I don't have an 8 pin CPU cable worth of space under my motherboard for sure.

 

Enjoy being vendor locked.

 

According to....?

 

Probably because it's possible to make ATX 2.v as efficient, so an ATX12VO standard is a bit pointless for DIY builds.
Would be nice if there was a standard though, since some OEM's created their own proprietary 12VO solutions.