Wednesday, September 13th 2023
ASUS China to Launch Cable-Free GeForce RTX 4070 BTF Edition on September 15
TPU staffers had a close-up look at cable-free graphics cards during proceedings at Computex 2023—where ASUS was showing off early examples of graphics cards without an external power connector. This new connection standard is called GC_HPWR. Said proprietary connector has been spotted once again, this time on finalized hardware—ASUS appears to be readying Back To The Future (BTF) edition product lines for launch in China. The first retail graphics card to adopt the GC-HPWR connector, as part of the "Advanced BTF" initiative is a custom design based on NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. The ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 ATS BTF 12 GB edition card is set for a local release on September 15—there was no mention of a potential launch outside of the PRC, but we did see this "Megalodon" BTF card at Computex.
ASUS is indicating that it will be updating its China market-exclusive white TX series of GeForce cards with the new connector—marketing imagery has appeared online with a "coming soon" message for RTX 4060, 4060 Ti and 4070 models. A TUF series refresh is apparently in the cards—VideoCardz believes that these models will have a better chance of reaching global markets. The TUF Gaming B760M-BTF WIFI Micro-ATX motherboard, with all connectors positioned on the backside of the board is now visible on an ASUS Hidden Connector Design mini-site, sat next to a compatible A21 case. A TUF Gaming Z790 Concept board is teased in the Advanced tier with a matching GT502 Concept case.
Pictured below are the ASUS TUF Gaming B760M-BTF WIFI (in black) and ASUS TX GAMING B760-BTF WIFI (in white):
Sources:
ASUS China on Weibo, ITHome, VideoCardz
ASUS is indicating that it will be updating its China market-exclusive white TX series of GeForce cards with the new connector—marketing imagery has appeared online with a "coming soon" message for RTX 4060, 4060 Ti and 4070 models. A TUF series refresh is apparently in the cards—VideoCardz believes that these models will have a better chance of reaching global markets. The TUF Gaming B760M-BTF WIFI Micro-ATX motherboard, with all connectors positioned on the backside of the board is now visible on an ASUS Hidden Connector Design mini-site, sat next to a compatible A21 case. A TUF Gaming Z790 Concept board is teased in the Advanced tier with a matching GT502 Concept case.
13 Comments on ASUS China to Launch Cable-Free GeForce RTX 4070 BTF Edition on September 15
If this ever becomes mainstream, then maybe prices can be more competitive with current market.
As for the cable-free thing with the power extra connector, that is old news IIRC, as I seem to recall seeing it being discussed at least 1 month ago...
Looks cool though.
The next logical step would be to redesign the motherboard and case for a dedicated GPU slot with space for the GPU (no sense in slots below the GPU when ever GPU is 2+ slots) and more mounting points to secure the card. It would also be really cool to see the GPU cooling solution reinvented with a front to back GPU and case design that pulls air in through the front of the case and exhausts it out the back instead of the mess of random air getting push wherever with current graphics cards. With the amount of space current cards use a front to back push / pull 92mm fan configuration with a massive heatsink in the middle would be totally doable and be way more efficient use of space.
Also, what's so Back To The Future about this?