ASUS Extends the BTF Cable-Free Ecosystem to the ROG Product Line

[btarunr]

ASUS at the 2024 International CES expanded the lineup of BTF apparently cable-free hardware to its premium ROG product line. The company had debuted BTF with its mid-range TUF Gaming product line, which we've extensively covered here. While the TUF Gaming BTF built showcased an all-white scheme, the ROG BTF line makes no such deviations from its main scheme. First up, we have the ROG Maximus Z790 Hero BTF motherboard, a variant of the Z790 Hero with its connectors and headers facing the reverse side of the PCB; and a power slot for BTF graphics cards.

Next up, we have the BTF-ready variant of the ROG Hyperion GR701 case. A compatible case is needed for BTF to work, because the motherboard tray needs to have cutouts in the right places for the ports and connectors of the motherboard to stick out. There's a little extra crawlspace behind the motherboard tray in the ROG Hyperion GR701, so some of the higher gauge power cables can make tight bends. The crown jewel of the ASUS ROG BTF series has to be the graphics card. ASUS has done the unthinkable—to get a GeForce RTX 4090 to run off its BTF power connector. It's a remarkable feat considering that the RTX 4090 is a 425 W TGP graphics card, and the overclocked ROG Strix version only draws more power than the average RTX 4090.



The ROG Maximus Z790 Hero BTF comes with a proper 12VHPWR connector behind the board (good luck bending a cable to that one). Apparently, this is capable of delivering the 600 W to the BTF power slot on the graphics card. With the card installed, the biggest bit of ugliness with high end RTX 40-series graphics cards—the power cable that can't be made to bend too tightly—is solved. As a reminder, "BTF" isn't an industry standard, it's an ASUS-exclusive set of cable-free hardware. BTF is an acroym for "back to the future!" (we're not making that one up).

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[zmeul]

unless this new "standard" is adopted by everyone as soon as possible, it will be dead in the water because these video cards cannot be used on those specific motherboards
and the other mistake they made is to continued use of the 12VHPW connector - use 2 EPS connectors instead

 

[HairyLobsters]

The ROG line has such an awful design language.

 

[Chrispy_]

These were shown off at last year's CES too and they've gone absolutely nowhere.
Not really surprising, who wants to be locked into such a tiny, proprietary ecosystem?

 

[MDWiley]

I always loved this concept and thought it would be so cool if everyone hopped on board. I’m not optimistic it’ll happen but a guy can dream

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Id buy into it. I exclusively buy Asus motherboards and GPU's. This would be a very nice thing to have. But I do agree, all manufacturers need to adopt this BTF design.

 

[Upgrayedd]

These were shown off at last year's CES too and they've gone absolutely nowhere.
Not really surprising, who wants to be locked into such a tiny, proprietary ecosystem?

Nowhere? They're about to release it, along with a 4090 version. People will buy it. I like it, but I'm not in the market right now.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I very much like this connector solution! Not a fan of all the connectors out the back of the motherboard as shown on the ASUS website, nor a fan of the continued 12VHPW use. All they did there is transfer the problem from the GFX card to the motherboard. Not acceptable.

Get rid of that problematic connector. Full fraking stop!!

 

[Tropick]

Do we know the thermal characteristics of this connector yet? I like the concept but man the idea of pumping that much wattage through the motherboard's PCB layers scares the hell out of me. 12VHPWR has been enough of a mess given the tiny connector size and this looks even smaller. The idea of minimizing cable clutter is awesome but I'd really want to see this tech get put through it's paces before I'd consider using it.