Asus has just unveiled a new graphics card connector that does away with the power cables and sockets of conventional cards, and instead relies on a motherboard slot to deliver power, able to deliver up to 1,000W. The new Asus graphics card connector is an extension of the company’s back-to-the-future (BTF) connection system it unveiled a couple of years ago, but this time the company has thought about how to make the system more powerful and more compatible.
Asus unveiled BTF at the tail end of 2023, with the system designed to do away with cables in the front of a PC, and instead have the best graphics cards of the world draw their power from a connection on the motherboard. The problem with the first iteration of the design, though, was that BTF graphics cards couldn’t fit in non-BTF motherboards, making it a very restricted system.
The new BTF standard, though, introduces a new connector, called GC-HPWR, that not only delivers even more power than before, but also has a retractable design that allows graphics cards equipped with the connector to plug into conventional motherboards. This in theory allows buyers to upgrade to a BTF graphics card before switching to a BTF motherboard. Or, it allows a buyer to keep their GPU, if they decide to switch away from the BTF system at a later date.
BTF doesn’t just magically provide extra power through your motherboard, but instead relies on the extra cables you normally plug into the top of a graphics card being connected to the back of the motherboard. The power from these rear plugs is then routed to the GC-HPWR slot for a cable-free look at the front of your build.
The original version of the BTF graphics card connection could only deliver 450W, while a revised version boosted this to 600W – enough to power an RTX 5090, in theory – but the new standard takes it far further with a 1,000W rating. Not only does that mean it can power whatever over-engineered, overclocked video card that Asus might want to come up with, but it should ensure the risk of fires caused by high-power GPU cables is reduced, assuming the cables in the back of the motherboard are fitted correctly.
Asus highlights the metal design of the connector “to ensure mechanical reliability” along with “heavy copper usage” to reduce resistance and safely deliver all that power.
As one would expect, in order for this retractable new cable to be an optional power delivery system, Asus also specifies in its BTF specs that cards will have conventional top-mounted power cable sockets too. Whether Asus will engineer its card to have an optional cover for these sockets remains to be seen, as going to all the effort of hiding your cables only to have an unsightly, unoccupied power socket staring out of your case would seem to defeat the purpose of the BTF system.
Asus isn’t the only manufacturer looking into cable-free connection systems, with MSI Project Zero and Gigabyte Project Stealth providing alternative takes on the idea.
If you’re looking to build a really clean-looking gaming PC, these cableless connector ideas are very appealing, though they inevitably come at a higher cost – with new cases, such as the Corsair 2500X that’s available here, often required as well as new motherboards and graphics cards. So, if you’re looking for a more affordable setup, check out our best gaming motherboard and best PC case guides, which highlight a range of conventional options.