Some people love cable management, making sure everything in their PC is neat and clean. Others do their best in the hopes it enables better airflow in their system. And some don't care at all and just hope the sides to their case close. But with a new collaboration from Gigabyte and Maingear, building a PC without messy cables might just get easier.
The two companies today announced Project Stealth. It centers around a motherboard, the Z690 Aorus Elite Stealth, that moves all of the connections to the back, including power supply connections, audio, USB and front panel headers. There's also a case, the Aorus C300G Stealth with appropriate cutouts to install from the rear and a GPU, the RTX 3070 Gaming OC Stealth, with a power connector on the underside.
Project Stealth will be available as an assembly kit, the Z690 Aorus Elite Stealth motherboard, RTX 3070 Gaming OC Stealth GPU and Aorus C300G Stealth Case. Pricing was not announced. Maingear will be selling full pre-built systems in custom configurations, including DDR5 RAM and PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, for those who want a clean build without putting it together on their own. Those will probably cost a lot more, considering they'll include processors, PSUs and other parts, as well as assembly in the company's New Jersey facility.
Here's a look at what a build might look like from the back, where all the connections go:
Gigabyte's announcement very specifically refers to using Maingear's "revolutionary patent and design" for the motherboard, likely referring to a 2011 patent held by Maingear chief executive Wallace Santos. After Aorus France tweeted a teaser showing a cable-free build and a motherboard and GPU meant to hide ports, many wondered if Maingear would enforce its claim to the patent. If they weren't working together then, the two companies certainly are now.
There's no specific release date. A release from Gigabyte says that the kit is "now available," but we haven't seen it for sale anywhere.
