Gaming PC power supply cables could be a thing of the past, thanks to this brilliant new idea

One of the more interesting ideas that has been floating around the world of gaming PCs in the last few years is the concept of back-connect motherboards. The principle of these systems is that instead of plugging cables into the top of your motherboard, where they look all messy, you plug them in from the back. However, one of the developers behind this idea has just proposed a new standard that will do away with power supply cables completely, and it's called BTF 3.0.

The BTF (or Back to the Future) standard is one of two main competing standards for the back-connect concept in some of the current best gaming motherboards, with Asus the most famous backer of BTF, and Asus' biggest rival, MSI, choosing the competing Project Zero standard. Both concepts broadly offer the same cable-tidying benefit for the handful of motherboards and cases that currently support the two competing standards, but BTF 3.0 looks to take cable clearing to a whole new level.

Introduced by the chief architect of the BTF standard, DIY-APE, in a new YouTube video, BTF 3.0 would see power supplies incorporate a PCIe slot-like edge connector that takes care of delivering all the main power connections used by your motherboard. So, the 24-pin main cable, the auxiliary CPU cable, and extra PCIe power cables would all be routed through this single connector.

Addressing any concerns people might have about how much power would be being pushed through a single connector, DIY-APE points out that standardized server connections work in the same way and are rated to well over 2000W per connector, so the power draw of a 200W CPU and 600W GPU should be easily achievable. After all, it's not like the current GPU cable system is working flawlessly.

Incorporated into the proposed design is even consideration for users buying the new types of power supplies and motherboards but using conventional graphics cards. BTF graphics cards can use an extra edge connector to receive extra PCIe power from the motherboard, but with the help of a new riser card (shown below), existing cards could work with the new system too.

DIY-APE also goes on to also propose a new standard for headers for the USB-C, front panel audio, and power/reset button cluster that you connect from the front of your case to your motherboard. This would mean that instead of these features being scattered all over the motherboard in a non-standardized fashion, as is currently the case, all these features would be arranged together so that a single fitting can plug all these connections in together, as shown below.

The ideas don't stop there. DIY-APE proposes two further tweaks to existing gaming PC design. The first is to have fan power and RGB cables pre-installed and routed through cases, so that only short extensions are needed to connect fans into the case's wiring. Alternatively, they suggest fans could have female USB-C ports, with cases then integrating USB-C cables to plug the fans into.

I'm not entirely sure those last two are quite such crucial changes as the main BTF 3.0 power supply idea, but they're certainly food for thought.

As for whether this idea is practical, DIY-APE proves that it very much is. With help from PC parts maker Colorful and PC case maker Sego, DIY-APE has produced a working prototype of BTF 3.0, and it looks fantastic.

As you can see from the image above, the case has the power supply mounted above the graphics card and in front of the motherboard. This creates an almost floating design, with the motherboard, graphics card, and PSU suspended in the center of the case and two rows of three fans pushing and pulling air up through the case.

It's an amazing idea that I'd love to see become widely available. It ultimately might not prove to be that practical, in terms of embracing the versatility that is such a hallmark of PCs, but the opportunities for really clean-looking yet easy-to-build PCs are exciting.