Gigabyte reveals their first back-connect motherboard – Meet the B650E AORUS STEALTH ICE

Gigabyte embraces the back-connect standard with their new AORUS B650E Stealth motherboard

At Computex 2024 Gigabyte has embraced the “back-connect” motherboard standard with their Aorus B650E Stealth Ice motherboard. Like other back-connect motherboards, all cables connect to the rear of this motherboard, giving PCs that use this motherboard a cable-free appearance.

MSI and ASUS have already launched back-connect motherboards with their Project Zero and BTF products. Now, Gigabyte has entered the fray with a ICE series motherboard with a huge shroud and a white PCB. Gigabyte has claimed that this is the first white motherboard to support backside connectivity (BSC).

As you can see in the mage above, this motherboard only has a single PCIe x16 slot. This slot is PCIe 5.0 compatible, allowing it to support the latest GPUs at full speed. Next-generation GPUs are expected to support PCIe 5.0 connectivity.

(Image from TechPowerUp)

The only downside of back-connect style motherboards is their limited case support. Users of motherboards like this will need to make sure their their PC case is compatible with back-connect motherboards. Alternatively, PC builders will need to modify their PC cases to enable this support. Since most PC builders won’t want to cut holed in their motherboard trays, buying a compatible case will be a must for most users.

You can join the discussion on Gigabyte’s AORUS B650E STEALTH ICE on the OC3D Forums.