ASUS quietly revises its Q-Release Slim feature on new motherboards
ASUS’ new motherboards appear to feature a revised Q-Release Slim system
It looks like ASUS has quietly revised their Q-Release Slim feature by installing revised PCIe slot designs on new motherboards. This change was spotted by Uniko’s Hardware, who noticed the new design on a NewEgg listing for an ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E APEX motherboard.
Why has ASUS revised its PCIe slot designs? Earlier this year, reviewers noticed that ASUS’ PCIe Q-Release Slim system was scratching the PCBs of graphics cards. While the damage didn’t harm the cards’ functionality, nobody wants their expensive motherboards to scratch their incredibly expensive graphics cards. With this in mind, ASUS quickly revised their PCIE slot design to address this issue.
So, what’s different about ASUS’ new PCIe slots? It looks like ASUS has removed a metal piece at the center of its PCIe slots, which may have caused scratches on graphics cards. The functionality of Q-Release Slim remains unchanged. GPUs can still be removed without the need for a button press. For the most part, ASUS’ Q-Release design remains unchanged.
x870e apex, c10a, $749 on neweggus preorder now
thanks to newegg we can see the real mobo that hasnt available on the asus product page.
the q release slim slot got revised particularly on the bracket between peg and x16.
it is still button-less, the metal piece inside the slot… pic.twitter.com/KqvUQXxi3p— UNIKO's Hardware 🌠(@unikoshardware) March 13, 2025
While it is good to see ASUS reacting to customer feedback, it is a shame that ASUS has not publicly spoken about this redesign. While the “scratching” issue wasn’t a major problem, it was big enough to merit a redesign. That should mean that the issue is big enough to merit a public statement. That said, maybe ASUS is intentionally being quiet, as they wouldn’t want to replace all motherboards using their old button-less Q-Release implementation.
Recently, Gigabyte Japan poked fun at ASUS by releasing an “ultimate PCIe scratch test” video, highlighting how their PCIe release system has no scratching issues.
You can join the discussion on ASUS revising its Q-Release Slim system on the OC3D Forums.
