ASUS TUF BTF System

ASUS TUF Z790 BTF Up Close

ASUS TUF Z790 BTF Up Close

We ummed and ahhed about which order to do these in. You need the case because without it the motherboard won’t fit. But the case supports regular motherboards too. Thus the foundation of a BTF build is the motherboard. We’ve got the “white” ASUS TUF Z790-BTF WiFi here. Why “white”?

Now, we know what white is. The bossman and his obsession with it means we’ve seen tons of white things. We’d be prepared to testify that this is a silver motherboard. Yes, it’s light. No it’s probably not black. But it’s also definitely not white. Especially when you compare it to white Z790 Strix ASUS also offer. Thankfully we’ll be bolting enough hardware in that it’s less problematic than it might otherwise be. It also looks fine when in situ.

Without the need for chunky headers, the Z790 TUF-BTF is about as clean as a motherboard gets. You don’t realise how much plastic sticks up on your regular PCB until you see one without it all. Well, besides a header just above the northern-most VRM heatsink. More on that later on.

You have to be very careful ensuring you get the correct hardware. We thought we had, but ended up in a situation where the GPU release lever just didn’t work for us without dismantling everything. Make sure you both buy, and are sent, the right thing. You can at least see the connector that brings power to your graphics card. You can use either 12pin or up to three eight pin connectors. Thus, the Z790 TUF-BTF doesn’t just support ‘standard’ graphics cards but also the new Nvidia power connector style. Perfect for your 4000 series owners. Assuming your GPU is designed for BTF running.

Around the back you can see you get all the latest features you’d hope to find on a Z790 motherboard. We also like that ASUS have used a white backplate. A silver motherboard is one thing, but you need the white here to match the case.