Gamescom is giving us a good look at some upcoming hardware before it’s released. One of which is for some yet unreleased motherboard, as the X870 release is still not here yet even though the Ryzen 9000 series is. But even so, der8auer gives us an interesting look at what ASUS is bringing to its new AM5 motherboard lineup, particularly in the high end as it updates the ease of use on them.
Starting off with the graphics card latch, where normally you’d have to slide in your finger or long object to try and squish it down to let go of your GPU so you can take it out. Whilst ASUS added a button on the side of its mobos you could push down and achieve the same thing by using a pulley to pull down the latch. But in this new Crosshair X870E demo, it foregoes any buttons or pushes as the PCIe Q-Release Slim requires you to just pull the card from the IO end to make it come out freely, making it infinitely easier to remove it from your build. But it’s probably not the best choice if you’re transporting or sending your gaming PC somewhere.
Other companies are also implementing some of these features. As Videocardz reports, MSI, ASRock, Gigabyte, and Biostar also showed off some Ez release features. Although these all rely on the use of a button instead of omitting them, making ASUS the more innovative mone and standing out as it previously already introduced the button version. But the photos from the floor of the competition do show a unique range of solutions that are interesting in their own way (likely trying to omit any patents in place for this feature already).
ASUS mobo pulling out GPU without latch, Source der8auer
Removing GPU without pressing button, Source der8auer
Latch use for removing NVVMe cover, Source der8auer
Screwless NVMe slot, Source der8auer
M.2 installation is getting easier as well
In the video, der8auer also gives us a look at the M.2 slot, where you install your NVMe SSD. Even though having to screw in your SSD is a thing of the past for most high-end motherboards, there are still other improvements heading to the slot anyway. As the ASUS X870E lets you take off the cooler now without the need for screwing either with just a latch holding it back just like your PCIe slot, but this one you do have to pull back. It also just shows how beefy these are having to get to keep those PCIe Gen 5 NVMes cool.
Under the cooler, ASUS has also moved on from the twisted plastic that holds down the storage, opting for a slider that you can put in the right place for it. This also removes the need for moving a stand-off depending on the size of your NVMe. Again making it easier to install and saves you time from having to root around the motherboard box for screws and standoffs.
