Asus confirms adjustments to PCIe motherboard ports

Asus has been having some bother with its high-end gaming motherboards. As the most recent graphics playing cards launched, reviewers observed some scratches and chips on motherboards with the Q-Launch Slim system, which helps you to pull a card out of its PCIe slot with out utilizing latches or buttons. Based mostly on some retail images, the most recent Asus motherboards appear to have revised the problematic slots.

Replace, March twenty sixth: An Asus consultant confirmed to Dutch website Tweakers.web that the Q-Launch Slim ports have been redesigned. Machine-translated quote:

Sure, a change has been made to the Q-Launch Slim system for brand spanking new X870 motherboards. Based mostly on person suggestions, now we have modified the PCIe slot for the Q-Launch Slim system, together with eradicating a steel part to scale back the opportunity of injury to the video card. As well as, stickers have been added to the system to tell customers about ‘right system utilization.’

The unique story from March 14th continues under.

Twitter/X account Uniko’s {Hardware} noticed a visibly distinct latch mechanism on the Asus X870E Apex motherboard, which is now up for pre-order on Newegg. They speculate that the bracket between the preliminary retention peg (that first cutout part on the slot of the GPU itself) and the x16 pin space eliminated a steel bar. It appears prefer it’s both plastic or a a lot completely different, thinner steel development now.

We’re speaking about tiny revisions of a reasonably concerned design right here, however as VideoCardz.com notes, it is smart that Asus would wish to get the design proper on its most costly motherboards. Q-Launch Slim is a function on only some Asus motherboards, with the supposed perform being the power to take away a heavy GPU with one hand and a slight pulling movement from the entrance however not the center.

Q-Launch (sans Slim) affords a extra simple choice, an prolonged lever and button that basically strikes the hard-to-reach retention clip to a much more accessible spot on the motherboard. PCWorld’s Adam Patrick Murray, who’s in all probability constructed extra PCs than he’s had sizzling meals at this level, prefers this one. After years of being cautious with the sometimes-finicky course of of putting in and eradicating GPUs, it feels unnatural to easily seize and yank one out with out some secondary safety.

As soon as once more, I’ll level out that the scratching points on Q-Launch Slim motherboards have solely been observed by skilled graphics playing cards testers and reviewers, who plug in and take away playing cards far more ceaselessly than most at-home desktop PC builders. And even amongst that small batch of studies, injury to the GPU connections has been fully beauty with no practical points.

But when I had been spending two grand (or extra) on a brand new graphics card and one other a number of hundred {dollars} on a top-of-the-line motherboard to go together with it, I wouldn’t need the latter to scratch up the previous. Asus appears to have acknowledged this, if solely fleetingly with some official statements. However yeah, it’s in all probability value a bit of extra R&D in the event that they wish to hold this function alive for future motherboard designs.

The adjusted slots are solely on pre-order pages to this point, so we’ll have to attend for critiques to see if the brand new Q-Launch Slim mechanism is improved.