For PCs cluttered up by wires, this ROG gear paves the way for an unobstructed view

In the early days of the home PC, a computer’s interior might have cables going everywhere, what with IDE ribbon cables and power cables for every drive, not to mention the unused cables from the power supply stuffed into a corner. But since cases were beige windowless rectangles, folks weren’t all that concerned about the tangle of wires. Out of sight, out of mind.  

Fast forward to 2025, and it’s a very different scene. Thanks to things like M.2 drives and modular power supplies, when most folks build a PC in 2025, they actually get pretty close to a clean, tidy look. But a few wires remain stubbornly in view, and that makes them stand out. They stick out even more if you build in a case with multiple tempered glass side panels, in which there’s no such thing as “out of sight, out of mind.” You'll see the results of your cable management efforts every single time you sit down at your computer.

To empower your ambitions for a gaming rig that’s both supremely powerful and impeccably clean, we’re launching two new ROG BTF components. On the motherboard front, we’re bringing together the performance of the AMD X870E platform with the ultra-clean BTF aesthetic for the first time with the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF. Second, we’re launching the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 BTF Edition, a top-shelf graphics card that’s compatible with both standard and BTF motherboards.

BTF basics: why this hidden-connector paradigm matters

The basic concept of a BTF motherboard goes like this. We take all the headers for your cables — power connectors, PWM fan headers, 3-pin ARGB Gen 2 headers, front-panel USB port connectors, the jumpers for your case’s power and reset buttons, and more — and we tuck them away on the backside of the motherboard. BTF-compatible PC cases have cutouts in their motherboard trays so that you can plug everything in through their cable management compartment. This means that all these wires stay entirely out of sight, no wizardry with cable combs and zip ties required.

Cable management isn’t the only reason why BTF motherboards banish all the headers and connectors to the upside-down. Some connectors are just easier to access from this direction, like the dedicated power connectors for your CPU. You’re less likely to have wires that don’t quite stretch to the places where you want to plug them in. There’ll be fewer obstructions creating turbulence in your PC case’s airflow. And without headers and jumpers hanging out along the perimeter, your motherboard has a clean aesthetic from edge to edge.

A premium platform for AMD gaming rigs: the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF

To give your AMD-powered gaming rig the BTF treatment, we’re releasing a new version of the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero, one of our most popular options in the series. The ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF takes the DNA of the original Hero and gives it a BTF makeover for supremely clean aesthetics and an easy PC building experience.

Since this is an ROG Crosshair motherboard, you know it’s built to push all limits. To help you unleash your top-end AMD Ryzen 9000 Series CPU, it boasts a robust power solution with 18(110A) +2(110A) +2 power stages, ProCool II power connectors, MicroFine alloy chokes, and premium metallic capacitors. To keep this beefy power solution cool, the board includes massive heatsinks integrated with the I/O cover. They’re joined by an L-shaped heatpipe and connected to the power stages with high-conductivity thermal pads.

We equipped this high-end motherboard with everything you need to install an equally high-end set of components. It features our NitroPath DRAM Technology so that you can overclock your DDR5 kit with ease. A pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots stand ready for the fastest graphics cards of today and tomorrow. You’ll find all our latest refinements for installing M.2 drives, including the new M.2 Q-Latch, M.2 Q-Release, and M.2 Q-Slide. WiFi 7 support and loads of high-speed USB connectivity await, too.

Professional overclockers trust ASUS motherboards to give them advanced fine-tuning capabilities, but the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF ensures that you don’t need a computer science degree to get your PC up to speed. Intelligent tweaking tools including AI Overclocking, AI Cooling II, and AI Cache Boost kick your PC into high gear with just a few clicks. For more precise control, ROG overclocking tools include Dynamic OC Switcher, Core Flex, Asynchronous Clock, and PBO Enhancement await.

One last thing about the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF: it includes a graphics card high-power slot. But to explain the importance of that, we’ll need to talk about BTF graphics cards first.

Top-tier graphics performance with no wires in sight: the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 BTF Edition

Out of all the cables that might clutter up your view of your PC, the power cable for your graphics card is often the worst offender. Typically, it’s the closest thing to your PC case’s side window, hanging out uncomfortably in your view like a 6’6” dude in the front row of a concert. And if you use a triple 8-pin to 12V-2x6 adapter because your PSU is a bit long in the tooth, the tangle gets even worse.

To address this problem, we design BTF 2.0 motherboards like the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF, which includes a 12V-2X6 connector hidden on the underside of the motherboard that routes power to a graphics card high-power slot. BTF 2.0 graphics cards can draw their power through this slot, a connection that involves exactly zero visible cables.

And that brings us to the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 BTF Edition. As a BTF 2.5 graphics card, it can receive power through either a standard 12V-2x6 connector or a graphics card high-power slot. If you want to install it on a standard motherboard, you can. Just remove the detachable GC-HPWR adapter so that its gold fingers don’t get in the way.

Aside from the BTF 2.5 functionality, this is the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 that you know and love — just without a visible power cable, should you install it on a BTF motherboard. This card leads the pack with its exceptional cooling solution, beefed-up power delivery, and unconquerable style. It cools its powerful GPU and 32GB of GDDR7 with our patented vapor chamber cooling design, a massive heatsink, and four fans. Powerful 80-amp MOSFETs with extra power phase ensure enhanced power delivery, even in demanding workloads, opening up increased headroom for overclocking.

AMD and ROG are better together with BTF

Put together, the ROG Crosshair X870E Hero BTF and ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 BTF Edition make an incredible statement. Install these potent components in a compatible chassis like the ROG Hyperion GR701 BTF Edition, and you’ll have a powerhouse PC that puts a spotlight on your gear without letting dangling wires steal the show.

These two components are just a couple of the new high-performance gear that we’re announcing for Gamescom 2025. To check out the full lineup, including graphics cards, Miku-themed components, and more, click here.