By An upcoming Asus motherboard delivers some very welcome news if you have ever tried to replace your PC’s graphics card: a novel retention mechanism that unlocks the card without the need for an awkwardly located lever or button.
The Asus ROG Crosshair X870E HERO motherboard, on display this week at Gamescom in Germany, incorporates the innovative mechanism. The demonstration was seen by HotHardware and captured in this der8auer video. As the name suggests, this particular board features AMD’s 870E chipset for Ryzen processors.
The sheer convenience of this new system is what makes it so remarkable. You are probably aware that a PC’s interior can be crammed with electrical wires, tubing connecting a watercooler to other components, and other such items, whether you have constructed your own or purchased a prebuilt computer. Wriggling your way into the casing can still be a hassle, even with some of the newest boards (like the Asus BTF) that route wires to the rear of the motherboard.
Graphics cards have an even more difficult issue to deal with because they are large and heavy, and they usually need a strong yet oddly delicate retaining mechanism that can be difficult to put. Removing and re-inserting the graphics card can be one of the more stressful aspects of assembling a PC, aside from placing the CPU and using the appropriate amount of paste.
According to Asus, the PCIe Q-Release Slim functions as follows: The graphics card is inserted and pushed in. and it is secured. Even in situations when the card is horizontal and the board is oriented vertically, it remains locked in place if you attempt to remove it from one end. When the card is removed from the right side, close to the memory modules, it remains stuck in the video. However, if you pull it from the left, the card slides free and the mechanism opens. There is no need to fumble with a button, latch, or anything else.
I am not sure how cautious you need to be to make sure the card is positioned correctly, or whether there is any tactile or auditory indication that the card is locked in from the video. However, the ease of use is undoubtedly appealing.
A portion of the film shows the modifications being done to the M.2 slots, where sliders make it simple to remove the card and heatsink without the need for a retention screw. All of these adjustments, as noted by Hot Hardware, will help reviewers and IT staff who frequently need to replace storage and graphics cards for testing and upgrades. However, these are unquestionably novel ideas that ought to become widely accepted.
