GIGABYTE unveils a pair of B850 motherboards with backside connectors, bringing cable-stealth to a lower price point

Motherboards with backside connectors are gathering momentum in the market, but with a few exceptions, they've tended to be expensive models. GIGABYTE is bucking that trend. It's readying two Micro-ATX B850M Stealth motherboards that will fall within the budgets of users wanting a super-clean build.

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There are two versions of the B850M AORUS Stealth, differing only in the choice of white and black colors. They feature refreshingly simple aesthetics, mostly free of highlights, flourishes and branding, which is exactly what the cleanest of builds need.

GIGABYTE says the boards are the first mATX boards with back side connectors, which opens up a new market for smaller form factor builds. It will be compatible with a wide range of cases from nearly all of the major manufacturers. Though it may be a while before dedicated mATX cases with backside connector support are widely available.

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The boards include a 64MB BIOS ROM with an integrated WiFi driver, GIGABYTE's X3D Turbo Mode 2.0 support, and DIY friendly features. Of course, the board will receive support for Zen 6 CPUs when they come to market in the months ahead.

Other key specifications include WiFi 7, 5G LAN, up to 10Gbps USB, and three M.2 SSD slots. Pricing was not disclosed, but given the boards don't have the highest of specs, I wouldn't expect them to have excessive price tags, though they're likely to come to market at the upper end of B850 motherboard pricing.

Now, who will be the first to try a Mini-ITX board with backside connectors? That would be quite the engineering undertaking, but the possibilities are intriguing!