Skip to main content

Gigabyte’s Project Stealth is for people who hate cable management

There’s nothing like the feeling of building your own PC. However, cable management can be a massive pain — especially if you like to build in small form factor cases. Gigabyte seems to have a solution to simultaneously make cable management easier while sporting a spotless build. That said, there may be a huge caveat to consider.

Aorus, Gigabyte’s gaming sub-brand, revealed a concept called Project Stealth on the Aorus France Twitter page. This venture basically involves creating an entire ecosystem of products for the sole purpose of having a clean build and easier cable management.

Gigabyte Project Stealth all products.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Gigabyte’s custom ATX motherboard puts all the power and I/O connectors on the back, so all the cable management is done in the back instead of on the front. This includes all the front panel I/O, SATA ports, the 24-pin power connector, CPU power connector, and other important connectors like fan and USB headers. Presumably, this would make the build seem cable-free when looking through a transparent case window.

Recommended Videos

Obviously, a motherboard with reversed connectors would be incompatible with all other ATX cases, so Gigabyte also helpfully created their own case with openings on the back of the motherboard tray to access the different connectors and headers. French website GinjFo got their hands on pictures that show the back of the motherboard. There are even cutouts for the rear-facing PCIe connectors.

Gigabyte Project Stealth back of the motherboard. Gigabyte Project Stealth case and motherboard.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Of course, no PC build would be complete without the graphics card. Gigabyte thought of that also by creating a custom graphics card shroud, which also moves the power connectors in line with the PCIe connector itself. It’s unknown whether this shroud could be placed on a de-lidded GPU, or if Gigabyte themselves would have to make the graphics card.

As a PC builder, I love the concept of being able to simply “plug in” my motherboard and components in the front while doing all the cable management in the back. The NZXT H1 also tried to simplify cable management by including a built-in power supply and all-in-one water cooler, while pre-routing most of the cables for you. Any attempt to simplify the PC building process and bring more into the hobby is laudable.

However, the big caveat with Gigabyte’s solution is that all of their parts must be bought together if you want the full cable-less look. If you dislike the look, color, or pricing of Gigabyte’s offerings, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative. The company is rumored to unveil more details of Project Stealth at CES 2022, so we’ll hopefully get pricing and availability then.

David Matthews
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
More than 30 new Gigabyte releases leaked, including laptops and motherboards
The Gigabyte G5 gaming laptop with a sunset scene on the screen.

Christmas has come a little early for fans of Gigabyte as over 30 new releases from the company have been leaked ahead of time.

According to various leaks, Gigabyte will soon unveil five new gaming laptops and 29 new motherboards. The motherboards range from ATX to micro-ATX, all for Alder Lake sockets, and the laptops also run Intel Alder Lake processors.

Read more
The best motherboards for gaming
Motherboard in a gaming PC.

You've selected the best processor for gaming and paired it with one of the best graphics cards for the highest performance. Now it's time to choose a motherboard, which is a little more involved than it may seem. To help, we've rounded up the best motherboards for gaming, with options for every CPU and budget.

AMD and Intel have their own chipsets with differing features, so instead of comparing them, we selected options for both Intel and AMD CPUs. We included options from the last couple of generations from the two CPU brands, including new Intel Z690 motherboards for 12th-generation Alder Lake processors.

Read more
Black Friday’s best PC hardware deal is still live, and you’re sleeping on it
The Ryzen 5 7600X sitting among thermal paste and RAM.

I'm not mad, just disappointed. A couple of weeks ago, I covered the insane deal that essentially allowed you to score a Ryzen 5 7600X -- still one of the best processors you can buy -- for just $105. At the time, I thought, surely, this will sell out in a matter of hours. Who would pass up on a deal this good? And yet, two weeks later to the day, the craziest deal I've seen during all of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is still live on Newegg.

Let me break down the deal again. You can get the Ryzen 5 7600X for $225, which is not a good price. However, you can get an additional $30 off by using promo code DLCDZ342, bringing the price down to $195. The kicker is that you also get a free Team Group MP44L 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. That's a $90 hard drive that Newegg is just throwing in with a CPU that's already available for a decent price. The fact that the deal is still live suggests either Newegg has a ton of inventory, or not enough people know about this sale.

Read more