Certainly one of my favourite traits in desktop PC design for the final couple of years has been what we name “The Struggle on Cables,” whereby all the inside energy and information cables are hidden on the bottom of a case. It makes a desktop look oh-so-clean, and that’s nice when PC builders nowadays are all about presentation. However at CES 2025, the newest incarnation of MSI’s Undertaking Zero takes issues too far.
Spy out the brand new construct MSI is displaying off on the CES ground. Upon first look, it’s precisely what builders dream of for this type of “disguise every thing across the again” strategy — all the higher to point out off these gleaming white and aluminum parts with a curved glass (or polycarbonate) enclosure. However look a little bit nearer and also you may discover that issues are a little bit… off. 90 levels off, that’s.
MSI
See, this Undertaking Zero X motherboard has its I/O board pointed straight down, out of a recessed hole within the backside of the case. Ditto for the graphics card (customized mounted by way of a PCI extender cable). That signifies that all the ability, video, and information cables will must be routed out of the underside of the case, too.
I believe this design may need been impressed by the Energy Mac G4 Dice desktop from approach again in 2000. And that factor was notorious for a number of causes, not least of which was that you just needed to join all of the cables to the underside of the machine.
MSI
I’ve just a few different notes. If you happen to use a blower-style GPU with the Undertaking Zero X, it’s not going to be an amazing setup for the graphics card, capturing scorching air all the way down to that backside chamber solely to let the warmth rise throughout all these parts. (However I suppose it at the very least doesn’t require a selected appropriate card, like some Asus designs.) It’s additionally a large case, dedicating what appears like greater than half its whole quantity to additional house for the hidden energy provide and house for cables, inside and exterior.
However to be truthful to MSI, this doesn’t appear like it’s prepared for a retail launch but. The CES demonstration doesn’t even record out the elements hiding underneath all these shrouds. So chalk this up as an experimental showpiece.
We’ll in all probability see some extra refinement on the thought (possibly at Computex later within the yr?) earlier than we see it in any kind that’s prepared for consumers. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to attempt one thing rather less excessive with MSI’s present Undertaking Zero elements and circumstances.
Additional studying: The most effective PC and residential tech of CES 2025