MSI CES Booth visit: Making DIY PC building cool and great again with Project Zero

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Like many PC makers, MSI has plenty of new toys to show off at the CES 2024 show floor - the usual new graphics cards, gaming monitor and so on. But what I want to show you instead, is how the Taiwanese company is pushing the idea (they are calling it Project Zero) of placing connectors at the back of motherboards and make the interior of a PC case as cable-free as possible. Here's an idea of how it looks like, and it's very clean isn't it?

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Firstly, you'll need a motherboard like this one that literally has all of its connectors (the PSU, CPU, jumpers, etc) faced backwards. MSI isn't the first to come up with this concept though (ASUS first announced it at last year's CES and called it BTF), but they are the only brand with a complete solution shown at CES 2024 and dubbed it Project Zero.

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Then you'll also need a casing that supports this concept. Notice how the cables are now hidden within the casing, away from view. Major case makers like ThermalTake and Cooler Master are already onboard, and while such casings are still limited in model variations, 2024 seems to be the year where we'll start to see more casings that supports Project Zero / BTF.

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Needless to say, this also meant that your cable management skill will be sorely tested. But since all your cables are now accessible from the back, it should make - in theory anyway - PC building just a little more fuss free in my opinion.

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Here's how a Project Zero build will look like from the outside. It's absurdly cleaner, and there's also less stress on bent cables since they do not have to come out of the back. Air flow will no doubt improve too as well.

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I'm really loving the clean look. It could take a while for the masses to catch on, as many PC users tend to reuse their existing casings even when upgrading the internal components. But I think PC case makers and motherboard brands are taking the right steps. Next would be to consider how GPUs and their power cables can be hidden too.

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Perhaps a 3D printed cable trunking for GPUs like this one? MSI showed some of the possibilities that case modders and cable makers like Cablemod could come up with too.

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MSI didn't just stop with Project Zero at CES 2024. They also showed this really cool RGB sticker wrap concept - yup, it's a sticker wrap that comes with RGB lightings where you can literally design whatever you want to show on the outside of your case. For now, it's only available for the MSI MEG Maestro 700L PZ case, which is also Project Zero compatible.

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Then there's also the new MPG EZ120 ARGB RGB fans that caught my eye. These are modular fans, where you can use them as a single fan or combine them into a set of three. Words don't do it justice and I highly recommend you check out my video where an MSI rep showed how it really works (click here to view the video).

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None of NVIDIA's board partners have been able to make an RTX card that challenges the industrial beauty of the Founders Edition cards. But oh my, MSI has come very close. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 Super 16G Expert comes with an aluminium body that encases the GPU. It's heavy, solid and very Founders Edition. And that's a compliment. Nice one, MSI. Check out our video close-up here.

(Want to learn more about the GeForce RTX 40 Series Super cards? Go here.)