Inno3D Joins Gigabyte In Cleverly Hiding GeForce RTX 40 Power Connectors

In late 2008, your author built a killer SFF PC using a Shuttle XPC case. Inside was a Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 16 GB of DDR3 memory, an Intel X25-M SSD, and a GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 graphics card. Unfortunately, he had to spend a couple of hours modifying the case to fit the big fat GeForce card—not because of the card itself, but because of the PCIe power connectors sticking off the front end.

In the words of an endless tide of 1990s late-night infomercials, there has to be a better way! Indeed, as it happens, some Gigabyte engineer had a brainwave and decided to stick the graphics power connectors for a GPU on the backside of the card. Technically the connectors are still on the front of the card surface, but they're exposed to the back of the product, behind the GPU's massive finstack.


Well, Inno3D is doing something very similar, as it turns out. Actually, the company showed working cards at Computex with this design, as shown in the picture above from Chinese-language tech site MyDrivers. Those cards had a different design than the renders that Inno3D is showing today for its announcement that this configuration, with power connectors on the back, will be available on some of its upcoming graphics cards.

The specific models that Inno3D mentions are the "Twin X2 / OC White Edition" models of GeForce RTX 4070, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, and GeForce RTX 4060 GPUs. Inno3D says that this "innovative design change has the potential to revolutionize cable management." Those might be some strong words, but it's true that graphics cards designed this way could significantly simplify cable management.


Interestingly, Inno3D's design actually involves a partially-removable backplate that makes it easy to access the connector and routes the cable down through the bottom of the card (near the slot). The cards include white power cables, too, so you don't have an ugly black cable (or worse, a ketchup & mustard bundle) snaking through your assumedly-color-coordinated white system. Inno3D says these GPUs will be available soon, so keep an eye on Newegg—Inno3D's only US distributor—if you're keen to grab one.