MSI, Maxsun Make Back-Connector Motherboards Based on Asus’s DIY-APE Standard
The “DIY-APE revolution” has begun to relocate power, storage and peripheral connectors to the back of the motherboard. A sneak peek at his first DIY-APE motherboards from Asus, MSI and Maxsun.
Asus’ DIY-APE movement started last year. It’s a concept similar to Gigabyte’s Project Stealth and MSI’s Project Zero, which basically moves the motherboard connections to the back so DIY users can hide all the cables behind the case.
Project Stealth and Project Zero are independent projects, but Asus seems to have opened up its DIY-APE to other hardware brands and even rival motherboard vendors. Due to the location of the connections, DIY-APE motherboards cannot be installed directly into traditional cases. That’s why case brands such as Lian Li, Cooler Master, Cougar, Phanteks, Jonsbo, and Sama have launched a DIY-APE train.
One DIY-APE motherboard, Maxsun’s DIY-APE H610 King, has just opened Bilibili video by Chinese tech journalist Ancient Ape Official (that’s how we think you translated it). The DIY-APE H610 King ships in an unconventional form factor. The brand lists motherboards with a new “YTX” design that doesn’t conform to the official motherboard form factor.
At first glance, it looks like a standard ATX motherboard cut in half. The DIY-APE H610 King measures 245 x 175mm, so the closest form factor to Maxsun’s motherboard is Mini-DTX (203 x 170mm). This motherboard is powered by his H610 chipset and supports both 13th Gen Raptor Lake and 12th Gen Alder Lake processors. Maxsun motherboards support processors with TDP up to 130W.
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The DIY-APE H610 King is as clean as the motherboard. Connections including a 24-pin power connector, an 8-pin EPS connector, SATA ports, fan headers, RGB headers, and USB headers are found on the back of the motherboard. The only headers on the front of the motherboard are the fan headers. This should correspond to the CPU_FAN header for connecting your cooling solution.
Other attributes of the motherboard are in line with what we would expect from an H610 product. It receives two DDR4 memory slots, two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots (22110 + 2280) and a slot for a CNVi WiFi card. Only 1 PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot but 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB Type-C port, 4 USB 3.2 ports, 1 DisplayPort output, 1 HDMI port, 1 Ethernet port, 3.5mm audio There are many connectivity options, including 3 ports. connector.
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upon Ancient monkey official YouTube channel (opens in new tab) He also tested MSI’s B650M APE WiFi motherboard for Ryzen 7000 processors. Considering the company has its own Project Zero, it’s strange to find his APE motherboards branded MSI. Nevertheless, the B650M APE WiFi has all the aesthetics of his MSI motherboard. However, there is no MSI logo, only the marketing of DIY APE is displayed.
Unlike Maxsun, MSI stuck to the microATX form factor. The motherboard offers four DDR5 memory slots, one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot and two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots. As you can imagine, the B650M APE WiFi’s headers and ports are all on the back of the motherboard.
recent reviewers saw (opens in new tab) Asus’ latest DIY-APE B760 Revolution is a direct replacement for the DIY-APE B660 Revolution. The motherboard checks in with four DDR4 memory slots, one PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot complemented by a x4 PCIe 4.0 x16 expansion slot, and up to four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots for high-speed storage.
A quick search on Asus’ website also brought up a support page for another DIY-APE motherboard, the DIY-APE B660 Pro Max Plus OC. However, there may be more of his DIY-APE models in the works. Unfortunately, it is unknown if DIY-APE motherboards will make it to the US market. All reviews and previews so far are from China.
